Reborn (Shadow Beast Shifters Book 3)

Shadow’s flames appeared first, and as much as I wanted to turn and see the fire in his eyes, his hold kept me immobile. Not just his hold, but also his power.

“You never fight me here,” he rumbled, and dammit, why was his voice sexy enough to curl toes? “You have power beyond almost any other, and yet, you’ve never tried to fight my hold on you when I touch you like this.”

He was talking and walking, and I was burning alive in the most delicious way. “Why would I fight?” I croaked, trying to remember what words even were. “You give my body so much pleasure that at times—and this is no lie—I feel like I might die from it. I gave up control to you that day in the Shadow Realm, and despite thinking that would be a onetime thing, I find that… I don’t mind it so much now. I get to be strong in every other avenue of my life except—”

“Except with me.” He interrupted, needing to take control of my words as well. “This is why we’re true mates; beyond anything you could have had with Torin. We build each other up, making each other stronger by embracing who we are. Torin wanted you for your beauty, strength, and brains, but only in a way that enhanced his. You were his trophy mate, his prize. A male of strength will get on his knees for his woman and know that it doesn’t lessen him in any way. Torin was too weak and stupid to see that, and he never could have honored you as you deserved.”

My body was on fire, my panties drowning, and I needed Shadow to do exactly what his words were promising. I wanted him on his knees. Easing the ache that no one else in the world could except my beast.

“I love you,” I told him.

His hands came up to cup my breasts, his power holding me against him. “I am honored to be your mate.”

He was still avoiding the L word, but somehow what he did say felt like the same thing. Or stronger. Because for a being like Shadow, honor was everything.

I’d expected him to take us into his room again, but I should have known that conventional sex wasn’t Shadow’s jam. He wasn’t into weird shit like cucumbers in my lady parts, but he also never headed straight for a bed.

We ended up in a part of the lair I’d never been to before, and it was here that Shadow’s power fully released me, allowing me to turn on the spot to take it all in.

Pushing past the comfy-looking couches, I was immediately captivated with the view. “Windows,” I whispered. I hadn’t known that any parts of this lair had windows, but here we were, surrounded by the most beautiful night sky I’d ever seen. There were stars, scattered outside of the twenty-foot-high paned glass, seemingly so close, I felt like I could reach out and touch them.

“Is this real?” I breathed, feeling overwhelmed and awed, standing on the edge of the universe. It reminded me of Faerie, but in a way, far more intimidating.

“Does it feel real?” he asked, his hand sliding across my side as he pulled me into him.

I nodded, finally tearing my gaze from the stars so I could look up at him. “For the first time in my life, everything feels real.”

His eyes held me, the intensity there enough to draw forward my soul as he cupped my face. It wasn’t in Shadow’s nature to be soft, not in touch or mannerisms, but as he pressed his lips to mine, it was with the gentlest of pressures. He turned me so that both of his hands held my face, cradling it like I was precious, and maybe this was the point my heart finally burst.

The kiss started slow, a sensual sweep of our tongues. There was no rush—we had no reason to hurry this night—and in that, we savored every taste. Of course, we hadn’t actually had personality transplants, so it was no surprise that within minutes, hormones kicked in and that slow, romantic kiss turned more passionate.

I groaned into his mouth, rising up on my toes to get closer. Shadow used his power to drag me higher on his body, and I wrapped my arms around his neck. His hands slid down my hips, gripping the flesh of my ass, holding on as he rocked me against him.

Kissing Shadow was maybe the best thing I’d ever experienced in my life, and I could happily do this forever without ever tiring of it. He kissed like he fucked, with so much intensity that it sizzled in the air. Shadow had officially ruined me for all other men, but since I planned on having him stick around forever, I was okay with that.

Our kiss grew even more frenzied, my back pressed to the thick glass, which was the only thing separating us from the universe outside. When I was about ready to start begging, my aching pussy grinding against him, Shadow lifted his lips from mine.

“You taste like life, Sunshine,” he groaned, his eyes heavy lidded as he stared down at me. His lips were fuller than ever, thanks to our kisses, and with his hooded eyes and a half-fucked stare going on, I was a goner.

Wiggling against him, I yanked his shirt up, stripping it off him. Normally, he’d use his power to get us naked, but today we were savoring this, for reasons that I was not going to think on.

He removed my clothing piece by piece, kissing along the naked skin, like he was discovering it all for the first time. His actions clouded my head, but I hadn’t forgotten my plan to be the one to give the first pleasure this time. He was always so generous with that very skilled mouth and tongue of his, and I wanted to return the favor.

I just needed to make my move before he had me forgetting my own damn name.

When we were finally naked, I pushed myself higher, pretending I was about to steal another kiss, and instead, I snaked my hand out and palmed his cock. Sliding my fingers halfway around the thick shaft, I stroked his knob. Shadow groaned and I took that as a sign I might be about to get my wish.

Stroking him again, firmer, I leaned down and kissed the hard planes of his stomach, defined abs presenting an easy path to trace with my tongue. His cock was calling me, so once I’d had my fill of tasting his skin, I dropped my head and licked right across the slit, savoring the salty bead of moisture there. I didn’t stop with that, licking him again and again while my hand continued to stroke his shaft. My experience with this was fairly minimal, but I found going on instinct and listening to his groans rarely led me astray.

