Elysia moaned and dropped her head back. Stars twinkled above, but she couldn’t focus on any one. His wicked tongue circled the bones at the base of her throat, distracting her from the view. And when he licked his way up the other side of her throat and kissed his way out to her other shoulder, all she could focus on was him.
Electricity arced inside her. Grasping his face in her hands, she pulled his mouth back to hers and kissed him again, wanting to taste him deeply, wanting to feel him everywhere. His hands moved around to her back while he drove her wild with his mouth. He found the zipper of her dress and inched it down. Cool air washed over her spine and was quickly replaced with a wave of heat as his palm brushed the length of her back.
Her stomach tightened. Tingles rushed over her skin as his hands drifted back to the straps against her arms and he pushed the dress down her rib cage, freeing her breasts from the molded cups of her dress.
He drew back from her mouth. Groaned at the sight of her nipples pebbling in the cool night air. A shiver raced down her spine while he looked his fill. He’d seen her naked the other night in the hot springs, but he hadn’t stared then as he was doing now. As if he couldn’t get enough. As if he was memorizing every curve and plane. As if he was plotting his path to touch and taste and lick and suck.
“Damon.” She fisted the center of his black T-shirt in one hand and pulled him toward her. “I want you.”
His dark gaze lifted to hers. Hot. Focused. Filled with so much desire, her sex clenched in anticipation.
In one swift move, he reached back, pulled the T-shirt over his head, and tossed it on the ground. “I’m all yours, emmoní.”
Laughing, she closed a hand around the edge of the rose tattoo on his right biceps and pulled him into her. And when his lips found hers and his tongue immediately drove into her mouth, the laughter turned to a moan of approval.
She wrapped her legs around his waist and rocked against the length of his erection. Dragging his lips from hers, he pressed hot wet kisses against the corner of her mouth, across her jaw and down her throat. He cupped her breast in his hand, squeezed as he worked his lips down her collarbone. Leaning her head back, Elysia clutched his strong arms and moaned. He lifted her breast and lowered his head, taking the tip into his mouth to lick and lave and suckle, and the pleasure was too good to fight. She let go of his arms, braced her hands on the altar behind her and arched her back, giving him more, giving him whatever he wanted, giving him everything.
His erection pushed against the heat between her legs every time he shifted, making her moan, making her body tremble. He circled her nipple, scraped his teeth along the tip until she quivered, palmed the other breast, and did the same.
“Lie back,” he whispered.
Elysia lowered herself to the altar. Cool stones pressed against her spine. Damon’s hands landed on her hips, and, gently, he scooted her back, his hot breath washing over her breasts, her abdomen, and finally her thighs. Lifting one foot, he tugged off her shoe, did the same to the other, and set her feet on the edge of the altar. And when he had her positioned the way he wanted, he lifted his gaze to hers, smiled a possessively devilish grin, and slowly pushed her skirt up until it pooled around her hips.
His gaze drifted down, and then it was his turn to groan long and deep. “Oh, emmoní.”
She shivered at what she knew he was seeing. She’d bypassed panties tonight as well, hoping she wouldn’t need them, and now she was glad she had.
His hands landed against her inner thighs, pushing her legs wide. Tingles ran over her skin where he touched, and when his hot breath fanned the sensitive flesh between her legs, she trembled.
“You are the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He pressed his lips against her hipbone, moved to the apex of her sex. Holding her breath, she watched as he lowered his head and trailed his tongue down her center and back up again.
“Oh, Damon…” Her eyes drifted closed. She dropped her head back and moaned. Pleasure arced outward from her sex as his tongue found her clit and circled. Lifting her hips, she helped him find a rhythm. Groaned when he drew the hard bud into his mouth and suckled. Shuddered each time he released her to trace his tongue down to her opening and back up again.
Yes, this was heaven. The only kind of heaven she wanted. He skimmed one hand up and over the skirt at her waist to cup her breast. The other slid down her inner thigh, across her sex. One thick finger pressed deep inside her as he continued to torment her with his tongue.
