Before I Let Go (Skyland #1)(49)

“How?” I moved deeper into the cave, and Evren stayed with me step for step with his chest pressed against my back.

“They’re called glowworms.” Evren pointed over my shoulder to where a strong cluster of light shined from the ceiling. “I don’t know much about them, but they’ve always been here since I first discovered this place as a child.”

“They look like stars.” I lifted my hand toward one, but I was far too short to reach them.

“They remind me of them, yes.” He moved around me and let his fingers trail through the water. “This place reminds me of you.”

“I thought you spent most of your childhood in the fae kingdom.”

“I did once I was taken from my mother.” He nodded and looked around the cave. “But I spent the first ten years of my life here.”

“And your father didn’t know about you.”

“I think he always thought he could keep me hidden.”

“What changed?”

“Queen Kaida learned of the prophecy and decided she would no longer leave fate up to chance.” He looked back toward me. “So my father went to war with my kingdom to take me back with him.”

“And he won.”

“My mother didn’t stand a chance of fighting him off. She was unprepared and too busy being a mother to let the threats of other kingdoms cloud her mind. She had let a man who she thought she once loved become harmless in her mind. It cost her dearly.”

“She lost you.”

“And her father.” Evren moved in front of me and his knees bumped against mine. “My father took both of us from her on the same day. She lost her child and became a queen. Neither of which she was ready for.”

My chest ached as I thought about the pain she must have felt that day. I couldn’t fathom the pain he must have endured.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He shook his head and lifted his wet hand to push some hair out of my face. “It was a long time ago.”

“I’m still sorry just the same.”

“You’re sorry for a man you hate?” His hand pressed against my jaw and lifted it until I was forced to look at him.

“I don’t hate you.”

“You should.” His fingers caressed my jaw and water trailed from them and down my neck. “It is selfish of me to wish that you don’t.”

“Because you need me to fulfill the prophecy?”

“Because I need you to breathe.”

“Evren.” His name was a plea on my lips, but he didn't answer me with words. Instead, he closed the space between us and pressed his mouth against mine. There was nothing soft or subtle about it. It was pure longing, and I felt absolutely desperate for him.

I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling me closer to him, and his hands moved to my thighs and gripped them to lift me. I moved my legs around him, my ankles crossing against his back as his fingers dug into my skin.

His hands were as rushed and harsh as his mouth, and I felt bruised. Bruised from his words that affected me far more than I should've allowed them to. Bruised from his kiss that dug into my soul. He was my mate, and every part of me knew it in that moment. He was my mate, and I wanted nothing more.

“I’m infatuated with you,” Evren breathed the words against my lips. “Every fucking part of you drives me mad with want.”

“Have me.” The words rushed out of me as my heart hammered in my chest. “If you want me, have me.”

Evren wasted no time. His mouth moved along my jaw before moving down my neck. He lapped at my skin with his tongue before grazing it with his teeth, and pure, unfiltered want raged through me as I tightened my legs around him.

I wanted him more than I had ever wanted anything else before. I wanted to know every detail of his body and every moment that weighed heavy on his mind. I wanted to take that from him, to give him something that only I could, and as I ground down my hips against him, that was all I could think of.

He was mine and I was his, and nothing else could matter in that moment.

Evren's fingers dug in the top of my bra, and he jerked it down my skin before his mouth followed its path. There was nothing gentle about him, every move of his mouth was punishing, and I was desperate for more. I wanted him to mark every inch of me to prove that this was real.

He sucked my nipple into his mouth and looked up at me as I ran my fingers through his dark hair.

His gaze held no hesitancy. He wasn't asking for permission or trying to determine what I wanted. This was him taking. He was taking exactly what he wanted, and I had never wanted anything so much in my life. I leaned into his mouth, as his teeth scraped against my nipple, and I cried out his name.

“Gods, you're so perfect.” He peppered more kisses across my chest before he lifted me higher in the water. “I could do nothing but taste every inch of you for hours.”

I whimpered as he pressed his tongue over the fabric of my other cup and the pressure felt immensely different on my nipple.

“Evren, please.” I begged him as my fingers tugged harder in his hair.

“Tell me what you want, princess. Tell me, and I'll give you anything.”

“Make love to me,” I said as I continued to grind against him. “I need you to fuck me.”