Chapter 144: Drown

The second Magnus took two steps away from the bed, he scooped me into his arms, carried me out of the suite, and brought me straight into his private study. Dropping onto the leather sofa, he pulled me on top of his lap, his body vibrating with intense arousal.

His breath hit my neck in ragged gasps, his broad chest heaving against mine. His palms slid possessively over my back, down to my waist, before cupping my rear with a firm, commanding grip. He rolled his hips upward, the hard length of his shaft grinding against my center, sending a blinding wave of heat straight up my spine. Friction struck my nerves like lightning; a helpless groan broke from my lips as my fingers dug into his massive shoulders.

"Magnus!.."

He didn’t wait to hear whatever caution I was about to speak. With a low, primal growl, his mouth claimed mine. The kiss was far from gentle—it was an invasion, a dominant declaration of ownership. His lips moved with fierce, consuming intensity, searing away the last remnants of my doubt and leaving only a scorching, wild desire. He kissed me until the universe shrank down to the dark thrill of his mouth.

Heat pulsed wet and heavy between my thighs, a feral fire consuming every rational argument against what was about to happen on this sofa.

"You..." he rasped against my lips, struggling for control. Hands shaking slightly, I reached for the buttons of his shirt, undoing them one by one. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his eyes as a burning blush swept over my cheeks. "If I don’t stop now, I won’t be able to," he warned, his voice deep and gravelly. "I won’t be able to pull away. Tell me now, Jane..."

"Don’t stop."

Overcoming the rush of embarrassment, I locked my gaze onto his quicksilver eyes. I knew that if I let him finish his warning, shame or hesitation might claw its way back in, and I would retreat. But deep down, I knew the truth. I wanted this. I wanted his fire. I craved the touch of his bare skin under my fingertips and the trail of his kisses across my body.

I wanted to drown in him.

His hands closed around me like iron manacles, unyielding and absolute. Time stretched thin. I watched, heart stuttering, as Magnus let his eyes fall shut and released a slow, controlled breath—surrendering, just for a moment, to whatever storm lived inside him. When those eyes opened again, the force of what burned there—fire threaded through pure darkness—hit me like a physical blow. I shuddered.

Those same hands slid beneath my shirt, palms searing against bare skin, spreading heat in their wake. I stripped the fabric away and was left in nothing but my bra. His gaze raked over my breasts with open, predatory hunger. As if something deeper than will guided me, I unhooked the clasp. The garment slipped from my shoulders. Shame still clung to every motion, but it was a thin, useless thing against the pull between us.

"Fucking perfect," Magnus growled through clenched teeth—the sound more animal than human.

He leaned in until I arched back instinctively, and his mouth claimed the soft curves of my breasts. He nipped, kissed, tasted. Then his lips closed over one nipple while his hand claimed the other, and raw fire lanced through me. Pleasure tore across my body in a single, violent wave—hot, wild, and utterly beyond control.

"Magnus..." I moaned, arching into him.

He answered by catching my nipple between his teeth, then soothing the sting with a slow, wet drag of his tongue. Filthy. Deliberate. A raw sound tore from my throat before I could stop it—every scrap of restraint had vanished the moment his mouth found the side of my neck.

"Yes," he rasped against my skin. "Don’t hold back. I want every sound. Every moan."

In one fluid motion, he lifted me, and suddenly I was beneath him. His powerful frame blotted out the rest of the world.

Unlike me, he still wore his shirt. My heat snarled in quiet dissatisfaction at the barrier of cloth; I craved skin. Nothing else. I worked the buttons free while he dragged my shorts and panties down my legs. Instinct made me press my thighs together, suddenly too exposed, too open under that hungry stare.

He shrugged the shirt from his shoulders. The predatory sweep of his gaze over my bare body left heat in its wake. A low, amused sound rumbled in his chest as he settled between my legs, palms gliding from ankles to hips, gently but inexorably parting them. Panic fluttered in my chest. I covered myself with one hand.

"Don’t look... I’m embarrassed."

"Shy?" The word was velvet-rough, almost fond. He kissed the hollow of my throat, then followed a path only he seemed to know—down, lower, claiming every sensitive inch.

His mouth worked pure devastation across my breasts until coherent thought scattered. Hands roamed, stoking the wildfire under my skin. Lower still. Without warning, his tongue traced the hand I still pressed between my legs, sliding wetly between trembling fingers to taste the heat beneath. The jolt of it shattered what little strength remained in my arm. I arched helplessly. He caught my wrist and guided my palm to his shoulder instead.

Then madness took over.

Every stroke of his tongue drove me higher, sharper, until the world narrowed to the slick pressure of his mouth and the thick slide of his fingers inside me. Fullness crashed through every nerve. I balanced on the razor edge—one more deliberate curl of those fingers and stars exploded behind my eyes. My spine bowed hard enough to ache.

"Fuck—" The snarl that ripped from him was pure animal hunger, vibrating through the room.

Only when the aftershocks began to ease did I feel the heavy, insistent press of him against me. Magnus’s hand slid beneath my nape, lifting me into a deep, claiming kiss even as he drove forward in one devastating thrust. He swallowed my broken cry and began to move, hips rolling with ruthless control.

Each stroke split me open. Deep. Measured. Unstoppable. Every time he buried himself to the hilt, I felt myself fracturing, certain the next thrust would scatter the pieces of me across the room, the house, the entire Upper City.

"Look at me."

An alpha command. Impossible to refuse.

I forced my heavy lids open. The world swam, but the molten silver of his eyes caught and held me, drowning every thought of escape.

"Do you feel this?" He slowed until only the thick head of him remained inside me, pulsing, teasing, tormenting. A broken whimper escaped as I tried to roll my hips up, desperate for more, because the emptiness without him was suddenly unbearable.

"Magnus..." His name left my lips like a prayer—the only word I still possessed.

He drove back in hard. The cry that tore from me filled the room, raw and shameless. Somewhere far away, embarrassment waited along with reason and restraint. None of them belonged here. Not anymore.