Safe. Endless. Mine.
"I love you," I mouthed, easing in, taking her body slow and steady.
Daphne's breath shortened, the edges of her fingertips burning into my neck, violet-hot bubbles anchoring into my tension.
"I love you, too," she moaned, wanting me deeper, needing me harder. But I wanted to savor this moment, feel every bit of her as she folded around me and took me under.
Making love to her was like being caught in a jar full of stars tumbling into the never. Fucking her, a storm of crimson slicing down the center of a moody sky. Loving her was safe, in the way you knew she was all that mattered, and being her husband made her my altar, a throne for my creature, the crux of my creation.
"Fuck," I angled higher, feeling her pussy flutter and cry, wanting more of her skin against me. She bucked, the weight of her crashing into my thighs.
"Kiss me," she begged, and my mouth moved from her windpipe to her lips, where our breaths collided. "Harder," she cried out, clawing for more.
I stepped in, adding tension, pushing deeper, when my hand fell softly to her throat, applying just enough pressure as I rode her higher.
And higher.
And…
"Thay." She melted, the tremble in her legs winding into my core.
"Fuck," I burned, the burst of her quake dragging me under until I let go, losing myself inside her.
Daphne wrapped around me, pulling me into a hug that was almost better than the sex.
Almost.
"You're the only place I ever want to be," I whispered into her ear, brushing her hair from her neck. "I love you so goddamn much."
Tears trickled from her eyes onto my shirt. "I love you, too," she breathed, holding me tighter, keeping me there.
I lost what I was about to say next when the lights flickered on. I blinked, unsure what that meant.All Clearswere pretty loud, but this was not.
Daphne lifted her head from my collarbone, searching my face. "Does that mean everything is okay?" she questioned, hopeful, when a strange sound came from the roof.
Our eyes shot upward, and I set her down, tugging her leggings back into place. Despite being on the lower level, the windows amplified everything outside.
"Thay?" Daph asked as I moved to the window, glimpsing Jessie's car sitting quietly at the edge of the building.
That's weird.
I swallowed, pulling my phone free, wondering if a text from Wolfe or Jessie had come through.
Wait.
I stopped when an alert went out over the hive.
The queen is dead.
Holy shit.
Wolfe did it.
He motherfucking did it.
He killed Marianne, and I did not have to venture far into my thoughts to figure out why.
Wolfe would have attempted to broker a deal that would save as many lives as possible, but if it came down to Daphne, then the answer was no.