Euphoria: A Reverse Harem Fantasy Romance (The Carnal Court Book 2) Read online

  Kari’s eyes spark with interest. “Why not tonight?”

  “Tonight—if you’ll let me—is for exploration.”

  “I already told you,” she says, pushing me backwards so I’m sitting on one of the benches in the pool. She climbs onto my lap, and the feeling of her skin on mine, breasts pressed against my chest, is making me harder than I can ever remember being in my life. “You can explore me anytime.”

  I slide my hands up her skin and pull her closer to me, until we’re sealed together. No space left between us. “Anytime is now.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ________

  KARI

  I like Verys like this. His hands moving on my skin are bold, and his eyes are molten silver. There’s no longer hesitance—only confidence. And he’s still sweet. I know that if I hadn’t told him I was fine, he would have curled up with me in bed and held me.

  But I didn’t lie. I’m okay. I’m livid and grieving for what I built, but I’m more angry than I am sad. Terrified that someone managed to put their hands on me again. And there’s nothing I want more than to let Verys have his way with me. I want him to learn me in the same way that the other guys have had the chance to.

  He’s hard underneath me, and the way I’m straddling him I’m tempted to just sink down onto his cock. But I’m going to let him go at his pace, and right now his pace is touching me gently, sliding his thumbs over my nipples and watching with fascination as they harden. Cool, shimmering magic swims under his fingers, teasing me, and I close my eyes. “Yes,” I tell him.

  Verys strokes again, and arousal floods my system. I can barely stop myself from kissing him. Even so, my lips are drifting towards his. “I wouldn’t know that you haven’t really done this before.”

  A small smile appears on his face as he intentionally pinches my nipples between his fingers, power amplifying that pain and that pleasure. “It’s strange,” he says. “I tried to keep myself apart. Never participated, never let myself want. But believe me, Kari, I saw plenty. And I’m going to use every one of those memories to make you moan.”

  One of his hands drifts down between my legs, long fingers exploring with almost painful slowness. Even in the water, we can both feel how wet I’ve become, and Verys makes a low sound in his throat. He brushes across my clit and down to my entrance and back again. “You’re going to kill me,” I say, breathless, panting against his lips.

  “I’m going to do a lot more than that. Everything has been crazed and hectic, and I’m going to take my time learning my mate.”

  I shiver in spite the heat of the water on my skin. There are goosebumps everywhere, magic tingling under the surface—both his and mine. My new magic is awake, alert, and ready to move. But it’s not taking over. It’s reacting against Verys’s power and brightening inside. And maybe, this time, I’ll be able to use it to tease him the same way that they do to me. Reaching between us, I grab his cock, and I just let the magic flow through my hand.

  “Goddess,” Verys says sharply.

  “If that’s anything like what it feels like when you give me your magic, this is more than fair payback.”

  He lifts me out of the water in one smooth motion and carries me to the bed. We tumble together onto it, his long body sprawling over mine. “You’re a dangerous woman, Kari Taylor.”

  My snarky reply is lost when his lips hit my skin, sliding across my collarbone and to my shoulder, leaving silver sparkles and vibrations that echo through me and make me ache for more. Fuck. “I need you,” I say.

  “You have me,” he says, mouth moving with purpose towards my breasts. I arch up under him as his lips cover me, sucking and causing a spike of pleasure that makes my eyes roll back. “You know that’s not what I meant, Verys.”

  “I know,” he’s laughing against my skin. “And you’ll get that. Eventually. But I have a long list of things on your body I want to get to know first.”

  He drags his lips to my other breast, grazing my nipple with his teeth, and I feel it in my clit. Magic spirals down through my skin and fuses to my bones and I don’t know if I can be that patient. “You can explore later too,” I say, a little desperate. “It doesn’t have to be all at once.”

  Verys lifts himself long enough to press a silencing kiss to my lips. A kiss that drowns me with magic. More magic than I’ve felt from him. It’s an onslaught of starlight that I’m caught in, a vortex of pure, shimmering enchantment. My own magic roars with gold fire in response, and I let myself fade into the pleasure of it all.

