Arcane Heart (Talents Book 2)

by Angela Knight

  With a low, throaty rumble, he pressed his face closer and suckled even harder, thumb and forefinger now thrusting in and out of her pussy.

  But what she wanted, what she needed, was that delicious cock. She dragged off him and panted, “Jake… fuck!”

  She didn’t even get the rest of the plea out of her mouth before he tumbled her off him and onto her back. The next moment Jake was on her, big hands catching her knees, bending her legs.

  Spreading her wide.

  He paused just long enough to take his shaft in hand and position it between her juicy lips, right at her slick opening. Grabbing her ass in both hands, he lifted her and sank back on his heels.

  And impaled her, all in one breathtaking plunge.

  Erica cried out in shock and blind pleasure as he stuffed her without any mercy at all. Jake wasn’t a small man, and it would’ve hurt if she weren’t so wet, so incredibly aroused.

  He froze there, holding her still, his shaft filling her to the lungs. Or at least that’s how it felt.

  Startled by the raw intensity of the sensation, Erica stared into his wild Feral eyes. “Oh, God!”

  “Did I hurt you? I didn’t plan to… enter that hard…”

  “No! More! God, more…”

  Jake’s grin flashed, white in the moonlight, and he was moving, lifting her off him so he could roll his hips to spear into her again. Surging in and out, relentless as the tides, sending burning pleasure pulses blasting through her with every stroke.

  Erica threw back her head and grabbed his shoulders, digging in her nails as he bucked wildly against her. Each long thrust shoved multicolored streamers of magic into the base of her brain. She could see them behind her closed lids.

  Breathless, she writhed, vaguely aware she was screaming, lost and maddened.

  The orgasm gathered like a huge rose wave towering over her head, glowing against the darkness. Clawing for it, she ground down on him as he plunged up to meet her, a rumbling growl vibrating through his chest and into hers.

  She felt how close he was in the straining tendons of his body, and her eyes flew wide, wanting to watch him go over. Gold blazed as his lips drew back off his teeth in a soundless snarl of erotic effort. The cords of his neck went tight.

  Jake roared, freezing, his cock plunged deep, jerking as it pulsed.

  Magic fountained around them as the rose wave crashed down, and Erica screamed, lost in the blazing glory of the moment and the gold of his eyes.

  When it was over, they clung together, chest against chest, sweat damp and muscles twitching, panting as their hearts thundered as one.

  “Oh, sweet holy God,” Erica managed at last, unable to think of anything more coherent as they struggled to catch their breath.

  “Yeah. Yeah, God.” Lifting her carefully in his arms, he pulled himself gently free of her wet depths, then let himself fall backward, still cuddling her close against his chest.

  For a long, long moment there was no sound except pumping gasps. She listened to his heartbeat slow its desperate thunder. Sweet peace stole over her, and she closed her eyes, letting herself float.

  Until she heard him swallow. She opened sleepy eyes, and found a thread of soft butter yellow winding through the violet and electric blue of his aura. Not fear exactly. Not the right color. More nerves.

  She ran a hand in a calming stroke down his working chest. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. It’s just…” He paused and took a deep breath. The yellow bled away, and his aura took on a deep, calm blue. When he spoke, there was certainty in his voice. “I want to spend the rest of my life looking at you.” His voice sounded velvety and deep, edged with a hint of leonine reverberation. “I want to wake up next to you every morning and go to sleep beside you every night.”

  She stared at him, feeling her heart begin to hammer. “Jake…”

  “Let me finish. I’ve been thinking about what to say all day.” He gathered one of her hands in his and held it, staring into her eyes. “I want to fight alongside you and protect you, knowing you’ll protect me whether I think I need it or not. I want, I need forever with you, Erica Harris. Will you marry me?” In the distance, Clarence gave another long, low roar. It sounded a bit peeved. Jake’s lips twitched. “Correction -- marry us?”

  She stared up at him, stunned silent.

  When she didn’t answer, his gaze flickered. “If it’s too soon…”

  “No!” The word burst out of her with a note of desperation mixed with a kind of crazy joy. “Not ‘no’ no -- I mean I just wasn’t expecting…” She broke off, trying to recover, trying to think. Only she didn’t really need to think, because the answer was obvious. “Yes, Jake. Yes, I’ll marry you.” She felt a crazy smile spread across her face and watched as rose and violet spilled through his aura, as vivid as sunrise. “I love you, Jake Nolan. You and Clarence and his girls and…”

  His grin was blinding, framed by both dimples. “And I love you, Erica. I always will.”

  Almost giddy with pure, distilled joy, she lifted her head, knowing what she’d see. Clarence sat on the edge of the blanket, glowing and ghostly, the most smug-looking lion she’d ever seen.

  Then, from the other side of the tumble of wisteria, a falsetto voice began to sing: “In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight…”

  Jake lifted his head. “Damn it, Dave!”

  Dave cackled.

  When Jake scooped up a shoe and hurled it through the wisteria, big paws thudded on the ground, racing away to the sound of chuffing laughter. “Kurt Briggs,” the tiger shouted, “You owe me a girlfriend!”

  Angela Knight

  Angela Knight is the New York Times best selling author of books for Berkley, Red Sage, and Changeling Press. Her first book was written in pencil and illustrated in crayon; she was nine years old at the time. A few years later, she read The Wolf and the Dove and fell in love with romance. Besides her fiction work, Angela’s publishing career includes a stint as a comic book writer and ten years as a newspaper reporter. Several of her stories won South Carolina Press Association awards under her real name.

  In 1996, she discovered the small press publisher Red Sage, and realized her dream of romance publication in the company’s Secrets 2 anthology. She went on to publish several more novellas in Secrets before editor Cindy Hwang discovered her work there and asked her if she’d be interested in writing for Berkley Sensation. Not being an idiot, Angela said yes.

  Angela has written over 50 novels, novellas, and e-books. She lives in South Carolina with her husband, Michael, a detective with the Spartanburg City Police Department. The couple has a grown son, Anthony.

  Please visit https://angelasknights.com/ to find out more about the author and her writing.