“Your eyes,” Veses uttered in a hoarse but awed voice.
“Yeah?” Bele glanced to where Reaver lay unmoving in his mortal form and then to me. “What about them?”
“Don’t play coy, Bele. It was you who Ascended.” She gave Bele a bloody smile. “It must be my lucky day. There’s a bounty on your head.”
“By the look of your face, I would definitely say it’s not your lucky day.” Bele smirked. “And that bad day is going to continue when Nyktos returns.”
Taking shallow, too-short breaths, I pushed onto my knees. That was as far as I got for a moment. Pain radiated across my ribs and pelvis. Blinking until my blurred vision cleared, I saw my dagger lying between Reaver and me.
Veses lifted one shoulder. “Not as bad as the day you’re going to have when Kolis rips your heart from your chest and devours it.”
“There are far tastier parts of me, but whatever.” Bele inched farther into the chambers, watching the Primal closely as I forced myself toward Reaver. Each inch I half-crawled, half-slid across the floor felt as if daggers were jabbing my ribs. “If you’re here for me, you’ve found me.”
“I wasn’t here for you,” Veses said as I snatched the dagger from the floor. “You’re just a boon.”
Bele frowned. “Well, if you’re here for her, that sounds like a problem.” “You think?” Veses snapped.
“For you,” Bele added as I reached Reaver’s side. “You do realize who she is, right?” Bele jerked her chin at me. “That’s Nyktos’s Consort. You have to know that. And that’s one of his draken—one of Nektas’s draken.”
“Do I look like I care about either of those things?”
Bele laughed softly as she circled the Primal. “You will.”
“What do you think you’re going to do with that sword?” Veses demanded, turning her back on me completely.
A deep, angry-red bruise had formed on Reaver’s chest. I ran a hand across his too-pale forehead, smoothing his hair back. His eyes were closed, and the embers…they throbbed, nearly as acutely as they had in the aftermath of paying the price Kolis had demanded. He wasn’t just injured.
“Reaver’s hurt.” I glanced over my shoulder, wiping the blood off my chin with the back of my tingling hand.
Bele’s gaze briefly met mine as she managed to get between Veses and us. “How bad?”
A knot of emotion lodged in my throat. “Bad.”
“He’ll be fine.” Veses rolled her eyes, but her voice wavered. “He’s a draken.”
“He’s a child!” I spat.
“So?” Veses lifted her chin. “He shouldn’t have come at me.”
“Veses.” Bele tsked softly. “Are you that weak that you saw a youngling as a threat?”
“Not a threat. A disrespect.” Veses sneered. “And you didn’t answer my question about the sword. You can’t attack me.”
“I can’t?” Bele continued edging toward Veses, forcing her farther away from me—and Reaver.
“You know the rules,” Veses said. “She’s not his Consort yet, and the draken, youngling or not, has no right to defend her against me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“Ah, yes, the rules. But as you said, there’s already a bounty on my head,” Bele said. “One I’m sure involves bringing me to Dalos, dead or alive. So what if I break a rule?”
“Reaver?” I touched his cheek. His skin was clammy. Wincing, I grabbed the soft blanket from the chaise and draped it over him. His chest barely moved. Concern grew rapidly. He hadn’t woken up, and he seemed to have unconsciously shifted forms. I’d seen draken do that when gravely injured.
My throat dried as I sent Bele and Veses a quick glance, knowing I was about to take another huge risk. Veses might only suspect that I was the source of the power she’d felt, but I had to do something. I couldn’t let Reaver die, and I feared the throbbing embers were warning me of that. They sensed that death was imminent.
I sensed that.
And whatever risk I was taking by confirming what embers were inside me was worth it. Reaver’s young life was worth it. Just as Thad’s had been.
The embers continued to buzz, pressing against my skin. My senses opened and stretched as I laid the dagger beside Reaver and placed my palm flat on his chest. It was almost like when I’d done it earlier with Thad, but that had been faster, even more instinctive, as if using the embers made them stronger and more responsive. As if the embers were truly mine as I called upon the eather, and it responded to my will.