  And while I’m lit afire with magic, Verys worships my body with deliberate reverence. His fingers leave streaks of silver on my skin that my magic burns bright after, chasing his lips and his touch down and across my body as he tastes each piece.

  When he finally is between my legs, I’m already gasping with need, the echoes of arousal building on each other. But again, he explores me slowly—far too slowly. First with his fingers, seeking out every part of me, inside and out. His thumb strokes my clit firmly, toying with the direction and the pressure of his movements until I’m squirming. I manage to open my eyes long enough to see an expression of smug satisfaction before he slips a long finger inside my pussy and I have to close my eyes again.

  He was right, he is making me moan. I can’t control it. My voice is being pulled from me, loud and desperate and begging for more.

  “Hmm,” he makes a curious sound. “I’ve heard them speak about a spot that makes females—especially human females—go crazy with pleasure. Now where did they say it was…”

  Verys knows where it is. I can tell by his tone that he’s teasing me, and that he knows more about what he’s doing than he’s letting on. But regardless he strokes his long finger inside me slowly, teasing me as he thrusts in and out. “Where could it be?” A cry escapes me as his finger brushes the rough patch of my G-spot, and he laughs softly. “Oh, there it is.”

  “You already knew,” I moan.

  “Yes, I did,” he says, pressing a kiss between my breasts as he slips another finger inside me, fucking that spot with sudden and relentless rhythm. Pleasure shimmers just behind my eyes, and I’m so close that I’m shaking. “I’m going to come,” I tell him.

  “That’s the idea, Kari.” One more thrust of his fingers, and fire explodes outwards from that spot. The orgasm is deep, spinning through my core and crashing over my mind. I’m all shiny fire and perfection and my pussy bears down on his fingers, begging for more. And he gives it, sending me higher with two fingers and then three. I’ve flooded onto his hand, and I feel wrecked when he pulls away.

  But he’s not finished. His tongue is coated with pearly, silver magic as he touches my clit. A soft and subtle exploration, tasting what’s left of my orgasm. “That day in the cave—the first time that Brae gave you pleasure—I could smell your arousal in the air. I’ve never been so tempted in my life. And I heard the others say that you tasted sweet. Now I know what they meant. You taste exquisite.”

  My entire body flushes with a wild mixture of embarrassment and desire. There’s something wanton and sensual about him scenting my arousal, and the human sensibility that I shouldn’t find it nearly as hot as I do. It shouldn’t turn me on and make me wet, or the idea that he likes the taste of me. “Does being your mate make you find me delicious no matter what?”

  Verys licks me, long and slow, and chuckles, the vibrations doing interesting things to my clit. “I’ve never heard of that. Magic rarely change who you are. It amplifies it. No matter what, I would love the way you taste, and everything else about you.” He seals his mouth over me and sucks deep, and my hands find his hair, pulling his face harder against me. I want more. That slow, steady movement is driving me mad in the best way. “And believe me when I say I’m going to taste you often,” he murmurs against my skin, swirling his tongue around my clit and down to my entrance where he licks inside.

  Sheer, pure, lust washes through me and I’m newly wet. His magic seeps in as he consumes me, showing me how t
horoughly he’s enjoying himself. No motion is frantic, instead each one is methodical, part of a sweeping memorization of my body. He’s teasing me, noticing the way my hips thrust towards his mouth when he curls his tongue under my clit and the way my fingers tighten in his hair when he uses his teeth, and the way I squirm and get so much wetter when he sucks me deep and doesn’t stop. All things I’m sure he’ll use to his advantage in the future, and fuck I can’t wait.

  Verys draws my clit between his lips, sucking gently, rhythmically, as he teases me with his tongue. Magic matches every pull of his mouth, and sharp, fierce pleasure cuts through me. I’m past the point of no return, and I’m going to go over the edge. I’m going to come on his tongue, and I can’t keep quiet. “Verys,” I say, voice rough and unsteady. “Please.”

