I flopped straight-backed on the bed. Rivulets of sweat ran down my heaving chest and my muscles quivered. Gods...I'd never fucked for so long. We were rutting animals, there was no other way to describe it.

"More," Nelle purred.

"So greedy." I gulped great mouthfuls of air into my lungs as I pushed away the sweat-damp hair stuck to my brow with a forearm.

"I am. I am greedy." She crawled up my legs, kissing, nipping, and licking my inner thighs. The feel of her soft pouty lips on my skin pulled a guttural groan from my throat. "I want more. Now," she demanded.

She was starting to scare me. Those black eyes hadn't gone away and she was insatiable. The scent of her arousal flooded the room. The heady fragrance was intense. Consuming. Tart and sweet and spicy just like her. If I didn't know any better I'd have thought she was on heat.

And that thought was a feathered brushstroke against a memory that slipped away as soon as her tongue touched my cock. I was hard all over again and all in for round six. "Fuuuck," I hissed as she swallowed my erection and hummed around the straining shaft. The decadent vibration sent me over the edge of reason and I pumped my hips up, my hands weaving through her thick wavy hair.

I bit my lip stifling a lust-drunk moan.

Gods, this girl and her gorgeous mouth and the wicked flick of her tongue and that mind-fucking hum. Glorious.

Nelle released my cock with a wet popping sound and I raised my weary head to see her staring back at me, her black eyes—a reflection of mine—burning with need as she crawled up my body to straddle my hips, pushing her wet heat against me. Sliding her hands through my damp hair she curled her fingers around the nape of my neck before tipping her forehead to mine. Her lips brushed against my own as she whispered in that low husky tone that only came out when my tongue was on her clit. "The wall—"

That's all it took for me to scoop her up, slam her against the wall and impale her in one stroke. She was my match in every way, she wasn't fragile, and she discovered rather quickly she liked it rough.

A groan erupted from me. Gods, it felt like nothing else to be buried inside her.

It was supposed to be new for her, not for me. I'd never felt this way before.

I felt her everywhere. Every-fucking-where. I shuddered against the sensation. She was so tight. Her pussy was practically a vise. Every ridge, every velvety-soft curve hugged my cock as I pounded into her recklessly. But it was something else, that thing that bound us together—filaments of power and the strumming of magic connected us, binding us as one. It skimmed against my flesh, sparked in my veins, and thrummed through my blood to scorch my insides with fire. The roar in my ears were her whimpers and hitched breath, and beneath it all drummed a bassline—Mine, mine, mine.

Nelle's tiny hands clasped my neck and she rolled her hips to meet my thrusts. Her hair was a wild mess, swaying around her flushed cheeks, and her pretty eyes were pinched shut. Slowly, her slackened mouth fell open as her quickened breaths came in huffs and whines.

I stole a kiss. Those black eyes flashed open in surprise when my mouth claimed hers.

Gods, that sunshine. Exquisite.

I bathed in that kiss. In her lips, soft and warm and gentle. Groaned when she opened up on a sigh and let me plunge my tongue inside her mouth. Desire beat a heavy rhythm in my chest, mirrored by hers, the sound drowning out everything else in my head. There was only need, a wild insatiable need for her. To feel her naked skin against mine, steal every hitched breath, hear every desperate moan—hers, always hers.

Hooking an arm beneath her thigh, I hitched her leg up higher to dig in balls-deep and move in small increments, rocking my body against her clit and tipping her over the edge into a climax that burst from her with a scream. Her dark powers tore free and a tempestuous gale surged through the bedroom knocking into us and the furnishings. Her pussy clenched and quivered as she came all over my cock, while thumping her hand against the wall, gasping, "Fuck. Fuck. Oh gods. Fuck."

She whimpered as she came down from her orgasm.

And her eyes flashed open.

For a moment I was captivated by the black eyes and the demarcations of gold. My eyes looking back at me...until I saw the lowering of lashes and her eyes becoming slits, fixed on me...no not on me, but on the space where my neck met my shoulder.

Shock barrelled through my veins to see the feral gleam in those black eyes.

Her nose scrunched just before she widened her jaw, baring her teeth at me in a snarl.

Fuuuck—she looked as if she was going to bite a chunk out of me.

She went to strike—

Holy fucking hellsgate!

I snatched hold of her hair at the back of her head just before her teeth sank into my shoulder and forced her neck back. "Uh-uh, no biting, little bird."

Straight, white teeth glinted in the low lighting of the bedroom as she growled deep and low, some other tone untamed and indiscernible twining with the fierce sound she made.

Holy Zrenyth...she growled at me?!

