The Healer and Her God

Chapter 13

Kaelen (continued)

Her words—I don’t want gentle—burned through every last shred of restraint I had clung to.

I pressed her against the stone, my mouth devouring hers, teeth catching her lower lip until she moaned into me. Her legs tightened around my waist, drawing me closer, and gods help me, I let myself grind against her. The friction tore a low growl from my chest, one that vibrated through both of us.

Her ears flicked, her tails fanned in restless arcs, betraying her own unraveling. I caught one again, stroking down its length, and she cried out, clutching at me like she’d shatter if I let go. “Kaelen…”

“Say it again,” I rasped, lips dragging down her throat, tasting the quickening beat of her pulse.

“Kaelen—” The way she moaned my name nearly undid me then and there.

I carried her from the archway, not trusting myself to remain in the open air. Shadows bent at my will, the temple yielding to my command, and in the blink of an eye, we were in my chamber, the doors slamming shut behind us.

I lay her on the bed, looming over her, watching the way her chest rose and fell, her eyes blown wide with desire. Her robe clung to her curves, the fabric sliding with each shift of her body. My fingers trembled as I traced the neckline, then pulled, ripping it open with a single flex of my hand.

She gasped, but there was no fear—only hunger that matched mine. Her skin was pale silk beneath my palms, warm, alive, hers.

I lowered my mouth to her collarbone, kissing, biting lightly, marking her as mine. Her tails writhed across the bed, glowing faintly at the tips as if her very magic was spilling loose.

Her hands tugged at my own robes, and I let them fall, bare to her gaze at last. She touched me with wonder and certainty, her fingers trailing down my chest. The contact made me shudder. “You undo me,” I admitted against her skin. “You make me human.”

Her lips found mine again, softer this time, and when she pulled back she whispered, “Then let me keep undoing you.”

I slid lower, worshiping her with lips and hands, tasting the edge of her restraint until she arched beneath me, begging without words. The sound of her unraveling was the sweetest hymn I had ever heard.

When I finally entered her, it was with a groan torn from deep in my chest, our bodies locking together as though they had always belonged this way. She gasped, clutching at me, her tails curling around us like a cocoon.

The rhythm built quickly, fire and thunder crashing between us. She met me, matched me, her nails raking down my back, her breath hot against my ear as she cried my name again and again.

I lost myself in her—every moan, every shiver, every tightening of her body pulling me closer to the edge. She wasn’t just yielding; she was claiming me too.

When release tore through us, it was like the world split open. Her magic flared, my power answered, and for a heartbeat, the room glowed with the force of it. I buried my face against her neck, gasping, trembling, holding her as though I could fuse us together forever.

Her fingers stroked my hair, soothing, grounding. “Kaelen,” she whispered, voice hoarse but full of warmth. “You’re mine now.”

I lifted my head, pressing my forehead to hers. “Always.”

And as we lay tangled in heat and shadow, I knew—no crown, no temple, no godly power mattered. Only this. Only her.