Pure, ancient power poured out of my chest, flooding my veins for the second time that day. A hot, heady thrill flowed with my blood. The rush of energy felt different this time, like a reckoning. A…homecoming.
There was a gasp as I inhaled deeply, catching the scent of lilacs— freshly bloomed lilacs. Life. Eather hummed through me, sparking from my fingertips and off Reaver’s chest. The shimmering light swept over Reaver’s small frame in one rippling wave and then seeped through his skin, filling the veins beneath the pale, slightly ridged skin and bruised flesh.
The eather flared and pulsed, then receded slowly into a faint glow that lingered for only a few more moments. The bruise on his chest faded, and then the most beautiful thing happened.
Reaver’s chest swelled with a deep breath, and his eyes opened—eyes a shining, cobalt blue before returning to crimson. “Liessa,” he whispered. Tears filled his eyes, clinging to his lashes.
I shuddered, brushing his hair back from his cheek. “It’s okay.”
“The fuck it is,” Veses exploded as Reaver’s eyes closed. My head snapped toward her as I placed my hand on the hilt of the dagger. “I was actually right. It’s been you.” She took a step back, her eyes—the one I’d stabbed now healed—widening and filling with horror. “What has Nyktos done?”
“He hasn’t done anything,” I said.
Veses shook her head. “You’re what—?” Bele lifted the sword.
The Primal struck like a pit viper, moving faster than I could even track. She caught Bele’s sword. The blade shattered in a flare of silver light. Veses slammed her hand into Bele’s chest, throwing her back several feet.
Bele hit the wall by the balcony and fell forward onto her knees. She lifted her head, shoving the dark strands of her hair back from her face.
“Ouch.”
Veses brushed the shadowstone dust from her hands as she started toward Bele. I moved, sucking in a sharp breath of pain as I lifted my arm and threw the dagger at the back of Veses’ head. The Primal spun. Her head tilted. “Really?”
The dagger stopped in midair and then flung back toward me.
Gasping, I ducked. The blade whizzed over my head, embedding deeply into the wall behind me. “Shit.”
Bele rose, rushing Veses—
The Primal held up her hand, and Bele went flying. I didn’t take my eyes off Veses, but I heard Bele’s fall. It was hard. “If you were smart, Bele, you would stay down. If you do, you may live to see another day,” the Primal warned, turning her attention to me. “But you? You’re definitely going to die. Because you”—she inhaled sharply—“you’re an abomination.”
“That’s rude,” I wheezed.
Eather sparked along her flesh, charging the air as I positioned myself over Reaver, tensing.
“What if I don’t stay down?” Bele asked, rising to her knees. Veses’ eyes turned into silver orbs. “Then you can die, too.”
Bele spun on her knee, rising as silvery-white light spiraled down her arms and erupted between her palms. Eather arced, rapidly forming the shape of a bow and arrow. Smirking, she pulled the string of eather taut. “Bitch, I hope you try.”
My mouth dropped open. Taric had summoned a sword of pure eather, but I’d never seen Bele do that before.
“You let go of that arrow, and all you’ll do is piss me off,” Veses warned. “And I mean, really piss me off.”
“Oops.” Bele released the arrow.
Veses spun. The projectile grazed her cheek, splitting it open. She shrieked, lifting into the air as eather sparked from her eyes and fingertips
—
The ember belonging to Nyktos suddenly vibrated frantically. A faint tremor moved under the shadowstone floor as Veses’ head whipped to the open doors, to where night had gathered, thick and dark. Another charge of energy swept through the chamber, dancing across my skin. Tiny hairs rose
all over my body. The breath I exhaled formed a faint, misty cloud. Every part of my being recognized the source of power pouring into the space.
