Page 162 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
She arched a brow, widening her stance just slightly. ‘Don’t start pretending to be gentle now, commander. We both know you’re not.’
A slow smile curved his lips. ‘Oh, I have no intention of being gentle.’
Her fingers tightened on his horns, cutting off whatever clever remark he might have added. His hands slid higher, tracing the curve of her hips before catching at the thin fabric between them. He drew it down slowly, his touch reverent rather than rushed, and let it fall away.
For a heartbeat, he simply looked at her.
Then he bent his head again.
His mouth wandered, teasing, and deliberate, everywhere but where the ache demanded. His tongue traced maddening paths along her skin, testing her patience, tasting her in fragments, as though he meant to unspool her piece by piece.
Dawn’s grip tightened in warning.
He only smiled against her, unhurried, savouring the control and the way she trembled above him.
‘Commander,’ she whispered, her voice trembling with need, every nerve in her body alive and straining. ‘I appreciate the patience, but you need to stop teasing.’
A low chuckle rumbled through him, dark and satisfied. He pressed a lingering kiss to her thigh, deliberately slow.
‘You shouldn’t hurry a man entrusted with such a sacred duty,’ he said, his mouth hovering just shy of where she ached most. Close enough to promise. Not close enough to grant.
‘Careful,’ she warned, breath hitching. ‘When it’s your turn, I’ll take just as long—’
Her threat dissolved into a gasp.
In one decisive movement, he abandoned restraint. The teasing vanished, replaced by intention. Dawn cried out as sensation swept through her, sharp and bright as lightning splitting a storm. Her body arched, fingers tightening in his hair as if anchoring herself to something solid while the rest of her unravelled.
He knew exactly what he was doing. The measured pace, the rhythm, the unspoken command in every touch drew the air from her lungs and left only heat in its wake. Every breath she took was fractured, every thought scattering like ash.
‘Kai—’ she breathed, no longer teasing.
Her entire body tightened around the rising pleasure, the tension coiling tighter and tighter, until she was certain she could not bear another second of it.
And still, he did not rush.
He wanted to feel her break.
And she was dangerously close to doing just that.
Dawn had meant to draw it out, to savour every second and make him work for it as he had made her beg. But whatever fragile resolve she had dissolved the moment his fingers joined his tongue.
Her breath shattered as pleasure surged through her, fierce and unrelenting. The way his mouth sucked her, the way his hands fucked was too much, far too much to endure with composure. Her fingers tightened in his hair, her body arching helplessly against him.
‘Kai—’ she gasped, the name breaking from her like a prayer.
The tension snapped.
She came hard, head falling back against the wall, a cry torn from her throat as sensation rippled through her in blinding waves. It coursed through her limbs like lightning, sharp and white-hot, leaving nothing untouched. Her hips moved instinctively, chasing the last tremors, riding out the aftershocks as though the world had narrowed to nothing but touch and heat and him.
And still he did not withdraw immediately.
He held her there in the aftermath, steadying her as she trembled, as if he meant to memorise the way she fell apart.
Dawn’s breaths came ragged and unsteady, her entire body humming in the wake of it, undone in a way that had nothing to do with glamour or illusion.
And for the first time in a very long while, she did not feel the need to hide.
Dawn’s knees nearly gave way beneath her, but Kai caught her before she could fall. He lifted her withsurprising gentleness and laid her upon the bed, following her down so that his body hovered protectively above hers. His hands came up to frame her face, thumbs brushing over her cheeks as though she were something fragile and rare.
