Fate had also made him Primori, which meant she had to protect him. He couldn’t face Rami in the Playground alone.

And he wouldn’t. If this was a test, she would pass—but she’d have to cheat to do it. She could go with him, but only if she was no longer an angel.

“Lore?”

“Yeah?”

Licking her lips, she placed her palm on his chest, right over his assassin mark, and then dragged her hand down. Slowly. By the time she reached the waistband of his jeans, his nostrils were flaring, as though taking in the scent of the arousal that had sparked in her the moment she touched him.

“Make love to me.”

Twenty-two

“Idess…” Her name came out in a strangled rush of air.

“Please.”

Taking a step back was the hardest thing he’d ever done. “Now isn’t the time.” What was he saying? Any time was the time. Especially since they could both die and this might be the last chance for ha**ng s*x with anyone.

“It’s the perfect time.”

“Guess the Butchers’ Playground thing isn’t a big deal if you’re looking death in the face, huh?”

“Guess not.”

“But… your vow. What happens if you break it?”

She stepped into him again. “Some sort of penance. Nothing I can’t handle.”

Common sense told him the penalty for an angel’s breaking a vow of celibacy wasn’t going to be minor, and he couldn’t allow her to suffer no matter how badly he ached for her. But when he tried to back away, she gripped his h*ps and pressed the entire long, sexy length of her body against him. Still, he might have had a chance against her… until she awkwardly palmed his crotch.

Tenderness flooded him. She wanted him but didn’t know how to initiate sex. Not that he was so great at that either. Neither one of them was technically a virgin, but emotionally? He so was.

He’d f**ked. He’d been sucked. But he’d never made love to anyone.

He looked down at her, into her guileless eyes that even now gleamed with a sort of hopeless honesty. She’d resigned herself to something—probably their death—and she was prepared to face it.

Her strength humbled him. Devastated him. Made him want to make her his no matter what the cost.

“Mine,” he growled, as he swept her up into his arms and strode to the bedroom. He had no idea what kind of caveman instinct had come over him, but it had hijacked him and was now in control and the only thing he could do was let it fly on autopilot. And it wasn’t as though Idess was fighting him.

Her chest heaved with panting breaths, her skin was flushed with arousal, and the outline of her ni**les against her top left tiny peaks that begged for his touch. His tongue. Right through the fabric.

Mine.

Unable to bear the feel of clothes against his skin for one more second, he laid her on the bed and peeled off his T-shirt, but before he could unbutton his pants, she was on her knees on the mattress, slapping his hands out of the way.

“I get to do this.”

Far be it for him to argue. Plus, it was really hot, the way the pink tip of her tongue slipped between her lips as she worked his zipper. His c*ck sprang free, didn’t even have time to enjoy the shock of the cool air before her hot hand closed around it.

He dragged a ragged breath into his laboring lungs. “Idess…”

Her mouth closed over the head of his c*ck and he damned near swallowed his tongue. She applied suction that made his eyes roll back in his head, and then she released him with a soft pop.

“I have so been wanting to do that,” she said, in a morning-rough murmur that grabbed him right between the legs more tightly than her hand ever could.

She looked up at him with a sleepy, seductive gaze, and damn, this was something right out of a skin flick. With a slinky smile, she took him into the warm, wet depths of her mouth again. Oh, damn, this was amazing. So amazing that his knees went rubbery as she sucked him. When she paid special attention to swirling her tongue in the slit, catching the crystal beads that formed there, he had to bite his cheek to keep from shouting.

One hand caressed his balls, her thumb stroking the seam between them. She blew a cool draft of air over his damp shaft, and he shivered with pleasure. She was an evil tease, but he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Slowly, she dragged the flat of her tongue down his length, all the way to his balls. His muscles tensed, his come building like steam in his sac, made hotter when she sucked his testicles into her mouth and bounced them on her tongue.

“Idess,” he groaned.

He felt her lips stretch into a smile, and she began a wicked hum that sent a shock of stimulation from his groin to his skull. His head swam and his skin tightened. His hearing became more acute, his sense of smell sharper. Colors were brighter, his emotions more intense.

Her mouth slid back up his cock, her teeth scraping gently and nibbling as she went. How had she learned this magic?

She took him deep, so deep he felt the back of her throat… and then she swallowed. Jesus, she swallowed him, creating a maelstrom of sensation at the tip of his c*ck as her finger and thumb ringed the base and pumped up and down, and the other hand squeezed his balls.

