These Quiet Moments

Caedes absorbed the sight of Mariah before him, her vulnerability laid bare in the arch of her neck and the whispered plea that hung in the air. A pang hit his chest in a mixture of tenderness and primal desire, such a potent cocktail that pulsed through his veins with an intensity that left him breathless. The dire brutes mind reeled with the sudden onslaught of his senses.

With each breath, he drank in her essence, that intoxicating aroma that was so wonderfully her own. His touch was reverent yet possessive, a silent vow to protect and cherish the fragile beauty nestled against him. Oh what a covetous man, with his hands itching to take her down to the earth and worship.

As Mariah tilted her chin upward, her gaze fixed on the heavens in a desperate prayer, Caedes felt his core burn. How could he possibly convey the depth of his feelings, the overwhelming desire she had brought into his life? Wicked, wicked woman. Though he wagered he was far more wicked for craving her the way he did. For pursuing her relentlessly as he had. Which was the greater evil? The one who fed the poison, or the one who willingly drank it and asked for more? Desperately the obsidian brute continued to kiss down her neck, offering his lustful ministrations and asking nothing in return but the pleasure of seeing her enjoyment of his touch.

With a voice husky with emotion, he whispered, his breath mingling with hers in the cool night air, "You’ve always been whole. I am merely here to remind you of it." Each word was a testament to the impact she had made on his life, a true declaration of his unwavering devotion to the woman who had seized his body and mind. Caedes was the one who was broken and splintered, but this woman he cradled; she was beginning to remedy that.