Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,52

slowly wrapped around the front to dig in around the bone. Instinctively, I shifted backward, wanting to close the distance between us—wanting him inside of me—until I felt the length of him settle against my core. I moaned at the contact.

“I want you to know something before we leave, Piper.” He pulled away an inch, and I wriggled against his hold in pursuit. “I have existed for centuries, but never, in all that time, have I felt truly alive like I do when I am with you.” Once again, I felt him press against me, teasing me. “And it’s because of this that I will fight with all that I am and all that I have, until I am and have no more.” With that sentiment, he thrust himself inside of me so hard and deep that I cried out, the sensation toeing the line between ecstasy and pain. “Because I would sooner die than watch the life fade from your eyes.”

He withdrew slowly while he held me still. “I love you, Piper—more than anything in this world.” He slammed inside me again, and my head lolled back as a pleasured cry escaped my lips. His hand released my hip and entangled in my hair, holding my head in place. “You, my love, cannot leave me.”

“I won’t,” I breathed as he increased his deliciously punishing pace. “I won’t…”

A low rumble of laughter echoed through his body, and it nearly sent me over the edge.

“Then we are agreed.”

“Yes,” I gasped as he reached around the front of me and began drawing small, circular motions between my legs. My hips jumped and my body shook, and for the second time that night, I was rocked hard by a Merc-induced orgasm. He came deep inside me, then released my hair and captured my chest to pull me back against him, our bodies melded into one.

“I want to feel your heartbeat,” he whispered in my ear as I struggled to steady my breathing. “I want to feel it slam against your chest into mine, because with each beat, it reminds me that you are alive and you are mine.”

“I’ve always been yours,” I breathed. “Even when I wasn’t.”

He growled his approval and nipped my neck before pulling out of me. He released me gently, and I collapsed face-first onto the bed. My starfish impression must have been amusing from his angle, because an uncharacteristically raucous laugh escaped him.

Then it cut short when Jase and Dean stormed through the door.

“Yo!” I shouted, scrambling to roll myself up in the comforter.

“Oh shit—”

“Have either of your assholes ever heard of knocking?” My anger would have been much better delivered had I not been rolled up like a burrito struggling to my feet next to the bed.

“Sorry, P,” Dean said, not looking sorry at all.

“We didn’t realize you were in here,” Jase added with a subdued smile.

“What is it?” Merc asked. He stared them down, naked as could be, like that was totally normal.

Men…

“It’s Sherry,” Jase replied. “The coven queen called to say that she’s finished.” His gaze slowly turned to me and Dean’s followed, their amusement wiped clean. “It’s time.”

Chapter Nineteen

Amassed in the driveway of the mansion stood a veritable army of supernaturals, some of whom had made my life miserable growing up; they had ridiculed me, shunned me, abused me, and worse. And now they would be my allies—at least temporarily—in the hunt for and eradication of the fey royals. Our alliance was a necessary evil.

“You know why you are all here.” Merc’s deep voice boomed over the crowd, silencing them. “Our mutual enemy is at the gates, and we must strike before they are powerful enough to come to our side of the veil. If we don’t, all could be lost.” Murmurs erupted through the crowd, and my eyes shifted to the New York pack, who hovered around the perimeter like the outsiders they were. They glared at Merc, their resentment plain, then turned that collective angry stare to me. Knox may have given an order that they were bound to follow, but it was apparent that they didn’t like it. “There is a portal to a secret part of Faerie that even the royals have no knowledge of. That is where we will enter. And that is what will provide us cover until we can hunt down the king and queen and destroy them.”

“We have the element of surprise on our side, and we plan to capitalize on it,” Knox added as he surveyed