Electrical energy gathered in her core. She grasped the silky locks of his hair while she rocked against his mouth. Heat raced down her spine. Tingles radiated outward from her sex. Shifting against the altar, she rose to meet his mouth, lowered, arched her back, trembled because the pleasure was so damn good.
He licked faster, drove deeper with his finger. Drew her clit between his lips and suckled. And when the orgasm hit, it was like a bolt of lightning crashing into her. White light exploded behind her eyelids, causing her to arch her back and scream his name.
Slowly, she became aware of Damon’s lips caressing the inside of her thigh, moving up to the sensitive line of her hip, then across her lower abs. And she felt the rain. Soft droplets striking her nose, her breast, her leg, her foot.
Blinking several times, she opened her eyes and lifted her head to look down at him. His hair was damp from the rain, but he didn’t seem to mind. A victorious grin curled his wicked lips. “Feel powerful yet, oraios?”
Yes, she did. But not powerful enough.
Pushing up on her hands, she grasped him at the shoulders and pulled his mouth back to hers. Rain pelted their cheeks, their noses, ran down to slide over their fused lips. His tongue darted into her mouth, and he groaned. She tasted him mixed with her desire, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She needed everything.
She pressed him back, climbed off the altar, grasped him at the shoulders, and turned him so his back was against the cool, hard stones. Her hands swept down to the waistband at his hips, and she popped the button free while she kissed him again. His fingers threaded into her damp hair as he leaned into her, devouring her mouth while she ripped his pants open and shoved her hands inside to grasp his firm, toned ass.
“Elysia,” he whispered against her lips. “My Elysia.”
She shivered because he wasn’t wearing underwear either. Tearing her mouth from his, she shoved his pants all the way to the ground and dropped to her knees. “I need to taste you. Now.”
He groaned at the words. His cock sprang up, hard and hot and pulsing. While he kicked off his boot, she clasped her hand around the steely length and drew it toward her lips.
“Skata, Elysia.” He kicked off the other boot and pushed his pants the rest of the way down his leg. “Let me get these o—” Her mouth closed around the tip. “Oh holy gods.”
He fell back against the altar as she took him all the way into her mouth. The head of his cock brushed the back of her throat. Releasing him, she ran the flat of her tongue along the underside of the head, then sucked him deep all over again.
“Fuck, emmoní, that feels so damn good.” His fingers slid into her hair, and he gripped the back of her head, pushing forward with his hips so his cock breached the opening of her throat. Relaxing her gag reflex, she sucked him deeper, loving the way he moaned and rocked and trembled against her.
Her sex tingled. She dropped one hand between her legs and stroked her aching clit as she drew him deep, released, and did it again. Fire flared hot inside her. He swelled in the back of her throat. She stroked her fingers faster, but it wasn’t enough. She wanted more. She needed everything.
Releasing him, she pushed to her feet and shimmied out of her dress. “Get up on the altar. I need you now.”
“Yes, emmoní.” His voice was thick with lust and desire as he kicked his pants the rest of the way off and scrambled onto the hard stone. The rain fell faster. Somewhere above, thunder rumbled like an ominous warning.
Elysia climbed ove
r him, braced her knees on each side of his hips, and leaned forward to kiss him. His mouth immediately opened, his hands slid into her hair, pulling her into him. Shifting her knees back, she found his cock with her hand and stroked him from root to tip until he groaned.
“Skata,” he whispered against her lips. “Take me. Use me. Fuck me, emmoní. Do everything you want to me. I’m yours. Only yours.”
Elysia’s heart raced beneath her breast. Eyes locked on his, she leaned back on her heels, positioned his cock between her legs, and drew the tip through her wetness. He shivered beneath her. When the tip ran over her clit, she joined him and groaned.
Power crackled in her veins. Damon’s hands landed against her thighs, sending shards of heat all through her limbs. He flexed his hips as she stroked her sex along his cock. Lifted to give her more friction.
“That feels so fucking good,” he groaned.
So did he. But it still wasn’t enough.
“Watch,” she whispered. “I want you to watch as I take you.”
