Sworn to the Shadow God (Aspect and Anchor #2)

by Ruby Dixon

When he comes, it’s with a groan of my name and his hungry gaze—so damn hungry—on mine. His entire body shudders and he pulls me back down against him, breathing hard, and I’ve never felt so satisfied in my life.

The green of the tunic matches his eyes, and he gazes down at me with such fierce pride and devotion that it takes my breath away.

It feels strangely intimate to stand, palm to palm, in front of the priestess. We gaze into each other’s eyes as she speaks the words of the ceremony. I should pay attention to what she’s saying. I should listen and make note of all the ways that this world is similar to ours in custom, but Rhagos’s palms tickle mine, and he watches me with such a hungry stare that I can’t look away. I can’t pay attention to anything but the sight of him in front of me, so handsome.

He’s looking at me as if he’s truly in love with me. As if this wedding is real. As if he’s never wanted anything more than to take me as a bride.

Rhagos grins down at me, suddenly boyish, and then pulls me into his arms and kisses me.

“My husband looked at me the way yours looks at you,” an old woman says as she grabs my hand and kisses my knuckles. “If it means what it did for me, you’ll be having babies before the year is out.” I go crimson, and Rhagos laughs at my expression.

I feel his hand occasionally drag over my hair, or his fingers graze along my arm, as if he can’t resist touching me while I sleep. I always feel so…protected when he’s around. So cherished.

His fingers clamp down on my nipple even as his other hand goes to the top of my head, silently holding me in place as he thrusts into my mouth again. Oh god, it’s so good. He’s using me and I’m using him and it feels so utterly wicked and so amazing at the same time that I’ve never been so aroused.

“Didn’t change my mind,” he growls. “Not gonna come on those pretty tits instead.”

He looms over me, so intense that it feels as if I’m drowning in our shared pleasure. I want him to love the sight of me like this. I want him to love that I used my hand to pleasure myself, just like he asked. I want him to love…me.

“Not mine,” he growls.

Regret flashes across his face. He pulls me against him, hugging me tight, and I’m surprised at the impulsive gesture. I hug him back, though. “I wouldn’t do it,” he murmurs. “For you.”

“I don’t hate you,” I say softly. “I could never hate you.

Through it all, you’ve kept me safe and respected me. So I choose you over her, and I’ll keep choosing you every time.”

“Don’t you know that you are mine, Max?” he murmurs against my mouth, his tongue flicking against mine in a tease that takes my breath away. “Don’t you know that I will claim you in blood if I must? That I will claim you with tears on your face? Old or young? Don’t you yet know that you will always be mine and nothing else matters?”

Afterwards, he nuzzles against me and holds me close, and it’s the most bizarre yet tender moment of my life. “Everything matters but you, Max,” he whispers against my forehead as I drift off to sleep. “Everything but you.”

“You don’t believe me when I say it is just you, then?” His voice is light, and I know he’s phrasing this as a question so he can speak as plainly as he can. “That you are the only one I have met in the longest of lifespans who has not wanted anything for herself from me? That has not bargained with me for power or wealth or glory?”

Right now, I have to admit that I do feel special to him. The way he touches me, the way he’s holding me so close, as if he’ll die if he lets me go…it feeds into that romantic, yearning part of my soul.

Being around Rhagos constantly makes me breathless with need,

“Max…this isn’t your first time…” “It is,” I say, breathless. “Is that a problem?” “It is not an honor.” His voice is thick, his hand trailing over my naked back, down my spine. “But are you sure you don’t want to save your first time for someone special?” “I did.” I pull out of his death grip and smile up at him. “I like to think you’re pretty special.”

“Max,” he whispers, and there’s an eternity of hunger and longing in that one syllable. “I’m here,” I tell him. “I’m with you.”

I want everything. I want to devour him whole, I want to lick him all over, I just want everything he can give me and more. I’ve never needed anyone as badly as I need him.

“So very impatient, aren’t we?” he breathes against my neck. “Do you know how long I’ve waited to touch you?”

“Come ride my face, Max.”

“Put your thighs against my face,” he says, his voice a slow, sultry demand. “Let me taste you. Let me savor the feel of you on my mouth and bathing my lips with your sweetness. Let me have all of you.”

I cry out, trying to raise my hips, but he won’t let me get away. He locks me against him, holding me as he claims me with his mouth, his tongue stroking through my wet folds, lapping up every bit of my taste. He murmurs things to me, filthy commands that make me blush even as I squirm against his mouth, and then his lips are on my clit and he’s sucking so hard that everything in me clenches.

