I crash my lips onto hers, demanding and punishing. She returns in equal force, tongue sweeping my mouth and hands scratching down my back. I grind my hips into hers, the friction laying kindling to my passion. Her hot center brushes against me through her lacy underwear, and I close my eyes in concentration to keep from taking her right here, right now. She moans, and it ignites me. With another crushing kiss, I bite her lip, and it makes her growl low in her throat, though she doesn’t break the kiss. The noise sparks the embers of my magical core until it’s a blazing flame.

We’re both desperate now, hands moving furiously over one another, exploring. I angle her so that I can deepen the kiss, and she moans again. Sucking her tongue as I pull back from her lips, I lick up the column of her throat, making her shiver. One hand finds her breast, and I cup it in my hand through the bandeau, ready to rip the flimsy piece of fabric off her body. My exhale comes out like a feverish sigh as I squeeze her breasts like I have in my dreams every night since I met her in that revealing black dress.

“Thorne,” she moans my name, and it undoes me. I sweep one hand under her knees, the other behind her shoulders, and carefully cradle her close to my body. I walk her up the steps and out of the water before setting her down on the ground. I’m going to take her, right here, on the hard rock floor of the cavern. She sits there, body dripping water off her curvy figure, and stares at me with pure lust in her eyes. Male satisfaction courses through me, and I can’t wait to make her moan my name again, can’t wait to have her undone in my arms. That need to break her icy exterior takes on a whole new meaning when she’s sitting there practically naked. I want her screaming in pleasure, letting go of her control because of the way I make her feel. I kiss her again, this time slow and sensual, but when I pull back, her expression is guarded once more, uncertainty written clearly across her features.

“Thorne, I—we don’t know—we don’t know anything about the mating bond. What might happen if we…” she trails off.

“What might happen if I fuck you?” I finish for her. She swallows, then nods, uncertainty in her gaze. “Are you saying you want to wait?” I ask.

“I am,” she says, resolutely.

Laurel

It is a widely held belief that the fae species first lived in Thayaria before migrating to other parts the world. Buried deep underneath the mountains of Thayaria are endless unexplored cave systems, and prior to the isolation of Thayaria, scholars were eager to explore the thousands of runes and drawings etched into those caves.