His gorgeous gaze drifted down her naked body, the lust in his eyes making her nipples harden and her stomach quiver. Watching him as he watched where their bodies touched, she drew the head of his cock to the opening of her sex and slowly pressed down.
A muscle in his temple pulsed, and his mouth fell open in a silent groan as she slowly took his thick, steely heat inside. She wanted to keep watching him, but the sensation was too delicious, the way he stretched her and filled her so completely too much to resist. Closing her eyes, she gave in to the desire and dropped all the way down, tightening her muscles around his rigid length until they both groaned.
“Oh fuck,” he gasped.
Electricity sizzled inside Elysia. Pressing her palms against his pecs, she lifted until the tip slid almost all the way out, then dropped down, taking him deep in one quick thrust.
“Oh fuuuuck,” he groaned.
The energy gathering inside snapped and popped. Elysia lifted again, lowered once more, squeezed his cock as she rode him. Every rock of her hips dragged the head of his cock along her sensitive walls, making her tremble. Her pulse raced. Perspiration formed along her forehead and spine to mix with the rain falling faster from above. She shifted until he hit that special place. Until every thrust was a repeat stab against her G-spot. Until everything else faded away and all she felt was him, this, them, exactly where they were joined.
Her head fell back, her eyes slid closed. She rode him harder, took him deeper…wanting, needing, craving, begging for something she couldn’t name.
“Ah gods,” he gasped beneath her as he drove up to meet her. His fingers tightened against her hips, lifting and lowering her in time to his thrusts. “Don’t stop.”
Thunder crashed above. The rain grew heavier, dragging Elysia’s eyes open. She looked down at Damon and the rain pelting their bodies in large, fat droplets that slicked their skin and rolled down Elysia’s cheeks. A heady rush of energy mixed with desire and heat rushed through her, making her fuck him with longer, deeper, tighter strokes. He gasped again, but she couldn’t stop. She felt drugged with an erotic hunger she couldn’t sate. One that took control of her body. Pushed her faster. Overwhelmed her with a power she’d never felt before.
“Elysia…” He groaned her name, thrust up harder to meet her downward strokes. Lightning flashed in a series of white bolts across the dark sky, illuminating the columns of the temple, the altar beneath them, Damon’s tensed and gorgeous face dripping with water, and, finally, her wet hands braced against his hard, muscular chest. Pressing down one more time, she squeezed as hard as she could, and when her orgasm hit, it sent a blinding wave of heat and energy and light straight from her core that consumed everything in its path.
Even her.
Damon blinked up into the rain as Elysia lay limp against his chest. The drops slowed their relentless pounding and faded to nothing more than a light mist. Above, he watched the clouds roll and part until the twinkle of starlight once again filled the night sky above the temple.
Holy Hades. No, holy…fuck. That was not at all what he’d expected. That had not been normal. Considering whom he served, he’d done just about everything there was to do sexually, but he’d never done that. He’d never felt that. And the pressure suddenly condensing in his chest—a pressure so intense it stole his breath—wasn’t helping him decipher what the hell had just happened. Neither was the strange voice in the back of his head whispering…she’s the one.
He tried to breathe through it, told himself he was only reacting to what he’d seen. To the image of Elysia naked and riding him in the midst of a storm that seemed to come out of nowhere—lighting flashing behind her, rain pelting their bodies while her hair flew around her face in a wild, angry tangle. But it was the look in her eyes he couldn’t forget. The way her dark irises had glazed over. As if she were in a trance. As if she were on fire. As if she were possessed. Only somewhere deep inside, he knew that look wasn’t causing the pressure now in his chest. This pressure was from something else. Something bigger. Something he had no frame of reference to explain.
She’s the one.
“Wow.” Elysia shifted her head against his chest, sending her damp hair skipping over his bare skin. “Wooooow.”
The pressure turned to a full-on panic that snaked all through his ribs. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t breathe. He needed space. Needed to go.
