Pure Destiny (PureDark Ones #12) - Aja James Page 0,23

the sheet again, wetting the fabric with his pre-cum, while Dalair himself breathed deeply in a fitful slumber, his brows drawn together in a mask of tension, even pain, his full lips flattened in a grim line.

“What am I supposed to do with you?” Sophia murmured, lying half on top of his body, half on her side, face to face with him, as she turned his head toward hers.

Unsurprisingly, he didn’t reply, though a muscle ticked in his clenched jaw.

Could he hear her when he was like this? Could some deeply buried part of him feel her touch, her heat?

Tentatively, she placed her hand on the side of his face, gently caressing his sharp cheekbone with her thumb.

The furrow between his brows seemed to lessen somewhat at her touch, as if it soothed him.

Emboldened, she moved her fingers over his hard jaw, his soft mouth.

He slowly unclenched, his lips parting slightly, invitingly.

“Do you have any idea what you do to me, Dalair Al Amirah? How you tempt me? And here we are, naked and alone. On a bed of sorts…”

She huffed a sound that was half groan, half laugh.

“And I want to Mate with you in every way until neither of us can walk for a week. A month! But you’re not even you! You let me have your body. You need this to heal, to get stronger. I feel it. But it means nothing beyond that for you, does it?”

In a whisper she added, “While it means everything to me.”

She brushed her thumb across his lips and pressed the tip of it between them, seeking the wet warmth of his mouth.

Unexpectedly, his tongue glanced across her digit so lightly she thought she imagined it, but the tingling in her thumb told her she hadn’t.

Helplessly, she shifted closer so that she could press her own starving lips against his pliant mouth, kissing him softly, desperately, her whole body quivering with need.

He didn’t respond. He simply lay there unconscious, his face turned toward her, the furrow between his brows deepening again.

Her heart pounding, her body heavy with passion, Sophia lay fully on top of him and grasped his head between both hands, kissing every feature on his face with increased urgency and desperation—his brows, his closed eyes, his cheeks, his nose, lips and jaw.

Wake up. She beseeched him silently.

Wake up and kiss me back. Love me back. Please! Wake up, Dalair!

But he didn’t. He remained unconscious beneath her even as his body tightened, his muscles bunching, hardening, as she kissed her way down his neck, his collarbone and chest.

His breathing deepened, became rougher, more agitated, but that was the only sign that he felt what she did to him.

That, and his body’s instinctive response. His veins raising beneath his skin to vie for her attention. Penetration. His musk growing stronger, permeating the air around them, until she wanted to breathe nothing but him. His flesh heating as his blood flowed hot within him, begging her to drink it.

Sophia couldn’t help herself, couldn’t stop even if she wanted to, from touching him with impassioned longing. Possessive. Obsessive. The need to stake him as hers made her Pure female fangs punch through her gums without warning.

Along with undeniable, uncontrollable primal need, something dark and violent brewed within her, making her savage.

Despite her words earlier, in this moment, she was all fury, greed and selfishness. She wanted to take everything he offered, fuck him hard and raw. Devour his sweet, hot blood, and wring the life force from him until he was bone-dry.

Yes! His body would fuel her powers. She would become stronger than ever. She could raze the world and everyone in it, and no one would be able to stop her!

What was the point of living if he couldn’t love her back? She would take everything that was left of him and send a farewell fuck-you to the rest of the universe. She could—

Unbidden, the earlier conversation she’d had with Eveline, Rain and Benji during supper buzzed like annoying insects in her mind, distracting enough to make her pause.

“Benjamin, my dear, you are quite ingenious to think of the ancient Egyptians,” Eveline thought out loud as they sat around a long table to dine in a separate part of the enclosure.

“Since Rain told me about the Paladin’s condition, I’ve been researching in the Ecliptic Scrolls, as well as human histories that are available in the Dark Ones’ archives. As far as human histories go, the earliest conception of the soul seems to