“Funny thing about that is you never encouraged me to run to Laken.”
“That’s because I knew you weren’t the one for her. I was.” He speeds past me into the house, and I swoop in beside him.
“Where the hell are you going?” I follow him to the back as he shouts for Kresley.
“I have to warn her.”
“The hell you are.” I slam him to the wall, and his head gives a satisfying thump. “Sorry, Coop. You’re not fucking this up for me.” I bash his head into the stone over and over, and Coop takes the moment to knee me in the balls. He cuts my legs out from underneath me, and soon we’re rolling across the floor, fists flying, blood splattering, sucker punching, kicking the shit out of one another, rolling ever so close to the fire.
We will not give up. One of us will simply have to die. Laken will not suffer. I don’t give a flying fuck about Coop’s good conscience, his clean heart.
Laken will live.
She will thrive.
I’ll sacrifice the world to make that happen.
Chloe
“You belong to me,” I whisper as I drag him by the hair across the miniaturized version of the island that Demetri keeps locked in his basement like some trophy he’s too ashamed to display. Gage destroys the overgrown forests with his bloody tracks, the Landon house dissolves in his wake—my gift to him—then that damn bowling alley, and, lastly, he knocks over West Paragon High with that gaping bloodied wound at the base of his neck. Demetri’s basement is a treasure trove of mindfucks. The most prominent of them all being the discard pile. That’s where he placed me all those years ago, tossed aside, unwanted, used, and unloved—packed up in a box to be thrown out and forgotten.
A set of candles sits on a silver platter, and I laugh as I kick them over, taking up the dish and plunking Gage’s primal apex over it like a sack of potatoes.
I drop him to the table with a bang, and the platter does a circular dance before settling. “You little fucker.”
I take a seat next to him and gaze at those glorious sapphire eyes. “Gage Oliver’s head on a silver platter. I get so few gifts these days.” I take in a breath and hold it as I examine his extreme beauty—blood pooling around his neck in a sanguine puddle. “And you are by far the best one. Imagine that—me receiving you as a gift. Or perhaps it’s me who’s the gift for you? Yes, that must be it. I was truly meant for you,” I whisper, my finger outlining the soft cushion of his lips, spreading his mouth open with the flick of my fingers. “You think I care that you didn’t choose me?” I slap him hard over the nose, and the platter happily spins as if it were a party game. “You don’t get to say no to me.” My heart pounds hard into my skull, this entire demonic room thumps with the drumbeat. I pull him in close, my hand dripping over his precious, pale skin. “You know I love you. You know you will always be mine. Only mine. There is no other woman for you. There never was—there never will be. I’ve spared you, Gage. I’ve spared you the humiliation of playing with Logan’s sloppy seconds. She wasn’t the one for you. Skyla is the great pretender. What’s that?” I lean in with a laugh curving my lips. “It’s your birthday? Isn’t this romantic? Just you and me, the way it was meant to be. Candace was right. Fate has a way of righting itself.” A heavy growl bleeds through my throat as I lean in close. “Happy birthday Gage Oliver.” I cup my beloved by the cheeks and lift his disembodied head toward my lips, making those bright eyes look into mine. “I’m going to kiss you now. And you’re going to like it.” A dark laugh strums from me as I crash his mouth to mine. My tongue finds its way into the salty dark cave of his mouth, and he moves with me.
Gage is loving me, tasting all of my love for him. Finally, he is mine. We kiss for what feels like hours, days, weeks. We pour all of our love into those black magic kisses. Our love has been the dark horse, but, here we are, victorious in the end, just the way fate intended. His tongue dives deeper into me, and I let him kiss me, haunting, dark, delicious kisses.
My clothes fall to the floor one by one, and I let him love me like that, those wet lingering kisses move up and down my body. He finally wants me. He is so damn hungry for me. Gage loves me with his mouth. He loves me with his tongue over each and every limb, down to the base of my thighs as I open wide for him like a flower. I hold him by his hair and feel him there, his tongue, his lips over that tender part of me. I’ve waited my entire life for this moment, and a groan rips through me at his touch. He loves me over all of those secret tender places that have waited for him for so long, wet and anxious. Gage shows his affection for me, soft, then hard and fast, right where I need him most, and I cry out with an ecstasy that sends a violent quiver throughout my entire body, throughout the entire universe.
Yes.
You finally love me.
You are mine, and I am yours.
And that, my friends, is the end of Gage Oliver.
Books by Addison Moore
Thank you for reading CROWN OF ASHES (Celestra Forever After 4). Look for THRONE OF FIRE (Celestra Forever After 5) coming 2018!