It was quite the task to get my mouth over the thick head of his cock—he was so hard that I wondered if it actually hurt him—but I was determined to take more than I had before. My wish was to make him come from this act alone, but he had so much damn stamina, I doubted my jaw would ever last the distance. Practice made perfect, though, and I was excited to start training.

“Sunshine,” Shadow rumbled.

I wasn’t sure if that was a warning or just a random groan of my name, but before I could figure it out, his power washed along my body. He took control of every part of me except my hand and mouth, since apparently, he wanted me to continue what I was doing.

Shadow groaned again, and then his power tightened, and I almost gasped as my body started to move. At first, I thought he was pulling me up toward him, but… no, that wasn’t right. He was rotating me like a damn clock hand, and by the time he was done, I was upside down, his cock still in my mouth.

Dude was lucky I hadn’t bitten the damn thing off with a move like that. Before I could yell at him, his hands gripped my ass and thighs, and he plunged his tongue into my pussy. As I moaned, he thrust against my mouth, forcing me to take his cock deeper than ever.

Blood rushed to my head just as he sucked and bit against my clit, sending me screaming, which allowed him to mouth-fuck me even deeper. My head swum, probably from being upside down, but also from whatever he was doing to me as he devoured my pussy.

I’d never in my life thought that you could do a sixty-niner in this manner, and in between screaming and sucking, I was wondering what other fancy foreplay he had up his sleeve.

When he plunged his tongue into the dripping heat of my center, swallowing down my pleasure, it was so damn good that at one point, I forgot to suck. Like, he was destroying me and I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover.

As I had that thought, one of his fingers slid inside me. Then a second. Then a third, and as he sucked on my clit, he pumped those fingers into me, sending me screaming around his cock.

The moment I screamed, he took advantage of my open mouth, and then I was drowning in his dick. It was a good drowning, and as soon as I caught my breath, I focused on sucking as much of his length into my mouth as I could.

But dammit, Shadow’s tongue was such a weapon that the moment I found my rhythm, he was sliding his fingers over my G-spot, building me higher until my thighs vibrated out of control. When I came in a huge fucking gush, I swore he chuckled darkly.

Bastard took too much pleasure in bringing me pleasure… and why was he so damn perfect?

Every time I came, he managed to get his dick farther down my throat, until I was literally choking on it. Needing to breathe, I pulled away, popping my mouth off at the end with an extra hard little suck. He released a pronounced groan, and that made me want to do it again. And again.

I started sucking him hard and deep before letting my mouth pop off the end, only losing the rhythm when his tongue and fingers started on me again. The upside-down part, which had freaked me at first, didn’t even feel weird now. Maybe all of my blood had gone where it needed, or my body had adjusted to the change, because I barely even noticed I was upside down.

I lost my rhythm again when he flicked his tongue across my clit, and I could focus on nothing except the pleasure shooting through me. His fingers joined his tongue, curling up and sliding over that spot that was both of our favorites, and the buildup was so stupid good that when I finally came, I was screaming and jerking against him, my body no longer mine to control.

Basically a normal day when it came to sex with Shadow.

Despite my best plans to make Shadow come through the power of my mouth alone, today was not to be. When he was finished devouring my pussy, leaving me completely spent, he finally allowed me to return the right way up, pressing me back into the icy glass of the windows.

My head was spinning thanks to a bunch of orgasms and the rush of blood. Or maybe it was Shadow’s body pressed against mine, every nerve ending firing.

“I won’t let her take this from us,” Shadow promised, his hands on my face again, those eyes locking me in so I couldn’t speak or breathe. “She might be my mother, but the moment she tried to destroy our bond was the moment my loyalty to her died.”

He kissed me before I could reply, and I tasted myself on his lips, the memory of my last orgasm taking over every other thought in my head. His power lifted me higher on the glass, and he thrust up, the thick head of his cock pushing inside slowly.

I expected Shadow to fuck me hard and fast, like he did in the past. Slow lovemaking was not really his thing, and that was okay with me, since I was usually so thirsty for him that I had no patience to wait. In my inexperience, though, I hadn’t realized one very important part of slower sex. The intensity of the buildup.

It swirled in my gut, low and heavy, pulsing within me. This thrum of pleasure, sending me into the sort of euphoria that I would normally associate with drug use. It had to be damn illegal to feel this good. It had to be.

“Shadow,” I moaned, leaning forward to kiss him, our tongues clashing in time to his thrusts. He changed positions then, shifting my legs up over his arms so he could brace his hands on the window on either side of me. This new position allowed him to slide in deeper, each slow thrust gliding across my favorite damn spot.

He kissed me again, and there was no way to keep an orgasm at bay when I was tasting Shadow. The moment his tongue caressed mine, the intense swirls inside exploded, sending figurative stars behind my eyelids to join the literal ones in the sky around us.

I cried out, moaning as the spiral of pleasure shot me higher and higher until I was sure I’d transcended to the next plane of existence. Nothing felt real, and Shadow dropped his head so that his lips rested near my throat, thrusting harder and faster, his breathing short and hard as he groaned and jerked inside of me. He dragged it out, continued to move inside of me until both of us had ridden out the longest, most intense orgasm to date.

What Shadow did to me went against the laws of nature.