Chapter 191: Burn With Me
The door closed behind them with a low and final sound, a whisper of wood and iron shutting out the world. Inside, the room was shadowed, warm from the fire someone had left glowing low in the hearth. But it wasn’t the flames that burned.
It was him.
It was her.
Damian turned slowly, his silhouette dark and towering in the half-light. His eyes were fixed on her like she was prey he’d hunted through lifetimes. She met his gaze, but her chest rose and fell too fast, like her heart was already racing toward the edge.
Neither of them spoke. They didn’t need to. He crossed to her in three slow steps. She didn’t retreat one inch. She stood her ground like a wolf meeting her match. Her chin lifted and her breath defiant.
His hands came to her hips, possessive and reverent, pulling her closer until their bodies aligned and she could feel every hard plane of him. His voice was gravel and moonlight.
“If I touch you now,” he said, “I won’t stop.”
“Then don’t,” Isla whispered, fingers sliding up his chest.
She wasn’t afraid of him. Not of the Alpha. Not of the shadows. Not even of what he might become. She was only afraid of waiting.
Damian’s mouth found hers with a growl that sounded half human and half beast. The kiss wasn’t gentle. It was raw, brutal and necessary, like the world was ending outside that door and they were choosing to live for just this.
His hands roamed, mapping the curves of her body through her clothes, desperate to feel skin, to feel her. Isla tugged at the hem of his shirt, and he helped her, discarding it with a hiss when her palms met the bare heat of his chest.
“You drive me mad,” he muttered against her throat, trailing kisses there, his fangs just grazing her skin. “You haunt every inch of me.”
Her fingers dug into his back. “Then consume me.”
She stripped away his control piece by piece. His hands were rough but worshipful, undoing her blouse, baring the smooth expanse of her shoulder, her collarbone and the swell of her breasts. His breath caught. His eyes darkened, and not just from hunger but reverence.
He dropped to his knees, his palms smoothing up her thighs, slow and sure, until they hooked at her hips. He kissed the space just below her ribs, where her heartbeat pulsed wild beneath the skin. Then he slid lower. Her skin was fever-hot and her scent intoxicating. He looked up at her like a sacred goddess he wasn’t worthy of, yet one he would burn for, again and again.
“You’re mine,” he murmured, voice shaking. “In every world and every life. Even if we die in this one… our souls will forever be destined.”
She threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging gently, eyes dark with wanting. “Then take what’s already yours.”
He rose in one fluid, feral movement and swept her into his arms. Her legs curled around his waist without hesitation. The bed groaned beneath their weight as he laid her down, covering her with his body like a stormcloud swallowing the sky.
His thigh pressed between hers, firm and demanding, coaxing them apart. Her breath stuttered. He kissed the swell of her breasts, then down her sternum, dragging his mouth slowly as though memorizing every inch. When his teeth grazed her hipbone, she gasped.
The scent of her was madness.
He hooked his fingers in her underthings and tore them away with a low growl. She was bare before him, open, glistening and unashamed. The bond surged between them like a live wire, snapping, binding and burning.
He hovered above her, lips brushing her cheek, but still… he hesitated.
“You can stop this,” he rasped. “Say the word, and I’ll…” he looked up into her golden eyes “I know I’m not myself right now…”
“I want you,” she interrupted, pulling him down with both hands. “I want all of you. Even the broken parts.”
That undid him.
Damian groaned, a sound from deep in his chest, raw and primal and slid into her with a slow, deliberate thrust. Isla arched beneath him, crying out, eyes wide, lips parted in a breathless gasp.
He filled her completely.
Their bodies locked together like they had always known each other, bone to bone and soul to soul. Every movement was a vow, every thrust a claiming. Her moans came broken and beautiful, her fingers clawing at his back, down his shoulders, into his hair.
“Damian…” she whispered, trembling. “Gods, you feel…”
“Say it again,” he begged against her throat. “Say my name when I’m inside you.”
He moved harder. As deep as he could get. She tightened around him, nails biting into his skin. His mouth found her breast again, sucking, licking, his teeth scraping until she whimpered. She rode the edge, her hips rolling to meet every thrust, chasing her high.
He held her face as he moved inside her, memorizing her; every breath, every whimper, the way her lashes fluttered and her body arched to meet him.
The firelight danced over their skin, painting them in gold and shadow.
“Isla,” he whispered, reverent and wrecked.
She met his gaze, open and vulnerable, her voice a sacred thing.
“I see you, Damian. Even when you can’t.”
That shattered him.
With a low, guttural growl, he thrust harder, chasing the edge of oblivion. She came with a cry, her entire body seizing around him, trembling. Her walls clenched and he followed with a curse of her name, pouring every fractured piece of himself into her.
They collapsed into each other, their bodies tangled and souls blazing.
When it was done, they stayed there, foreheads pressed together, hearts still racing, the bond between them pulsing warm and golden.
Outside, the world burned on. Inside, they had found a moment of stillness. But neither of them knew how long it would last.