His hands shook as he grasped her arms, rolled her off him, then scooted out from under her and slid off the table. His bare foot hit the edge of a step he’d forgotten was there, and he stumbled. His weight went out from under him, and before he could stop himself, he fell flat on his ass on the hard, cold floor.
“Damon?” Elysia gripped the edge of the altar and looked down at him. “Are you okay?”
He sucked in a deep breath as he met her gaze. And the moment he did, he had another flash of her climaxing in the middle of that rainstorm with the lightning and thunder around her. Of the way her orgasm had triggered his, and the rush of emotion that had sucked him under, chewed him up, and spit him back out.
His head grew light. Tearing his gaze from hers, he stumbled toward his clothes. “I’m…”
Holy fuck, he was not okay. He was wrecked. Seriously fucking wrecked. From sex.
Which made no freakin’ sense, because he did not get wrecked from sex. He had more sex than most of the gods, and he never felt a damn thing besides a quick release. His fingers trembled as he pulled on his damp pants and tugged on his soaked shirt, then sat on the steps and fumbled with his boots.
He needed space. Needed to think. Needed—
“Damon?”
—her. He needed her.
Blinking several times, he looked up to see Elysia standing next to him in her dress, her hair still wild and tangled, her eyes now drawn and worried.
“Are you okay?” She knelt beside him and placed her palm over his forehead. “You look pale.”
She’s mine.
“You’re not okay.” Concern raced across Elysia’s features as she rose. “What happened? Did I do something wrong?”
Nothing made sense. But as he pushed to his feet, one thing did.
Her. She made sense in a lifetime of confusion and disappointment and emptiness.
He closed his arms around her and pulled her into his chest, unable to find the words, still unsure what he was feeling. The pressure remained, as did the voice, but knowing he’d upset her added a new layer of anxiety he couldn’t ignore.
“You’re shaking,” she whispered, her hands landing softly against his back. “Tell me what I did wrong.”
A shriek sounded above the temple, and they both looked up as a winged creature with the torso and head of a golden-haired woman and the body of a giant bird soared through the opening in the ceiling and headed straight for them.
Damon’s eyes widened on the harpy with razor-sheep teeth and claws that could tear a man to shreds, but his feet wouldn’t move. Harpies couldn’t
enter sacred ground. They couldn’t come into Athena’s temple, even if that temple was in ruins.
“Damon! Get down!”
Elysia threw her weight into Damon and knocked him behind the altar. Damon tumbled to the ground on his back. The harpy screeched and soared back toward the hole in the ceiling. Outside, another shriek echoed. Followed by a third.
“There are more coming. Get up.” Elysia pulled hard on Damon’s arm, forcing him to his feet. Grasping his hand, she tugged her with him toward the corner of the temple, behind three broken columns set in a triangle they could use as a barricade.
Damon’s head felt light. His brain fuzzy. He slid to the ground and leaned back against a column. “Harpies…can’t enter here.”
“Well, they just did.” Elysia scanned the temple. “We need a weapon. Damon, where can I find a weapon in this temple?”
Elysia’s words echoed around Damon, but he couldn’t seem to filter out the background voice. The one that kept repeating… She’s the one. She’s yours. She’s everything…
“Damon! Focus!”
Another harpy shrieked. Damon blinked several times, only to realize Elysia was holding him by the shirtfront with both hands. His gaze lifted to her frightened eyes. “W-what?”
“Weapons. This is Athena’s temple. She’s the goddess of war. Even if this place is ancient, there have to be weapons stored somewhere. Where would they be?”
A third harpy screamed somewhere inside the temple.
Weapons… Athena… Damon looked past Elysia toward the altar and the statue of Athena behind it.
“Damon.” Elysia shook him.
“There are no weapons,” he managed. “None except…”
Elysia turned toward the statue of Athena in her warrior armor, a sleeve of arrows strapped to her back, a real sword at her side in one hand and a bow in the other.
“Skata.” Elysia pushed to her feet. “I’ll get them.”
Damon’s brain cued in to what she was planning, and fear wrapped an icy hand around his throat and squeezed. He grasped her forearm before she could get more than a step away. “No. You can’t.”