Love.

Awe.

Possession.

The world fell away as our eyes locked, muting the waterfall, removing the pool, and placing us in pure nothingness while we stared.

No words were needed.

No sentences were powerful enough.

Our silence shouted the truth.

Somehow, this violence between us had brought about something as rare and as mythical as Sully’s Euphoria.

We’d fallen.

We’d crashed.

We lay at the bottom of a cliff, bruised and battered, broken and bloody, but instead of licking our wounds in private or hiding the depth of what’d happened, we lay in that broken jumble together.

His cock still filled me, a dark spear of lust and need. But his arms slowly embraced me with utmost tenderness. His head lowered, his eyes blazed, and when he kissed me, the gates of a new future smashed wide.

Love.

It had a flavour.

A texture.

A smell.

Love tasted metallic and fragrant, sweet and sour, spicy and forbidden. But it smelled of fresh rain and new beginnings, of shared lust and musk, of hard-earned truth.

I didn’t know how long we kissed.

Serenity didn’t exist with the shameless way Sully pinned my head to the stony shore and took everything he wanted from my mouth and body, but there was innocence, there was faith, there was softness.

His hips began to rock again, filling me, conquering me, begging me. My pussy grew wet with an entirely different version of need. This didn’t come from instinct or raw, basic desire. This came directly from my heart.

But I was also sore.

Internal bruises and swollen extremities made me tighter than normal, driving Sully from sweetness into savagery.

Water lapped and splashed as our gentle rock turned quick and questing. His teeth found my throat again, sinking sharp incisors into my flesh with no apology. He bit harder as his hips pistoned, but it was his endless groan that made me die.

I died in his arms as he thrust into me and came.

I didn’t know how many releases he’d had or how many he had to go before he passed out, but the ripple of his back and clench of his muscles seemed to drain him of everything he had left.

He died in my arms, and I died in his.

I just had to hope we’d both be reborn wiser when this was over.

His heart pounded against mine as he slowly withdrew and stood. Bending down, he offered me his hand, pulling me with impressive strength from the pool.

Without a word, we walked hand in hand, naked and soaking, down the pebbled pathway into the dense forest around his villa.

So this was where he lived.

Not on the beach with access to the sea he loved so much, but hidden in the shadows like the monster he thought he was. He kept himself away from his goddesses, from crystal horizons, from humanity, making a home within the animal kingdom he chose over his own species.

A monkey crashed from a tree and onto the thatched roof as we followed the path to a heavy front door. An iridescent blue kingfisher darted by as Sully pushed open the entrance and pulled me inside.

Two geckos shot up the wall where a massive piece of art hung—a mirroring masterpiece of the waterfall outside. A scaled and frightening looking lizard left its sunbaking spot on the black tiles and slithered to the deck outside. A pair of toucans that snoozed on the railing surrounding Sully’s home lifted their massive beaks to determine if we were friend or foe. And a flock of tiny sparrows fed on pineapple speared to a table outside a huge window.

So many animals.

So many content and trusting souls.

None of them left as Sully carted me deeper into his personal sanctuary. A kitchen rested along the darkest wall, glittering with polished bamboo cabinets and white quartz. A long rattan chaise invited a book lover to curl up by the open sliding doors that led to a huge balcony, cantilevered over the very same pool where he’d almost drowned.

The constant splash of the waterfall filled the high ceilings and exposed rafters with serenade while his bedroom beckoned to the left.

That was the direction he took me.

Our feet left puddles behind as we bypassed his living room and entered the one place where I never thought I’d be invited.

His bed was big but stark. No headboard. No expensive linen or cushions. Just a single pillow and plain white sheet. A mosquito net hung from the rafters, haphazardly drawn and tucked into the mattress to create a small entrance.

Driftwood side table, calico lampshade, and a sea-grass woven mat on the floor.

His villa wasn’t big, but it was airy and light and wasn’t just home to him but also to the countless creatures he loved.

Nervousness filled me. Fear that this was all too good to be true. That he’d shown me his world, and soon he’d kick me out of it.

Sitting backward on the bed, he manhandled me until I stood between his thighs. His cock stayed upright and thick with need, but the satiny skin held marks from our constant pleasure.

We’d hurt each other with lust.

It was time to stop.

Time to rest.

But he pulled me into him, curling his spine to press his mouth against my pussy.

“Oh, God.” My fingers dug into his hair as his tongue teased my clit and lapped at my sore parts. The dexterity of his attention and unforgiving exploration of every piece of me made me sway and stumble.

He held me up, digging his tongue past my folds and inside me.

I winced.

I moaned.

I squirmed to be free.

Instead of letting me go, he reclined onto the bed, dragging me with him so I had no choice but to crawl on all fours over him. His mouth controlled my pussy. His head between my legs as I sat over his face.

The bed shook as his hips arched into the air, seeking the very same thing he suckled on. My eyes snapped closed as he shoved the entire length of his tongue inside me. The intimacy of being taken like that, and the knowledge that he’d been inside me in so many ways, brought another reluctant release to the surface.

My hips began to rock. I clutched the sheet, allowing indecent moans and groans to spill from my lips and scatter around his head. Each whimper and mewl I made, increased his speed and desire. His fingers kneaded my ass, slipping between my crack to press against the hole he hadn’t tried to invade yet.

I jerked.

I tried to get away.

He snarled and speared three fingers inside my pussy while his other hand continued seeking a way into my back door.

I fought him.

He just held me tighter, his mouth latching onto the sensitive flesh of my inner thigh, his teeth sinking deep.

The fear of him taking me in a way I hadn’t been violated before, coupled with the tingling high of him eating me, and the ferocity of his fingers fucking me…I couldn’t stop it.

My elbows buckled, and I collapsed face first onto the bed as I came.

Over and over, bliss and brutality. I surrendered to the painful squeezing of my inner muscles, milking the final shreds of my endurance.

The moment I’d finished coming, Sully shoved me off his mouth, pressed me onto my stomach, then thrust inside me.

He fucked me ruthlessly hard.

The mosquito net shivered with every rut. The bedframe squeaked. His grunts blended with the waterfall.

I cried out as pain overtook pleasure, and still, he fucked me. I twisted to look over my shoulder, imprinting him to memory. Determined to remember his undoing, to remind myself he was only human, even if he treated me like a beast.

His eyes were demonic. His drugged desire riding him ragged. He strained and fornicated, driving me deep into his bed, trying to crawl inside me, doing his best to murder me with sex.