Chapter 443: Does This Feel Like How Nicholas Used To Fuck You?

He entered her in one hard thrust.

Lilith cried out. Pleasure and pain mixing. The fullness was overwhelming.

Sebastian didn’t give her time to adjust. Just started pounding into her with an intensity that bordered on desperate.

Each thrust drove her forward. Made her grab the headboard for support. Made sounds tear from her throat that were barely human.

"Does this remind you?" Sebastian demanded. His hand fisting in her hair. Pulling her head back. "Does this feel like how Nicholas used to fuck you?"

"Yes," Lilith gasped. "God, yes...."

"Good," Sebastian said. His other hand moved to her clit, rubbing it so hard she nearly screamed. "Because we’re going to keep him alive this way. In how we love you. In how we fuck you. He’s gone but he’s not forgotten. Never forgotten."

Lilith felt tears streaming down her face.

And then....

That cool touch again. Phantom presence. Invisible mouth on her clit while Sebastian’s fingers rubbed.

Two sensations at once. Sebastian’s warm solid touch and Nicholas’s cool phantom presence.

"He’s here," Lilith sobbed. "Sebastian....Nicholas is here. I can feel him. Another mouth on my clit. Cool. Gentle. He’s here with us."

Sebastian’s rhythm faltered for just a moment. "Lilith...."

"I’m not imagining it," Lilith insisted. "Please. Please believe me. He’s here."

Sebastian was quiet for a moment. Then his thrusts became even harder. More intense.

"Then let’s give him a show," Sebastian said roughly. "Let’s show Nicholas that we’re taking care of you. That we love you enough for all three of us."

His fingers moved faster on her clit. The phantom mouth matched his rhythm.

Double sensation. Double pleasure. So intense Lilith thought she might break apart.

"Does it feel good?" Sebastian demanded. "Having both of us touching you? Me inside you and Nicholas....or whatever you’re feeling....on your clit?"

"Yes," Lilith screamed. "Yes yes yes....."

"Then come," Sebastian ordered. "Come for us. For me and for him. Show Nicholas that his sacrifice meant something. That you’re alive and feeling pleasure and loved."

The combination of Sebastian’s brutal thrusts, his fingers on her clit, and the phantom mouth shattered Lilith completely.

She came so hard her vision went white. Screaming. Shaking. Her entire body convulsing with the force of it.

Her magic exploded with her orgasm.

Dual forces blazing. Green and black light pouring from her skin. Plants erupting through the floorboards. Nearby wood aging and cracking.

Sebastian followed her over the edge. Buried deep inside her. His own climax hitting hard enough that he collapsed forward. Pressing her into the mattress.

For a long moment, neither of them moved. Just lay tangled together. Breathing hard. Trembling.

Then Sebastian carefully pulled out and rolled to the side. Pulling Lilith with him. Holding her against his chest.

"I felt something," Sebastian said quietly.

Lilith’s head snapped up. "What?"

"When you came," Sebastian said. "Through the bond. I felt...." He stopped. "It felt like there were three of us connected for just a moment. Not just you and me. Something else. Someone else. Faint. Distant. But there."

Lilith felt hope surge through her chest. "Nicholas?"

"I don’t know," Sebastian admitted. "It could have been your magic reacting. Or the bonds doing something strange. Or...." He stopped. "Or maybe some part of Nicholas did survive through the connection we share. I don’t know, Lilith. But I felt something."

Lilith pressed her face against Sebastian’s chest and started crying.

Not sad tears. Relieved tears.

Because she wasn’t crazy. Wasn’t imagining it. Sebastian had felt it too.

Nicholas was still here. Somehow. Some way.

Not alive. Not in a body. But existing. Connected. Reaching for her through the bonds.

"We need to tell Elena," Lilith said. "And Victoria. They need to know. Maybe they can explain what’s happening."

"Tomorrow," Sebastian said. He kissed the top of her head. "Tonight, just...let me hold you. Let me take care of you. Let me prove that even without Nicholas physically here, you’re still loved. Still cherished. Still ours."

Lilith nodded against his chest.

They lay together in silence. The room slowly returning to normal as Lilith’s magic calmed.

And in the space where Nicholas’s bond used to be....

Lilith hared a voice. Faint. Distant. But undeniably there.

"I’m here. I’ll always be here."

***

Morning light filtering through the window woke Lilith slowly.

For a moment she just lay there, blinking at the ceiling, her mind fuzzy with the remnants of sleep and dreams and the vivid memory of Nicholas in the meadow.

Then she tried to move.

Pain.

Not severe. Not unbearable. Just the deep muscle ache that came from being thoroughly, brutally fucked.

Lilith shifted carefully and felt soreness between her thighs. In her hips. Across her shoulders where Sebastian had gripped her while pounding into her from behind.

Evidence of last night written across her body in ways she couldn’t ignore.

Sebastian was gone. The bed beside her empty and cool. He must have left early to handle pack business or patrol schedules or whatever responsibilities came with being an Alpha in the aftermath of demon attacks and supernatural threats.

Lilith sat up slowly, wincing at the protest from her muscles.

She looked down at herself. At the faint bruises forming on her hips. At the slight redness on her wrists where Sebastian had held her. At physical proof that last night had been real and not just another dream.

And underneath the soreness....

That warmth. That faint echo in the space where Nicholas’s bond used to be.

He had been there. She was certain of it now.

Not physically. Not in a way that made logical sense. But present. Touching her. Offering comfort the only way he could from wherever he was.

Sebastian had felt it too. Had confirmed that something was there during their connection.

Which meant Lilith wasn’t losing her mind. Wasn’t creating phantom sensations out of grief and desperate longing.

Nicholas existed somewhere. In the bonds. In the space between life and death. And he was trying to reach her.