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Parnormal Romance
(Celestra Book World in Order)
Ethereal (Celestra Series Book 1)
Tremble (Celestra Series Book 2)
Burn (Celestra Series Book 3)
Wicked (Celestra Series Book 4)
Vex (Celestra Series Book 5)
Expel (Celestra Series Book 6)
Toxic Part One (Celestra Series Book 7)
Toxic Part Two (Celestra Series Book 8)
Elysian (Celestra Series Book 9)
Perfect Love (A Celestra Novella)
Ethereal Knights (Celestra Knights)
Season of the Witch (A Celestra Companion)
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Ephemeral (The Countenance Trilogy 1)
Evanescent (The Countenance Trilogy 2)
Entropy (The Countenance Trilogy 3)
Celestra Forever After (Celestra Forever After 1)
The Dragon and the Rose (Celestra Forever After 2)
The Serpentine Butterfly (Celestra Forever After 3)
Crown of Ashes (Celestra Forever After 4)
Throne of Fire (Celestra Forever After 5) Coming Soon!
Romance
3:AM Kisses (3:AM Kisses 1)
Winter Kisses (3:AM Kisses 2)
Sugar Kisses (3:AM Kisses 3)
Whiskey Kisses (3:AM Kisses 4)
Rock Candy Kisses (3:AM Kisses 5)
Velvet Kisses (3:AM Kisses 6)
Wild Kisses (3:AM Kisses 7)
Country Kisses (3:AM Kisses 8)
Forbidden Kisses (3:AM Kisses 9)
Dirty Kisses (3:AM Kisses 10)
Stolen Kisses (3:AM Kisses 11)
Lucky Kisses (3:AM Kisses 12)
Tender Kisses (3:AM Kisses 13)
Revenge Kisses (3:AM Kisses 14)
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Low Down & Dirty (Low Down & Dirty 1)
Dirty Disaster (Low Down & Dirty 2)
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Naughty By Nature
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Burning Through Gravity (Burning Through Gravity 1)
A Thousand Starry Nights (Burning Through Gravity 2)
Fire in an Amber Sky (Burning Through Gravity 3)
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Beautiful Oblivion (Beautiful Oblivion 1)
Beautiful Illusions (Beautiful Oblivion 2)
Beautiful Elixir (Beautiful Oblivion 3)
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
The Solitude of Passion
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Someone to Love (Someone to Love 1)
Someone For Me (Someone to Love 3)
BOXED SETS
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Burning Through Gravity (Books 1-3)
Beautiful Oblivion (Books 1-3)
A Totally ‘80s Romance (Books 1-3)
3:AM KISSES (Books 1-3)
Young Adult Romance
FREE with Kindle Unlimited!
Melt With You (A Totally ’80s Romance 1)
Tainted Love (A Totally ’80s Romance 2)
Hold Me Now (A Totally ’80s Romance 3)
Acknowledgments
Thank you so much for reading CROWN OF ASHES (Celestra Forever After 4). I hope you enjoyed the trip back to Paragon as much as I did. This was a big book, but every page was an intense labor of love on my part. Whenever I’m on Paragon, I feel as if I’m home. Skyla and the boys have become intricately woven into the fabric of my life, and I enjoy every minute I spend with them. The ending of this book gutted me, and knowing it was coming made it particularly hard to write. I hope you’ll join me in THRONE OF FIRE (Celestra Forever After 5) to see where the next leg of the adventure leads us.
So many people to thank! In no particular order, Kaila Eileen Turingan-Ramos, for sifting through this behemoth and helping me nail it to the ground. You are AMAZING! To Lisa Markson, thanks for reading and for all the encouraging messages you send while doing so. I love you to pieces!!! To Kathryn Jacoby, a super huge thank you for wading through this while going through one of the toughest battles of your life. That is a debt I can never repay. You really are the strongest woman I know. You have all of my heart. To my golden editor, Paige Maroney Smith, without whom I couldn’t do anything—thank you, thank you, thank you for combing through this beast and helping me tame it! You are a true angel. And to my street team, Addison’s Angels, lots of hugs and kisses for spreading the word!
And last, but never least, thank you to Him who sits on the throne. Worthy is the Lamb! Glory and honor and power are yours. I owe you everything.
About the Author
Addison Moore is a New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author who writes contemporary and paranormal romance. Her work has been featured in Cosmopolitan Magazine. Previously she worked as a therapist on a locked psychiatric unit for nearly a decade. She resides on the West Coast with her husband, four wonderful children, and two dogs where she eats too much chocolate and stays up way too late. When she's not writing, she's reading. Addison’s Celestra Series has been optioned for film by 20th Century Fox.
Feel free to visit her on Instagram.
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Crown of Ashes Page 69