Thick tendrils of midnight and moonlight spilled into the room, reminding me of what I had seen in my bedchamber that night. Coils of churning mist rolled along the floor and climbed the walls. Whatever air was in my lungs left me as Nyktos stalked forward, his eyes locking on mine. I tried to regain that breath, but the temperature of the air continued dropping, becoming so frigid that my lips started to tingle. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
His skin had thinned to the point where he was more shadow and moonlight than flesh. The power radiating off him drenched the air. Wisps of eather had gathered around him, swirling around his legs and licking over his shoulders. Through them, I saw the faint outline of his wings.
Nyktos was a storm of whirling fury. Shadows laced with thin strips of silver lashed out from him and blossomed beneath his skin. He’d never looked colder, harsher, or more like a Primal of Death than in that moment.
“She knows.” Bele rose, the crackling bow of eather still trained on Veses, another arrow of pure energy at the ready. “About Sera.”
Golden ringlets whipped around Veses’ head like snapping serpents as she lowered herself to the floor. “Nyktos—”
“Shut up,” he snarled, his gaze remaining fixed on me as he lifted his hand. A bolt of eather exploded from his palm and arced across the chamber like lightning. I flinched against the blinding light, gathering Reaver close to me out of instinct.
Veses wasn’t faster this time.
The blast of energy hit her in the chest, throwing her back. I gasped as her entire body lit up. For a moment, she was suspended in the air, her veins glowing as light flooded her mouth, nostrils, and eyes. Then she flew backward more, slamming into the wall, and I didn’t think I’d ever been more thrilled to hear the fleshy sound of a body smacking into an unyielding surface.
Veses slid down the stone, twitching and shaking as she came to a stop, slumped over. The crackling energy faded, leaving behind the scent of charred flesh. Blood dripped from her nose, mouth, and trickled from her ears. The skin above her elbows and wrists was dark and burnt.
Veses was out, but I didn’t know for how long.
“Take her,” Nyktos ordered as he crossed the chamber, the faint outline of his smoky wings briefly visible once more before they faded. “Lock her in one of the cells.”
I blinked as Orphine came forward, along with who I guessed was her brother, Ehthawn.
“I wish we could just toss her ass in the Abyss,” Ehthawn muttered, gripping the arm of the unconscious Primal and hoisting her over his shoulder like a sack of lumpy grain. I thought I might be smiling.
“Sera.”
I jerked at the sound of my name.
Nyktos knelt in front of me, and I saw no one else. Blood smeared his left temple, and I didn’t know if it was his or someone else’s.
“Reaver was hurt,” I rasped, glancing down at him. “She hurt him.”
He touched the young draken’s cheek as I felt his gaze on me. “But he’s not hurt any longer.”
“He’s just sleeping right now.” I trembled as I stared down at Reaver, his skin having returned to its usual dusty, golden hue. “I had to do something. He was really hurt, and I couldn’t—”
“It’s okay.” Nyktos’s hand rose, and just his fingertips touched my
cheek. “You saved him. That’s all that matters.”
“But she knows,” I warned him. “And she’s not like Attes. She won’t keep this secret. No matter what is going on—”
“She won’t get a chance to tell Kolis,” Nyktos interrupted, carefully dragging his fingers along the curve of my jaw where the skin ached. “She won’t be able to get out of the cell.”
“She didn’t want to tell Kolis. She wanted to kill me once she realized what I could do.” My back throbbed as I leaned forward. I winced. “That doesn’t make sense, right? But she…she was afraid once she realized what I could do.”
Eather flared in his eyes as his gaze swept over me. His jaw tightened. “Bele? You okay?”
“Yeah.” The goddess drew close. “Sera is right. Veses looked freaked the hell out.”
“She felt what happened earlier today,” I told him. “What the hell happened earlier today?” Bele asked. Nyktos held up a hand, silencing her.