  His teeth graze me, causing my hips to rise to his mouth, and he drinks me in deeper. Presses harder. Verys’s hands curve under my ass, lifting me to his mouth like he’s feasting on me, and I’m blind with every sensation.

  The climax takes me hard and fast, a rolling burst of pleasure that sizzles along my nerves and makes me writhe under his mouth. The sound he makes as I flow onto his tongue makes me gasp. It’s dark and feral and a very different Verys. I’m still in the throes of aftermath as he climbs up my body, and I realize that this is Verys powerful. For years he’s kept himself separated from his magic, just existing with the little bit that Allwyn granted to him and nothing more. But now, his magic is growing because of me. With me. And it’s overwhelming.

  His eyes are shining with magic, glowing in a way none of the guys have before. Kind of like the way I glow when all of their magic is inside me. They’re so bright I have to close my eyes as his mouth crashes onto mine. He steals my breath out of my lungs, and I love it.

  “Have you explored enough?” I ask. I beg. “I need you.”

  Verys pulls back long enough to fit himself against me between my thighs. “I don’t think it will ever be enough, Kari,” he says. His voice is just as rough as mine, and he braces himself above me. Slowly, he sinks in to me. Verys is long. It feels like he just doesn’t end as he presses his cock further and further into me, towards that deep place that not everyone can reach.

  His eyes fall closed as he eases in, and I watch his breath shorten to gasps. He was unconscious the last time he was inside me. For him, this is the first real time. Reaching out, I touch his face, drawing his eyes open and to mine. Those shining eyes are filled with awe and fire, and he kisses me again. Hard.

  I’m full of him when he stops, and I can feel that he’s not quite in all the way. There’s too much of him, and I love it. Breaking the kiss, he presses his face into my neck. “Kari…you feel—” I squeeze down on his cock, and he goes silent, every muscle in his body tense. “Goddess.”

  There are so many things that I want to say, but none of them seem right at the moment. Instead, I wrap my legs around his hips, taking him just a fraction deeper. Sliding my hands down his ribs, I graze my nails up his back until I’m grasping his shoulders. I can see just enough of his body that I can glimpse where we’re connected and notice the way his muscles tense as I rake my nails across his skin.

  Verys’s eyes are locked with mine, and he pulls back and thrusts deep, and everything erupts. His magic melds with mine, flowing together and flaring like molten metal. Bright, glowing, aflame. Light is glowing under our skin, shining on the walls.

  He is so, so beautiful above me. All pale skin and shining light and awe. He’s my mate, and for the first time I understand what that would mean. With all of them. I can feel the connection spun between us, more than just love or lust or desire. It’s deeper than I can speak to, and I can only think of what it would be like when that bond is sealed. Will I be able to feel him like this? Sense more than just the echoes of what he’s feeling?

  I can feel his wonder and arousal and the reflection of his pleasure that’s amplifying my own. And he thrusts again, melding more magic. We’re like fallen stars, clinging together as we collapse out of the sky and into each other. There’s nothing but bliss, nothing but him and the rhythm we’re creating together.

  Verys has already made my body sing, so I’m already falling into ecstasy as he presses deeper into me. I want this feeling with every one of my mates—being perfectly in sync and bathed in euphoria.

  He’s holding back. I know he is. He’s trying to make it last and go slow so that he can bask in the experience. But I want more, and through that shimmering bond of magic I know that he does too.

  “Verys,” I say. “Take me. Don’t hold back.”

  He does for a breath more, and then he falls into me. Lust and desperation and a hundred years of longing are unleashed all at once. He fucks me, hard. The magic is a storm inside me, whirling up and out in a riot of fiery pleasure. Every thrust sends me crashing over the edge again. I’m lost in him, dragging him closer as he moves inside me.

