I slid my arm around her waist and held her tight as I closed my eyes. For the first time in seven weeks, sleep came easily and without torment.
***
There was no pain.
There was no burning in my veins.
There was no gasping for breath as my heart thundered in my chest.
There was no sweat wetting the bed beneath me.
There was just Jace. His scent. His warmth. His body.
Jace?
I sat upright as my heart knocked in my chest. Memories of the night flooded my mind and on their wake a throbbing headache pulsed. I hadn't been sitting for more then a moment before Jace's hand weaved around my waist, forcing my back into the bed. He flipped himself onto me, pinning me to the mattress.
"What are you doing? Get off." I tired to push at his chest, but with the hangover dishing out a serious ass kicking and my desire to stay right where I was, my fight was wasted.
"Stop fighting me, Angel."
"Don't call me that." My voice croaked thick with emotion. "It hurts."
"Fuck," Jace sighed, setting his forehead against mine. "I'm so sorry, Angel. I am so so so sorry."
"Please let me go." I begged. But I knew I didn't mean it. He knew I didn't mean it.
"No."
"Why?" I asked. I had to know. "Why are you doing this?"
"I told you last night. You need me and I'm not leaving you. You can fight it as long and hard as you want, but you're mine. You always were and you always will be." His knee pushed at my legs, urging them to separate. I fought him. "You're mine." He reminded me as he looked into my eyes. My heart constricted in my chest as I fought the most natural thing in the world to me. Jace belonged with me. Inside me. It was where he was always meant to be. I knew this. He knew it. But still, I fought it. I didn't know why.
"We can't," I sobbed the words. " Please,"
"Don't fight this, Angel." Jace cooed, his face nuzzling my neck. "You know it's going to happen. Let me make love to you, Angel. It's been too long."
With those words, my resolve crumbled. He nudged my knees again and I granted him access. I needed this.
His hand moved between us as he settled between my legs. His fingers slid between my folds, separating me. "You're already so wet for me, Angel. Don't you see how right this is? You need me."
"I do, Jace." I sobbed. "I need you." And I did.
"I know, Angel." Jace rubbed my opening with the tip of his penis, circling with a friction that verged on agonizing. I wanted him so badly…I was so ready for him…I ached.
Jace pushed his tip inside me and I moaned at the delicious intrusion. "Do you feel that, Angel? Tell me what you need and it's yours. I'll give you anything."
"You." I raised my hips, eager for him but he was quick. His hand on my hip forced me back into the bed. His grip was tight, almost bruising, but I didn't care. I wanted him to brand me. I wanted him to mark me and make me see I was his. I wanted the world to know I was his.
"Tell me, Angel." He urged. His movements were frozen inside me in a decadent torment. I throbbed around him, needing desperately for him to quell the ache that only he could arise in me. "Tell me what you want. Tell me exactly what you need."
Fuck! "I just need you, Jace." I screamed. "Please, just you. Inside me. Deep." On an added sob I pleaded. "Make me yours."
"Fuck, Angel," he sighed. "You're mine."
And with those words, he plunged deep inside of me. Claiming me. Calming me. In the wake of his first stabbing plunge, Jace slowed his movements before he found a rhythm that rocked us both. He'd been here before, inside of me, but I had never felt this feeling that consumed me. It was liberation in its purest, finest expression. It was healing in its entirety. It was the entity of love. There was no longer room for the tortured feeling of abandonment that mocked my being for the last seven weeks. There was no room for anything negative. Our past hurts washed away as our bodies worked to become one. I locked my legs around his waist, desperate to feel him deeper. He was quick, if not eager to comply. His erratic strokes became measured as he lifted his face from where he'd burrowed it in my neck. The hand on my hip slid beneath my lower back, lifting me into his chest. And he claimed my mouth, tasting my cries of pleasure, swallowing them whole.
"You'll never leave me, Angel." Jace said with conviction. "I'll never let you. Not after this."
"I don't want to." I gasped as he rolled his hips, hitting me in a new place. "I'll never leave you."
And, the funny, unbelievable, impossible thing was…I meant every word. I would never leave Jace. I simply was not strong enough to do such a thing. I needed him in much the same way I needed water. He was essential to my wellbeing. Over the last seven weeks, I had proven this to myself. I knew I needed him and fighting it would only slow down the inevitable. I would be his. Entirely. Forever.