“Stop, oh, shit… stop…” He couldn’t hold on, couldn’t resist the sensations turning him inside out. He drove his hands into her hair, but as the cl**ax edged closer, riding on a razor edge, he jerked his right hand away. He knew it wouldn’t affect her, but a hundred years of paranoia wasn’t going to be extinguished overnight.

Without breaking her rhythm, she took his hand and returned it to her scalp. For the first time, he truly realized how special she was. He could let go… she wanted him to let go. To be free. To be with her.

She sucked upward as her hand rolled his sac. His dermoire writhed, the power burning from his shoulder to his hand, but Idess was safe. Unaffected. The knowledge and freedom condensed all his emotions, all sensations, concentrating them so fully he couldn’t believe his feet were still on the ground. His come boiled up his shaft, shot in a fiery stream. Surging, losing control, he pumped into her mouth. She took everything and kept licking and sucking until he was so sensitive he had to push her away.

Her smile as she looked up at him was one of satisfaction and affection. Desire burned there, too, and a heartbeat later she was shedding her pants.

“It’s true,” she said huskily.

“What is?”

She shot him a sultry grin as she lay back on the mattress and drove her hand inside her panties. He nearly came again. “The stories about your breed’s semen. It’s an aphrodisiac. Milder than I’d have guessed, but… mmm… this is amazing…”

“My human half probably affects the potency—” He broke off as she kicked her head back and began to pleasure herself. “Then again, maybe not.”

“Do you want to watch? You know, watch me come?”

“Fuck, yeah…” He had to clear his throat because he was about to choke on his lust.

“Right… now… oh, yes…” Her body came off the freaking bed as she cl**axed, and if this wasn’t the hottest thing he’d ever seen, he didn’t know what was.

Diving onto the bed, he gripped her thighs and spread them. The scent of her feminine arousal made his head swim and his mouth water and he wasn’t waiting another second. He closed his mouth over her sex, over the silk that covered it, and licked her, right through the fabric.

Whimpers of pleasure accompanied frantic rolls of her h*ps as she ground against his mouth. She came hard, twice, before his impatience had him tearing away her underwear and plunging his tongue inside her. Sweet honey filled his mouth and clogged his brain. The taste of her was a drug, and he was instantly addicted, would need this every day. Twice a day. Morning and night. Maybe noon, too.

Her orgasms came one after another, piling up until he lost count and until she tugged on his hair to drag him up to her. Dazed and sated like a big, well-fed cat, she watched him prowl up her body, and then she welcomed him between her legs.

His c*ck was rock hard as the blunt tip probed her entrance, but he wasn’t ready yet. He wanted this to be special. Wanted to savor every moment.

Kissing her, he peeled off her sweatshirt. He did it slowly, taking his time, fumbling a little because his fingers trembled. Her hands were still tangled in his hair, her tongue tangling with his as her desperation rose another notch.

“Make love to me,” she said against his mouth, arching her pelvis in an attempt to impale herself on his shaft.

“Nothing can stop me.” He kissed a trail down her jaw to her creamy throat. She was a gift, and he was going to unwrap her slowly. His breath was hot as he unsnapped her flimsy lace bra. He didn’t want to stop kissing her even to remove the last of her clothing, but he wanted her na**d. Skin on skin with nothing between them ever again.

His cell phone rang. Sin’s tone. He ignored it. He had to get inside Idess. No one was getting between him and what was his. As if she sensed his desperation, she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his h*ps so tightly he didn’t think he could break free if he wanted to.

Rumbling with pleasure, he sank into her soft, willing body. Idess gasped, clung to him fiercely, and whispered sweet, hot commands into his ear.

Electric strikes stormed through him as he began to thrust. He and Idess were joined by more than their bodies, and now he understood why his brothers had taken mates. The difference between f**king a random female and making love to someone with your entire body and heart could only be measured by something akin to the Richter scale.

Making love to Idess shook him to the core and razed every one of his walls. She was a ten-point-oh for sure, and as long as she kept rocking his world, he was ready and willing to take the damage.
* * *

Idess had never known anything so perfect. Lore was kissing her as he thrust into her, taking her to new, soul-shattering heights, and she finally understood the beauty of giving one’s self to another.

Her life since Rami had been about punishing herself, engaging in self-imposed penance while she waited for a reward she wasn’t sure she deserved.