Total pages in book: 153
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140462 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 702(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 468(@300wpm)
“Yes. Thank you, babe. For… everything,” I add softly, despite the fire inside me climbing my throat.
Sylvan gets to his toes and cups my cheeks. Maybe I’ve only had so little time with him, but it was worth everything I’m going through now. He’s my perfect prince. Beautiful, with the heart of a lion.
“Don’t give up hope, Hawk.”
He believes it. Even now, he believes there’s a future for us. So I will entertain that too. For him.
My gaze seeks a way to fill the pool, and when I notice a valve on the nearby wall, I head toward it and give it a little nudge. Like the cover, it’s not nearly as stuck as the door lock has been, and moments later, a gurgle echoes in the walls around us. Then, the pipe at the very bottom of the pool spits out water.
“It comes from a nearby stream, so it’s clean, and not salty like the ocean,” Sylvan says, but I’m already taking off my pants because I’m dying to cool my skin.
The pool is filled halfway when I slide in naked and scoot down to sink in at least to the neck. The relief is instant, and I let my head fall back onto the edge before glancing up at my sweet boy.
We didn’t get nearly enough time together, but for him I am ready to be martyred. “This is… so good.”
Sylvan’s expression is pensive when he kneels by the pool and dips his hand in. “You’re so hot it’s warming up the water.”
I lick my lips, drawn to his soft scent. I know this is the moment I ought to make him leave, but thinking about a forever without him makes my heart so heavy I end up squeezing his wrist. “Stay for a bit longer. Be with me.”
My lovely elven prince swallows, knowing exactly what I’m asking for and after a moment’s hesitation, sheds his coat.
My heart leaps with joy, and I brush the back of my hand over the tip of his boot. He is the most charming man I’ve ever met, and the purest soul. I might have not led the best of lives, but one thing I don’t regret? Meeting him.
I wouldn’t turn back time to avoid ever putting on the Sunwolf Crown either, because we’d both be dead if I hadn’t. This way, at least, he has a fighting chance in this strange world of merhorses, werewolves, and elves. Our time together was short, but I have never known the kind of happiness I feel when he smiles at me, approving of some small thing or another. I imagine that setting him free was my purpose from the very beginning, that I was born for it, and that our meeting at Best Burger Bonanza was far from accidental. Maybe that’s why I survived all my brushes with death? After all, Sylvan seems to believe in destiny.
“I love you,” I whisper, as he sheds his clothes, revealing his lithe form.
My romantic feelings for him are tender and mushy, but when I see his naked body, there’s no denying I also crave his flesh. I still don’t understand why someone like him would ever be self-conscious, because he has the glow of moonlight and all the stars put together. An ethereal beauty with eyes like precious sapphires, dainty feet, soft hair, and a delicious cock I itch to feel against my skin.
“I love you too,” he says, dipping his bare toe into the water. From down here, he is a god I want to worship, so I grab him by the hips and pull him into the warmed-up water, determined to make this ancient dungeon our personal paradise. Even if just for a little while.
Our bodies coming together is bliss. “Thank you. For everything,” I say and enfold him in my arms, lowering myself to one of the steps making up the edges of the pool.
He straddles my lap, and the initial tenderness soon transforms into a more visceral need for him. I run my hands up his spine with a low groan.
“Did you just… get even hotter? Maybe I should leave after all.” The little smile on his lips tells me he doesn’t mean it, but I still pull him closer, until he crosses his ankles behind me and his soft hair tickles my neck. This will be the last time I hold him, and I want to remember every detail.
The water keeps bubbling around us, cooling my feverish body as I explore his smooth skin. He smells of his shadow, so mild, sweet, and intense it’s making my head spin, so I bury my face in the crook of his neck, lapping at the shade there. The wolf in me wants to devour all of it, until my man is a burned-out husk, but all I want is a taste.