“Say your mine,” he said, his voice like a deep growl as her inner muscles hugged and pumped his cock.
“I … I’m yours, Alexander,” she cried as they found their release together.
Chapter 16
With his arms wrapped around her, Alexander held Eve against his body and waited while their breathing slowed to a regular rate. He was still buried inside her, although his ability to perform had diminished.
Up until a few days ago, the thought of spending time in the company of another person roused feelings of anger, of betrayal. The belief that he was unable to control the violent urges, coupled with the lucid nightmares of him draining the life from all those who crossed his path, left him living in a permanent shadow of fear.
He had prayed many times: to be transported back to the tavern, to be free of the agony, to find a way to ease his loneliness. Little did he know, Evelyn Bromwell would storm into his life to answer his prayers.
Eve stirred and lifted her head from his shoulder, damp tendrils of hair obscuring her face. Never, amongst the vast array of licentious encounters, had he ever felt so sated.
“Are you alright?” he asked, smoothing back the tangled locks. Her eyes held a look he’d seen many times before — heavy lids framing a dreamy gaze. But on her, the magnificence caused his body to flame.
“I’m fine,” she said, her mouth curving up on one side. She bent her head and kissed him once, her lips slightly parted. “I would happily do it all over again.”
“I might need a few minutes, but I am more than willing.”
She tapped him lightly on the chest. “I meant I don’t regret giving myself to you.”
No one had ever given him such a precious gift. “Was it what you imagined it would be?” He caressed her back as he spoke, the contact making him swell inside her.
Her eyes widened at the sensation, and she swallowed deeply before replying. “I didn’t know I would feel like that. It was as though my soul had floated up and out of my body. Everything went hazy, and a tingling sensation rippled through me.”
No one had ever spoken to him so openly, so honestly and he felt privileged to have been the one to rouse such a satisfying response.
“We should have found a more suitable place,” he said, a stab of guilt piercing his chest. “Somewhere warm, a little more comfortable.”
“But I like it out here.” She looked up at the night sky. The stars twinkled against the vast inky background, the celestial canopy a fitting setting for what had been a heavenly experience. “We have an affinity for the night, for indulging our whims in secret. It is what first attracted me to you. It is only right we indulge our desires in the same manner.”
God had not forsaken him. God had sent this angel of light to be his salvation, to be his companion, to walk with him in the shadows.
“I feel free at night,” he said, his tone a little melancholic. “The night is my home. It is where I belong.”
Ironically, the night was also his prison.
“Sometimes the darkness calls out to me.” She stared at a point beyond him. “It rouses me from sleep, forcing me to lie awake until dawn. I’ve always found it a lonely time, as though I’ve woken to find I’m the only person alive in the world.”
Alexander stroked her face, let his fingers trail down her neck, over a pert pink nipple and he smiled when she sucked in a breath.
> “You don’t have to be alone at night. Know that I am always awake, always waiting for you.”
Her gaze drifted from his face to the mark on his chest, and she jerked her head back as though only noticing it for the first time.
“What’s that?” she asked pointing to the cross inside a circle of woven twine.
“A branding. They are popular in some cultures.” He did not want to lie to her. But it was too complicated to explain.
“Is it a religious mark?”
Religious? It was the mark of the Devil.
“It is the mark of a wanderer, of a soul lost to the night.”
Using the pad of her finger, she traced the outline.
“But you are not lost anymore, Alexander,” she said, and he was relieved she had not pressed him for a more definitive explanation. “We have found each other. When you lie awake at night, know that I am also waiting.”