Epilogue - Part 2 (Lhars & Kyelle)

~ LHARS ~

No one's going to die in twenty minutes.

Lhars went very still, and Kyelle, kissing his neck, took a few seconds to catch up. When she did, she let her head drop back and looked at him, worried.

"What? What's wrong?"

Swallowing the sudden lump in his throat, he reached up to comb back a strand of hair that he'd dislodged from her braid, being too rough when he kissed her. He pushed it behind her ear.

"I just… I just realized that we don't have to measure our lives that way anymore," he croaked. "And I'm so grateful."

Kyelle searched his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"No one's going to die in the next twenty minutes, Kyelle. Probably not to day. Probably not this week. We've lived our whole lives waiting for death to walk in and point a gun in our faces and now… it's not. Kyelle… we're not waiting to die anymore. We're living."

Her eyes began to shine and her beautiful smile crept up. "You're right, Lhars. You're right."

They smiled at each other, then she pulled him down into a kiss that started slow and deep and emotional… but the more he held her, the more their bodies entwined, the higher his urgency rose, until his breath rasped and his hands were everywhere.

He suddenly needed her—not just because his body drove him to it, but because his soul ached.

Pushing himself back on his knees, he stared down at her, stroking her from her chest to her thighs, letting his eyes follow where his fingers touched. Kyelle whimpered, but it was through a smile and she reached for him, urging him to come back. When he put space between them, the cool air had pebbled her skin.

"Are you cold?" he whispered.

She shook her head. "I just want you," she breathed stroking up his forearms. But he paused for a second, sitting at her feet, and staring at her, warm and ready for him.

"Lhars, what it is?" she asked, her eyes on his, concerned.

He shook his head. "I don't know. I feel like… I feel like my skin is too tight," he said in a strangled voice. "Being here with you… living. We're actually living, Kyelle. Together. It's literally my dreams come true."

She sat up, reaching for his face, pulling him in to a kiss and inhaling quickly when he took it deep immediately. "You are my life now, Lhars."

With a groan he cupped the back of her neck and urged her to lay back down. But even though she shivered and reached for him, he took his time, kissing from the inside of her knee, then her soft thigh, working his way up, to her belly, her breasts, licking and kissing, swirling his tongue on her skin, then her nipples, and sucking until it made her cry out.

"Lhars, please..."

Still curled over to keep her breast in his mouth, he reached one hand up to brace on the furs beside her, the stroked her waist and pulled her against him.

And when she began to arch and cry, he whispered, "I love you, Kyelle," into her ear, then entered her, slowly, so slowly it made him groan.

Kyelle cried out and dropped her head back, gasping, holding her breath at the peak of each thrust as he began to move. To his delight, she met him stroke for stroke, their bodies rocking in a slow, steady rhythm that stole his breath, too.

Time ceased. Thoughts beyond the beauty of her and his need for her no longer existed. All the noise in his head about the past and the future went quiet, then still.

For some time, all he could do was feel her tighten around him, listen to her gasp his name, and marvel that she was really his.

But when she started making those tiny noises at every thrust, he braced himself, fisting the furs as he reared over her and watched her seek her release. chapters. So you can skip the three following chapters (Author Q & A) if you prefer and jump straight 11:32

to the last three chapters titled "When Worlds Collide." (These words added after publication so you Head back and mouth open, she groaned his name. Her knees high in the air, breasts bouncing as she undulated beneath him. Seeing her like that, the always contained, always thoughtful Kyelle so abandoned, so completely trusting... Something in Lhars's chest began to bloom and expand, until it twisted between his ribs, and began to fizz in his veins. His heart pounded so hard he was afraid it might burst. And his mouth fell open on a smile of sheer joy.

"I love you, Kyelle," he gasped, then thrust into her hard, so she cried out, then sucked in a heavy breath when he pulled out again.

"I love you, so much, Lhars. So much—oh!"

As they joined again and again, as her hands explored his shoulders and back, and her body tightened around him, as their breaths echoed in the dark cave, Lhars felt his heart fly open.

So many times in his life he'd reached—opened himself and sought a friend, a responsibility, a position… And every time he'd been turned back, or failed.

But this time, instead of the sinking fear, or dead air of rejection, as Lhars' heart reached for Kyelle, hers was already there, within him, a part of him. Her heart answered his. Embraced it, swollen with love.

"Kyelle," he groaned. "You're mine, my perfect. My mate."

"Forever, Lhars!" she gasped. "I'll never stop loving you."

With a tormented moan, he took her mouth, still whispering all the things he couldn't stop feeling. And when she arched into him, so beautiful, so right, he didn't have any words left. So, he cupped her face with one hand, then pulled her knee over his hip and began to pound into her, bellowing with the rush as every nerve-ending in his body lit up at once.

Kyelle's head tipped back and she sucked in an open-mouthed breath as their bodies met again, and again, and again. No tentative touches. No gentle questions. He took her, desperately—then almost cried when she opened herself and welcomed him with equal urgency.

Her hands slapped on his back when she reached for him and she clenched around him, her voice climbing higher, thinner, as his kisses became broken and disjointed.

This, between them, wasn't simply love, it was need. They were not simply mates, they were entwined at the soul. And as Lhars called her name over and over, she echoed with his until they both shuddered and tumbled over the peak together.

*****

NOTE: Thank you so much for reading! If you're leaving the story here, don't forget to go to linktr.ee/

authoraimee to find my other books!

Or, you're looking for the other three chapters of extra content, they will be posted after the Q & A chapters. So you can skip the three following chapters (Author Q & A) if you prefer and jump straight to the last three chapters titled "When Worlds Collide." (These words added after publication so you aren't charged for the words)