And it sent me spiraling over the edge. I bucked with a hoarse shout, coming so hard my mind imploded into bitter black then a burst of light.

Fuck, fuck, fuuuck.

I collapsed against her, wrung out on ecstasy, still bodily jerking as I emptied inside her.

But Nelle wasn't done with me. Her hands ran over my chest, kneading my pecs, purposely squeezing her inner walls milking my cock. She wanted more. And she wanted it now. Those black eyes piercing and greedy.

I pulled out and scooped her up. She startled, giving a frustrated yelp as I strode quickly into the bathroom. Flicking the shower mixer onto the furthest cold, I dumped her unceremoniously into the bottom of the shower. She shrieked as her ass hit the cold tiles and chilly water struck her flushed skin. Long wet locks flailed as she scrambled to her feet. I held her back. "Graysen!" she bellowed. Her little fists struck out at my hand spread across the crown of her head, pinning her down. She shrieked, "It's freezing!"

Her skin goose-prickled and she glared up at me as she began to rise, fighting back with her unnatural strength.

I was relieved to see those black eyes had receded back to their normal ash-gray.

To keep her down, I shoved and unbalanced her. She fell back on her ass with an oomph.

Nelle blinked up at me. Cold water ran down her body and plastered her pale hair to her scalp, the darkened locks clinging to her shoulders and between the valley of those perky pink-tipped tits.

"You do realize I'm not one of your book boyfriends," I growled, flinging my arms outward. "I literally cannot fuck you all night long."

Her nose crinkled just before she burst out laughing. She shot a crooked grin my way and wiggled her eyebrows. "We won't know unless we try."

I slumped against the tiled wall, giving her the side-eye, wondering if she might pounce on me again. "Not going to happen."

She pouted but took my hand when I offered it to her. Both of us were a hot sticky mess, so I switched the water to warm and took to soaping us up, trying not to get aroused again—which was fucking hard to do when she kept purposely grinding her tight ass against my groin—and doing my best not to think of how good it felt to be inside her.

Drawing her out of the shower and bundling a towel around her, I scooped her up and kissed the tip of her nose, my smile widening at the pleased flush of rose pink blooming on her cheeks. Carrying her back to the bedroom, I placed her on her feet beside the bed.

The state of the room was chaos. I think we might have fucked on every single surface. The couch was shoved out of position and had tumbled over, cushions were scattered over the floor and the rugs were messed up too. The Klimt painting was skewered above the set of drawers that were the perfect height for her to perch her tight ass on. And we'd even torn the curtain from the four-poster bed.

Nelle squirmed, huffing when I kept her bundled up tightly. "I won't jump you. Promise."

"I don't trust you."

"You shouldn't," she grinned, her gaze purposely sliding to the bedside drawers I'd had her sit on so I could eat her out, where the lamp and other trinkets had been knocked off and either rolled under the bed or were scattered on the carpet.

I narrowed my eyes at her.

She sighed, disappointed, but stayed still as I unwrapped the towel around her, and patted her dry, squeezing the water from her hair. As soon as I'd finished drying us, folding up the towels neatly and placing them over the back of a chair, she forcefully pushed me onto the bed. She crawled onto the mattress and pulled a loose blanket over the top of us both before lying down next to me, squiggling closer. She tangled a leg with mine and slid an arm across my chest, pressing her cheek against the wyrm brand across my heart. "I'm cold because of you. The least you could do is give me some of your body heat."

I wound my arm around her, sinking into the moment, feeling how right she felt beside me. The low glow of bedroom light danced over the necklace she wore as a bracelet. Using the tip of a finger I drew my touch along the bumpy length. About a quarter of the adamere beads had been destroyed by her grinding them between her fingers as she'd desperately tried to keep control over herself. A spark of warmth washed through my chest to see a gleam of silver. Threaded onto the bracelet was a silver charm. A sparrow. And it remained intact.

Before I could inspect the tiny silver bird further, I blinked, suddenly realizing that I hadn't slept for a few days, and I wondered if I was going to crash sometime soon. More than likely, especially after this bout of sexual activity. The girl had used me shamelessly.

Nelle's fingers began idly tracing the wyrm branded over my heart. "Graysen..." she began, and my chest tightened with unease. I knew by the serious way she spoke my name, it wasn't going to be good. "You gave me your word you wouldn't tell anyone about me... About what I am... But you told Caidan. When was that? After the Uzrek?"

My blood chilled and my stomach dropped like a wrecking ball on a junked car.

Shit. At least she assumed it was then, rather than the truth, that my family had known the moment I'd spilled my guts after the Horned Gods came for my mother, years ago.