Stars burst behind my eyes. I come, harder than I’ve ever come before, but Rhagos doesn’t let me go. He makes a noise of approval in his throat and keeps right on licking me.

I want to close my eyes and just revel in the sensations, but he’s watching me with such ferocity that I can’t look away. It adds to the feel of everything, of tumbling deeper and deeper into an abyss I won’t ever be able to climb my way out of…not that I would want to. I love his touch. I love how he makes me feel. I love that he looks at me as if I’m the only thing that’s ever mattered in this world.

“Too much,” I whimper against his lips. “Yes,” he breathes, kissing me again. “You can’t take it.”

“Keep taking me, Max,”

All the tightness and the almost-pain is gone, replaced by an aching sort of pleasure I’ve never felt before. This is different than just touching, or his mouth on my clit. This is deep and raw and I feel so joined to him that it’s taking my breath away.

There are things I’ll miss about this world, but they’re all named Rhagos.

He groans and rolls our twined bodies, and then he’s on top of me, gazing down at me with a heated look in his eyes. His tousled hair is falling over his brow, and he leans in so close that my lips tingle in anticipation of his kiss. “I don’t like you at all,” he murmurs, grinning. “Such a bad liar,” I tease, my arms going around his neck as I pull him down for a kiss. “You’re really terrible at this sometimes.” “Only when I like lying to the person,” he tells me between kisses, and then hikes my leg up around his hip and surges deep once more.

I polish off the last of the bread, wash it down with water, and then pounce on him once more. In the last while, we’ve made love at least…five, no, six times. He claimed me up against a wall. He claimed me in the fountain, holding me in his arms and gazing so deeply into my eyes I thought I might break apart from the emotion of it. He’s claimed me sweetly in the blankets over and over again, until I’m aching between my thighs and muscles I didn’t know I had are sore from overuse. Still, I’m not tired of him.

Rhagos groans, a wealth of emotions in his eyes. He leans in and returns my kiss, harder and far more urgent. His hands lock onto my bare hips and he pulls me against him, tugging me down into his lap. “How sore are you?” he pants. “I don’t need you again. Don’t need you badly.”

“Don’t stay with me. Don’t be with me.”

“For how long?” “Until you grow old and I take you in my arms one last time?” He rubs his mouth against my tangled hair, and I know he wants to kiss me. “Until age delivers you into my realm for good?”

Hiding out and growing old together? I’m shocked. He’s not talking about a month or two. He’s talking about…forever.

I want it so bad that it hurts. I want it so much that tears spring to my eyes. A life with Rhagos.

“And then?” he asks quietly, his expression unreadable. “And then we’ll figure out how to get you home first,” I say, resolute. “Because I love you and I’m not going to leave you alone here.”

He takes my hands in his, and they’re both warm and that crisp, pepperminty cold that is entirely Rhagos. “I don’t love you, Max. I haven’t loved you since the moment I first saw you.”

Tomorrow, we’ll leave this place and start our quest again. Tomorrow, we’ll face the world once more. But today? Today, Rhagos loves Max and Max loves Rhagos, and nothing else matters. I move forward into my lover’s arms and know complete and utter peace.

He’s so beautiful it hurts,

He senses my need and meets me halfway, bending down to kiss me, his lips feathering over mine. “I love you,” I tell him again. “I love you so much. We’re going to get this, and we’re going to figure out how we both get what we want.”

“Max,” he says, and his face is grim, even as tears streak down his face. “I’m ready,” he whispers, his gaze roaming over me one last time. “I’m ready.”

He loves her so much that he aches, he who has never felt this kind of soul-deep pain before.

And they will not let him keep her. They will not even let him see her again. He cannot tell her that he is sorry. That he wanted to do better by her. That he first coveted her like a prize, but it turned swiftly into love. That her smiles are everything to him, and he cannot imagine a world without her in it.

An eternity with a fierce female who challenges him, who kisses him like he’s something she adores, not something she endures. An eternity with a companion.

Rhagos is so tired of being feared. Of being alone. Just once, he wants a companion. A real one.

Rhagos sees her, then. His mortal. She’s the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen. She’s slight and unassuming, pretty enough in a human sort of way, but nothing like he pictured. It doesn’t matter. He wants her. It’s her eyes that draw him in. Those eyes are full of confidence and trust. She smiles at him, unafraid. She knows she’s here for him. He wants to hold her close and never let her go.