The Shade watched her strip, letting his gaze roam appreciatively over her body, admiring how well her figure had bounced back from the traumas of giving birth. There was a new softness to the lines of her body, but he already knew from holding her at night that no stretch marks remained, a thing he attributed to her power's restorative properties. She was unmarred by the labors of giving him a son, and some small part of him was relieved by that.

Moving towards her, he took his time to drink her in. He was lazy about looking his fill, admiring the way her dark hair fell around her shoulders, the curve of those breasts that he loved to run his tongue across, the way her waist nipped in in a perfect curve for his hands to span when he lifted her off her feet...

She was at his mercy now. He could spend the entire night exploring if he wanted, mapping every curve of skin, marking any plane of flesh...the very idea made his gut clench suddenly with arousal, dizzy with it.

"Good girl." he rumbled approvingly again. This time, he rewarded her by gathering her face between his hands, drawing her in for a long, breathless kiss, hard enough to bruise, taking his time to deepen it, to really taste her. It cost him a sliver of control, but he didn't mind that tiny loss as he tasted his own blood with the force of kissing her.

Breaking the kiss, his pale gray eyes were stormy with heat as he drew back with another small smile.

"Lay down on the bed." he instructed quietly. "On your belly. You can make all the noise you like, but no talkin' unless I give you permission."