  Higher and higher, I surrender to this connection, pulling Verys’s lips to mind. He cries out into my mouth as he comes, plunging deep and holding himself there. Our magic blazes outwards in a wave together, and I seal my eyes against the brightness. Delicious heat spills into me, and my cries match Verys’s. I’m clinging to him though, and he to me. He’s pulsing inside me, magic and his own climax, and we’re shaking together in the aftermath.

  It takes a long time for me to surface again. But when I do we haven’t moved. Verys is still buried inside me and our lips are still connected. His weight pins me to the bed, and I can feel the cadence of his breath—still fast—and the pounding of his heart. “And to think,” I say, “all the members of the Carnal Court were missing out on that.”

  He laughs softly. “I’m sure my contribution would not have been missed.”

  “That’s bullshit,” I say immediately. “And you know it.” But when he looks at me, I’m not sure that he does. “In case you didn’t notice, I just had one of the best orgasms of my life?”

  “Me too,” he smirks.

  I roll my eyes. “Smartass.”

  He kisses me, and I like the way he’s grown more comfortable and relaxed. “I very much enjoyed exploring you,” he says softly. “And I can’t wait to do it again.”

  “Any time,” I say, laughing. “Within reason.”

  He shakes his head slowly, and presses his forehead to mine. “I’ve never felt magic like that. Even…before. When my magic was Lunar. It was never that powerful. And I barely know how to contain it all.”

  Reaching down to his ribs, I touch his side where he was wounded. “Did that—”

  “It more than healed me,” he says quickly. “There’s enough magic in me now that I could take a hundred blasts like that one.”

  “Please don’t. I don’t think I could take seeing you fall like that again.”

  Slowly, Verys slips from me and rolls to the side. He pulls me against his body and covers us with a blanket. “It’s the same way that we feel about you. Have any of us—” his hesitance is full of unspoken words. “Have any of us told you what it was like when we found you?”

  Only scraps. I know what happened, the basics, but we’ve avoided talking about it for obvious reasons. “No.”

  He won’t meet my eyes, but I can feel when he inhales to speak. I tuck my face into his chest, and his arms tighten around me, as if he can protect me from his memories. “You were gone. When Kent woke up he knew immediately, and he woke us seconds later. We still don’t know how she managed to take you away without us waking. Assaulting Aeric was one thing, but there were three of us.

  “As soon as we had the trail of magic, we ran. You were far enough that we almost didn’t find you. But we ran into a wall of black magic. Dark, just like you felt at the fire. It’s that same kind of feeling we had when you were attacked the first time. And it just made us run faster. But when we got there—” This time when his voice cuts off it’s because of the emotion there.

  “You were already gone. Your body was crawling with magic, and you
r color was missing. I thought you were dead, and you almost were. I’ve never felt anything like that before, Kari. I had just met you, and it was the most painful thing I’d ever experienced. The thought that you were gone, and I’d never had a chance to know you…I’ll never forget that.”

  I press my lips to his skin, trying to soothe the pain in his voice. It’s so close to the surface that it makes my chest ache.

  Verys tilts my face up to his. “It was an easy choice to step in front of that magic, and I’d do it again. I will do it again, as many times as I have to.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “I will say it.” His eyes are fervent. “And every one of your other mates would say the same.”

  I think about what the Goddess said to me. It is a knife-edge journey, falling one way or the other tangles all the strings. “I don’t want any of you to die. Or sacrifice yourself for me.”

  A soft kiss on my lips. “I’d much rather live a life with you,” he says. “I love you, more than I thought I could love anyone. But I will not hesitate.”

  I know better than to argue with him. I feel the same, and if I had to chance to save him—to save any of them—I know that I would take the chance. “I love you, too.”

  Verys pulls the blanket more firmly over the two of us. I have so many questions that I want to ask him about his life and his family here, but he’s so warm, and after everything, I’m exhausted. I tell myself that I’m determined to stay awake, but as soon as I have the thought, I’m sinking down into rest.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

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