What the fuck was I going to tell her?

I was opening up my mouth to say fuck-knows-what, when something, or rather someone, started banging at the bedroom door.

***

A furious pounding erupted on the door to the guest bedroom before someone shouted. "Graysen Crowther, I know you're in there!" A few more thumps made the door shudder. "What have you done with my sister?!"

My gaze locked on Graysen's with mutual horror.

"Lise," I hissed.

Mortification flooded through my veins. My sister was going to barge in here, take one look, and discover I'd had sex—

Oh my gods...I just had sex.

A lot of sex.

Like...a lot.

I was not ready to have that conversation with my elder sister when even I hadn't turned it over in my mind.

"Do something. Anything. Kick the godsdamned door in!" Lise barked.

"Annalise," Aldan growled.

"Now. Do it now!"

I sprang to my feet, unmindful of my nakedness. Graysen scrambled from the bed.

All rational thought fled. All I could do was bounce up and down on the mattress, flailing my arms, freaking out.

Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods!

"Oh my gods!" I whisper-yelled.

Graysen was a blur of black speed. Something got tossed at me, soft and white. Suddenly I was yanked from the bed, manhandled into whatever was held in my hands, and then my ass slapped against leather. A seat, I realized, as something bendy that fluttered with a familiar scent of ink was shoved into my hands just as the lock gave out under Aldan's force, and the door crashed inward a split second later.

Graysen and I were sitting at the table across from one another, both of us reading books—well, I wasn't, I barely comprehended that there were words on the page in front of me—when Lise stormed into the bedroom ready for war, Aldan right behind her.

"Graysen..." she snarled, then came to a sudden halt in the middle of the room as she took me in. "Nelle?" Her eyes widened in surprise and the pitch of her voice notably lowered.

Graysen held up a finger and made a show of turning to the next page, and I barely held back the snicker. I was also impressed that he was now wearing a black shirt and pants.

"What the... What's going on...?" the words drifted apart, as Lise blinked rapidly to see me there, obviously fine, and Graysen and I casually reading like we were in some kind of book club.

"What the hells does it look like?" Graysen squinted at her, as if annoyed that she was interrupting him on his last page.

Lise's wide eyes bounced between Graysen and myself. For a moment she seemed taken aback and rueful and about to apologize. "You weren't answering my calls," she directed at me.

No. I suppose my phone was somewhere in the woodland along with my shredded dress. And I might have incinerated Graysen's phone along with his clothes.

Aldan's gaze flicked around the chaos of the room. He ran a meaty palm down his face and the look he gave me over Lise's shoulder was both shocked and disappointed and made me wish I could swift out of there.

"Lise," Aldan murmured, stepping flush with her. He gestured for them to leave, but Lise abruptly reared back, a stricken, surprised expression tightening her features. Her hand slapped across her upper chest. "Oh my gods... You've... You two... Nelle...?"

I coughed, spluttering on nothing but air, attempting terribly to shake my head in denial.

"No? Is that the line you're going to feed me?" She raised her hand, jabbing an accusing finger at me. "For one, that shirt...of his...is inside out."

I glanced down—shit, she was right.

The finger swung to Graysen. "And your book is upside down."

The finger got pointed at me again. "And that goofy smile is a dead giveaway."

"Goofy?" I echoed, my eyes widening but my expression not shifting. I think I was incapable of actually managing to do anything but grin.

She snorted. "Yeah, goofy, little sister."

A clearing of a throat, and an arched eyebrow from Graysen, his mouth twitching in amusement. There was a wicked promise gleaming in his black eyes that said he was going to keep that goofy smile on my face.

Graysen tossed the charade of a book onto the table and glared at Lise. "What are you doing here?"

"Your absence at the engagement party has been noted and gone on long enough. I suggest you two get yourselves together and show your faces for Evvie's sake."

I straightened, instantly worried. "Is she all right?"

"She's fine," Aldan answered, ushering his wife out the door.

"But," Lise protested, frowning at him. "I haven't—"

"You've said enough. Leave them be."

"She needs to know about Mas—"

But the door closed on her with a thump and Aldan's exasperated, "Annalise," cut her off.

"Ugh," I sighed, banging my forehead on the tabletop. "I am never going to hear the end of this."

I glanced sidelong to see Graysen rise, jerking his chin toward the door that adjoined his to mine. "Best we get ready. We'll show up, make a brief appearance, then—"

"Bed. Sex." I answered eagerly, jackknifing upright.

He pulled a horrified face. "To sleep, or in my case, rest."

I made an ugh sound again, feigning a yawn. "Boring."