I drew in a shallow, pained breath. “But she came here because she said she’d felt something different about me when I saw—when she was here last,” I said, not looking at him then. It was important that I tell him this. “And that’s why she came back. The Shades—”
“It was her,” Nyktos interrupted. “I didn’t realize that until Rhain found us. He would’ve gotten to me sooner, but there were a lot of Shades. So many they were overwhelming Orphine and Ehthawn.”
I winced, knowing that meant he’d had to kill the Shades, and I knew that would get to him. “I’m sorry.”
Nyktos jerked so forcibly that I looked up at him. His eyes were wide and fixed on me.
Figuring he was confused by what I was apologizing for, I said, “I know you don’t like to kill the Shades. I’m sorry you had to do that.”
He continued staring at me as if I’d sprouted two heads.
“It was her.” I pushed past the growing pain. “One of her draken freed the entombed gods. She sent them and one of her guards to take me. She said it was because she knew there was more to why you’d take a Consort,” I said, and the eather lashed through his eyes. “She was behaving as if she were helping you.”
“That is the last thing she was doing.” He looked at Bele. “Take Reaver to my quarters. Stay with him. He’ll likely be confused when he wakes.”
“Will do.” Bele bent, but I held onto Reaver’s small body, reluctant to let him go. She looked up at me. “I’ve got him.”
I knew he was okay, but for some reason, I held on.
“You can let him go, Sera.” Nyktos carefully turned my head to his. Pressure clamped down on my chest. “He’s okay. You’re not. Let Bele take care of him so I can take care of you.”
My heart tripped up as my grip on Reaver loosened enough for Bele to gently work an arm under Reaver’s shoulders. Nyktos drew the blanket up, keeping him covered. “Thank you,” I whispered, feeling a little out of it. “Thank you for coming when you did.”
“No need to thank me.” Bele lifted the slumbering youngling in her arms. “I’ve been waiting for ages to get my hands on that bitch.”
I laughed, and it hurt in my jaw, chest, and other places too numerous to count.
A muscle ticked in Nyktos’s jaw as he looked over his shoulder. I saw Saion and Theon. “Keep watch over Veses.”
The gods nodded. Both looked a little ragged around the edges, as if they’d been through battle, and I wondered exactly how many Shades Veses had managed to work into a frenzy.
“Ector?” I called out, sucking in a breath as a sharp ache skated across my ribs. “Is Ector okay?”
Saion nodded. “He will be.”
Relieved, I closed my eyes and leaned back against the chaise. “Ector tried to stop Veses from coming in here,” I shared, vaguely aware of the others leaving. “Why would he do that? He knew better.”
“So did Bele.” Nyktos brushed my hair over my shoulder. “They were willing to take that risk to protect you.”
I opened my eyes. “They could’ve died.” “They know that.”
“They could still be punished if Kolis or anyone else finds out they went up against a Primal.”
“They know that, too.”
He was on his knees, leaning over my legs. “You’re injured, Sera.”
“Yeah,” I breathed. There was no denying it. “I think a couple of my ribs might be broken.”
Shadows gathered in his cheeks. “I don’t think that’s all,” he said, running his thumb along the corner of my lip. Red smeared the tip when he withdrew his hand. “You’re in a lot of pain.”
“True, but I stabbed her in the eye. It was gross.” I gave him a grimace of a smile. “But worth it.”
His laugh was soft and a little strained. “You’re going to need my blood.”
My heart gave a sluggish lurch, even though I wasn’t surprised to hear that. Because there was a good chance that I was hurt in a far worse way than when the draken had attacked. I didn’t feel right inside. Like important parts of me weren’t exactly connected right.
“We can’t risk you going into another stasis, Sera. You may not wake up,” he said, sensing my hesitation. “I will leave immediately afterward. You don’t have to worry about how my blood will affect you.”
“It’s not that.”
A look of doubt crept into Nyktos’s features as I lifted a strangely weak arm and touched the hand that rested on the floor beside my hip. The charge of energy was faint. “Your skin is icy. As cold as it was before.” The why
suddenly occurred to me, and my chest twisted. “It was…her feeding from you, wasn’t it? That’s why your skin is so cold.”
