Chapter 26 "What are you trying to do to me, Ra?" Her voice was a broken whisper-a fragile thing caught between a laugh, a moan and a plea. It trembled at the edges. I had the sheets in my fists, muscles in my arms locked up like I was holding back the ocean. She was shaking beneath me, her thighs quivering from overstimulation, from the sheer force of my atonement. She looked like a miracle mid-collapse. Lips bruised and parted, breath slipping out in short bursts like she was being chased by something in the dark. A fine sheen of sweat glistened on her collarbone. I didn't stop.I couldn't.This was my penance. If she had to ask, it meant I'd been saying sorry with my hands and not my mouth. Both were needed. 'I'm squaring the debt,' I growled, my voice a low, gravelly thing against the shell of her ear. 'Every sound you make, every time you fall apart for me-that's me paying what I owe. This is my apology... this is me worshipping you.' Her breath hitched, thighs trembling around me as I ground deeper into the spot that made her eyes roll. I felt her tighten-that telltale flutter that said she was close again. "Fuck, Maya," I groaned, voice thick with reverence and regret. "You don't even know what you do to me." I kissed her shoulder slowly, then dragged my mouth along her jaw, feeling her skin heat beneath my lips. My hips rolled deeper-deep enough to make her jolt, a sharp, startled cry ripping from her throat. She tried to close her legs, a weak attempt to twist away, but I locked my hands on her hips, firm and unyielding, and pulled her back down the bed, keeping her impaled. She was so wet, my dick slid against that perfect, devastating spot that unraveled her completely. She whimpered-a sound of pure, agonized pleasure, like she despised me for knowing her body better than she did. "Raziel-" "I know, mia cara," I whispered, kissing the corner of her mouth, then dragging my lips down the column of her throat, tasting salt and her. "I know you're tired. I know you're sore. But I need this. You need this. I need you to feel how much you belong to me." She shook her head, eyes fluttering shut. "I can't... I can't take anymore-" "You can," I said, leaving no room for argument. My kiss landed on her chest, right over her frantically beating heart. "You always give me more than you think you have. That's what makes you mine." She let out a shattered sound. Her mind was fighting a losing war against her body, which knew its master. Her legs fell open wider in silent surrender. Her hips lifted in a small, involuntary, needy arch. "Così," I murmured against her feverish skin. "That's my good girl. Look at you. Bella. Taking all of me, even when you're broken for it." A sob tore from her as another climax seized her. Her inner walls clenched, fluttering around me like a desperate, rhythmic plea, trying to pull the very regret from my soul. Her nails scored down my back, claiming me in return. Her thighs locked around my hips, holding me inside. "That's nine," I rasped, voice thick with possessive pride. "You still angry with me, Maya?" Her lashes were wet. "Go to hell." A dark, satisfied grin touched my mouth. "I'm already there, angel. It's wherever you're not." She slapped my chest-a weak, spent gesture. I caught her wrist and brought it to my lips, kissing the frantic pulse point. "I never intended to be a man who deserved it," I said, forehead resting against hers, our breaths mingling. "But I am. And I will. On my life, I swear it." That broke her.Soft, wet, sweet surrender. Her mouth met mine in a kiss that tasted of forgiveness and salt and a future I would kill to protect. I held her tighter, buried myself to the hilt, and she whimpered-a sound I swallowed whole. "You're perfect," I murmured into her mouth. "Perfect in your rage. Perfect in your pleasure." In one fluid motion, I flipped her onto her stomach. She gasped-too pliant, too ruined to resist. I kissed the line of her spine, her shoulders, every invisible scar my temper had left. My hand slid between her slick thighs. She moaned-a sound of pure, defeated ecstasy. "Raziel-" "I know. One more. Give me one more." "You're a liar," she whined, voice muffled by the pillow. I chuckled. "I am." She trembled-a full-body shudder. Like she'd lost power to her limbs. Like her bones were trying to leave her. I pushed into her again, slowly. My hands anchored on her hips, my body caging hers. I bent low, let my mouth write scripture across her shoulder blades and vertebrae like Braille. "You are everything," I vowed, the words leaving my soul. "Do you hear me?" Her fingers groped behind her, searching for mine. I laced them together, squeezing hard. "Say it again," she begged, voice cracking, her face pressed into the mattress. "You are my empire," I said, each word a sacred vow. "My most valuable territory. The only fight worth winning. The reason my heart still beats." She cried out-a raw, guttural sound-as the tenth orgasm tore through her, violent and helpless and utterly mine. I followed her over that edge, my body collapsing over hers like a final, devout prayer. Afterward,I held her.Silent.The only sound was our ragged breathing, slowly settling into one rhythm. "You gonna make me kill Matteo if you talk to him again?" "...No," she breathed out. "Do you forgive me?" She nodded. "Good girl," I murmured, pressing my mouth to her temple. "Don't run away from me again." Five-year-old Annie, who can understand animals, saved Landon Hawthorne, a wealthy businessman, from suicide. Now she's his whole world and he's her legal cheat-code against every villain fate throws ...