His features tensed. “I told you why my skin is cold. I’m Death.”
He had told me that, but that hadn’t really made that much sense to me.
Nyktos stared at me for a moment. “It doesn’t matter,” he said, and I thought it did. “I’ll be okay. You, however, may not be.”
I sighed, knowing it wasn’t wise to argue over this. I didn’t want to slip into another several-days-long sleep that I might not wake up from. “Okay,” I said. “Let’s get this over with.”
Nyktos raised a brow but wisely didn’t respond to that. He shifted closer, sitting on the floor beside me. I couldn’t stop myself from watching him as he lifted his wrist to his mouth. I caught only a brief glimpse of his fangs before they sank deep into his flesh. I winced, just like I had before. He lifted his mouth, revealing the seeping puncture wounds. Shimmery, bluish-red blood pooled in two perfect circles, and his scent, that citrus and fresh air, was more potent.
Neither of us spoke as he brought his wrist to my mouth, but I didn’t hesitate like I had before. It almost felt natural as I lowered my head. And maybe that was the embers. But perhaps it was me.
Closing my mouth over the wound, I drew on his bite as my eyes drifted shut. The first taste of him was a shock to my senses. A jolt to my entire body that would likely never dull, no matter how many times I tasted him.
A tingling sensation swept over my tongue and the insides of my mouth, then moved to my throat as I swallowed. It struck me as odd that his blood could be so warm, yet his skin so cold, but the memories of how he’d tasted hadn’t done him any justice. Sweet and smoky honey. Luscious. Captivating. I swallowed, more and more, marveling at the heady warmth coursing into my chest and stomach, easing the aches along the way.
“Just a bit more,” Nyktos said, his voice lower, thicker.
I drank deeper, only vaguely aware that I was holding his arm and that my fingers were curling tightly around his. I thought that I probably shouldn’t do that now, but that thought was just a flicker. An inconvenience. The hum of his blood coasted over that hollow part of me, snuffing out the pain in my ribs and my stomach, taking with it a deeper, more entrenched hurt that went beyond the physical.
Then I found it.
Felt it. Peace.
It was like slipping beneath still waters, surrounded by silence and peace. But in that cool darkness were colors. They came alive with a spark of silver and black, and like the images that had formed in the Pools of Divanash, one rose in my mind. It was me. I was standing in the courtyard of the House of Haides in a black gown with the gray, star-swept sky behind me. Cheeks flushed and eyes a feverish wild green, I held a short sword, the shadowstone blade glittering as a pale, silver curl danced across my cheek, touching the corner of my lip as I grinned up at—
This was a memory of me, but not my memory.
“I think that’s enough,” Nyktos grunted, shattering the memory as he gently pried his wrist from my grip.
My eyes fluttered open as my hands fell to my lap. Beside me, Nyktos sat, one leg bent as he lifted his wrist to his mouth, sealing the wound he’d created. There were no shadows beneath his flesh now, but his skin was even thinner, the hollows of his cheeks more prominent, and his flesh paler.
“How are you feeling?” Nyktos asked.
I took stock of myself, somewhat dazed. “Better,” I exhaled, long and slow without even a hint of pain. Considering what I could do with my hands, the healing ability of a Primal’s blood shouldn’t shock me, but it did. “Thank you.”
Nyktos nodded, and his lashes swept down, hiding his eyes as he started to rise. “I’ll await you in my chambers—”
“Wait,” I stopped him. His jaw flexed. “I saw myself standing in the courtyard when I held the sword to your throat,” I told him, my skin beginning to thrum as the warmth of his blood continued working its way through my muscles. “Why would I think of that?”
“You weren’t thinking of that day,” he said gruffly. “I was.” “But how…?”
“That can happen when a god or a Primal feeds from another. They can sense—or see—what the other is thinking. Or find a memory. Some are skilled at dragging older memories out while they feed.”
“Like Taric,” I murmured. “But it didn’t hurt you, right?”
Nyktos shook his head. “You weren’t able to do it the last time you fed, but you’re even closer to Ascension now.”
“That’s not good.”
“No.” Nyktos’s lashes lifted then. “We need to get the embers out of you.”
Dread began to build but then quickly evaporated. There was no warning before the pleasant warmth in my blood and muscles turned to molten heat. Even though I knew what his blood would do, the sharp and swift arousal was still brutal, stealing the breath I took. My fingers curled into the soft cloth of my robe as an ache blossomed, throbbed.
Oh, gods, I was hot. Too hot. My fingers went to the row of buttons on the robe, hastily undoing them. The material fell to the sides, and blissful cool air slipped over the gauzy nightgown and my heated flesh.
The reprieve lasted only a few seconds—if that.
My heart began to pound. I shuddered, gritting my teeth, but there was no stopping the intense wave of tingling sensation sweeping over me, or the gasp I let out at the slippery heat suddenly invading every part of my being and senses. A heaviness followed, settling in my breasts and then my core. My nipples grew tight, hardening.
I wanted.
It didn’t matter how much I told myself I shouldn’t. I needed.
And, gods, I welcomed the feeling because it left no room for the dread, uncertainty, or the ugliness of the day.
“I should leave,” Nyktos ground out, his voice sounding like smoke and gravel.
I looked at him and realized I shouldn’t have done that either.
He shifted back from me, just enough that I saw the thick ridge of his cock straining against his leathers. I nearly moaned at his visceral reaction to my lust—to me. Gods. I pressed my thighs together, but I was empty, and it was all too easy to recall the feel of him inside me, stretching me—
I moved without thinking, grasping Nyktos’s arm. The charge of energy, and the feel of his flesh under my hand sparked another rush of damp, hot desire.
“Sera,” he hissed.
Pulse pounding, I lifted my gaze to his. His eyes were quicksilver, heated and whirling with so much power, so much need. My nails pressed into his skin.
Stay.
I didn’t speak the word. I thought it. I prayed it, even though I knew I could bring an end to my torment. Give myself pleasure. But I wanted it. I wanted him despite the dangers of what that desire led to. In spite of what I’d seen with him and Veses and still didn’t understand.
Stark lust carved into his features, hollowing his cheeks as he stared at me. “You know what will happen if I don’t leave,” he growled. Warned. “No matter how much you hate me now, you will hate yourself more later.”
“I don’t hate you,” I whispered.
“My blood is making you think you don’t.”
He was wrong. I wished he was right. Everything would be so much easier if I did, but I didn’t. “I think I proved earlier today that I don’t hate you.”
His arm trembled in my grip. “You should.”
“I should.” I ran my tongue across my teeth. “You could leave if you wanted to.”
His eyes darted to mine. “I know.” “But you haven’t.”
Tension bracketed his mouth as his gaze dropped to my chest. The tips of my breasts were clearly visible beneath the nightgown. A predatory gleam pinched his lips and filled his eyes as he watched me shrug off the robe.
“Sera,” he rasped, his lips parting and gaze sweeping down the translucent nightgown to the throbbing space between my thighs. “I don’t know if I love these things you swear are gowns or fucking hate them.”
My entire chest rose and fell sharply as our gazes locked. A second passed. Another.
“But there are a hundred reasons why one of us needs to leave,” he said, his breath matching mine. “And only one reason neither of us is.”
“Want.”
He gave me a curt shake of his head. “Need.” Then I was in his arms.
I didn’t know who moved. Wasn’t sure if it was me who climbed into his embrace, him who’d grasped my arms, or if we’d both moved at once.
But it didn’t matter.
His mouth was on mine, his kiss wild and desperate. Starved. I could feel his cool flesh beneath his torn tunic, soothing my overly sensitive skin and then igniting another maddening rush of desire. Both of our hands went
to his pants. My fingers curled around his thickness, stroking him through the soft cloth. He tore at the buttons, and raw lust scorched the breath I took as he freed himself.
Nothing mattered then. Not Veses. Not the hurt. The pain. The ugliness. Not how close Reaver had come to death. Not what saving him would do, or how close I was to the Ascension. I didn’t think about anything as Nyktos’s hands went to my hips to steady me. He consumed my thoughts and my body. This did. Us. I gasped when I felt the broad head of his cock, easing through my wetness and pressing into me. I clutched his shoulders. Nyktos trembled, holding himself still as I lowered myself, moaning against his lips between kisses. The pressure, the burn was exquisite. His fingers pressed into the flesh of my hips as I took him, inch by decadent inch, to the hilt. I panted as I held myself still.
He felt…gods, my head fell back. He felt like we were made for each other.
Nyktos’s arm encircled my waist as he buried his hand deep in my hair, clasping the nape of my neck. He drew my mouth to his. “Fuck me,” he ordered.
This was one of those rare moments where I was more than happy to obey.
I lifted, slowly retreating before lowering myself once more. My ragged cry got lost in his harsh groan. The friction of our bodies moving, and the full impact of him, as deep as he could go, nearly undid me. I moved, slowly and steadily, my pace matching that of his tongue.
I moved faster, rocking and grinding against him, clamping down on him. There was no rhythm. No more kisses. Just our shared breaths and pleasure as my knees dug into the hard floor.
“Fates,” he groaned harshly. “Nothing—nothing—feels like this.” His hips punctuated his words with a deep thrust. “Nothing feels like you.”
I shuddered because he was right. Nothing felt like this. I could spend an eternity searching for it, but I knew I would come up empty-handed. Because it was him that I rode. He who was inside me. And that made me even more desperate to capture this moment somehow.
My fingers tangled in his hair. The arm at my waist loosened. His hand slipped under the fluttering hem of my nightgown, splaying across the center of my ass. I rubbed my chest against his. Nipped at the skin of his throat, tasting the salt there. I moaned as he dragged my mouth back to his.
We kissed, his fangs clashing with my teeth. Our lips swelled. Our bodies shook. His fingers dug into the flesh of my ass as he pulled me down on him, harder with each plunge. We feasted on each other. Devoured. All my tiny inner muscles began to quiver, clenching him. I was gasping with pleasure. He was snarling with it. And all of this…
All of this felt like more.
Nyktos pulled me tighter against him, keeping me in place with him deep inside as he dropped to his knees and then drove me onto the floor. His hand stayed at the back of my head, creating a shield between me and the hard surface. I wrapped my legs around his hips, taking all of him as he thrust deeper, harder, faster, until the only sound was the collision of our bodies.
I cried out as he pulled my head back, exposing my throat. His fangs grazed my pulse before pressing in. Nyktos trembled. He didn’t break the skin, merely held his fangs there, and that was all it took. I exploded, shattering into silken shards of pleasure that dragged him over the edge and into the storm with me. Nyktos came with a roar against my throat, his body buckling as he spent himself.
His weight settled on me as spasms of pleasure rolled through both of us. I clung to him, fingers tangled in his hair, nails digging into the skin of his arm, and legs still wrapped around his, gently rocking my hips. Our breathing was ragged and slow to calm, and his fangs…
They were still at my throat.
My belly fluttered, and I tightened around him, drawing a hoarse groan from him. “If you need to feed,” I whispered, “you can.”
Nyktos’s hips stilled, but I felt him pulse inside me. He didn’t need to; he wanted to. I wanted to experience the pleasure-pain of his bite. The deep, languid pulls. I wanted him at my throat, my breast, and between my thighs, taking from me as I took from him. I bit my lip, moaning as his fangs scraped my skin, and every part of me trembled. Nyktos shuddered and then eased back. “I can’t. I won’t,” he panted, dropping his forehead to my shoulder. “I do not deserve this. And I sure as
hell don’t deserve that from you.”
