13. Crypt Keeper #2
The room slowly nodded along. A plan. Not a good one. But it was movement. And right now, movement was better than sitting still.
Because sitting still wasn’t going to accomplish a damn thing. And the longer we sat still, the more people that could be taken.
Later that night, the clubhouse finally quieted.
Lily and Lyra took Zara upstairs to get ready for bed, while the others scattered to assignments and surveillance routes.
We were on lockdown for the unforeseeable future.
Lyra had her friend caring for her horses, and I knew that made her a little sad.
She loved those things. Mako paused. “You know I’ve got your back no matter what. ”
“Thanks, bro,” I told him.
“But you watch your back with her,” he quietly warned. He glanced past me, then gave me one last nod before he followed in his ol’ lady’s footsteps.
I stood near the hallway massaging the back of my neck when Katalina appeared beside me.
“You look exhausted,” she murmured.
“I am.”
Her pale blue eyes studied me carefully. “You’re worried about the child.”
“Yeah.”
“And me?” she asked, her tone telling me she was confused by that.
My gaze slid to hers slowly.
“That too.”
Something warm flickered through her expression before she masked it. She was good at erasing her visible emotions; I’d give her that.
“You still don’t trust me,” she observed with a narrowed gaze.
“No,” I admitted.
“But you let me out anyway.”
Because every instinct in my body screamed to keep her close. Part of me hated that she was starting to realize it.
“Come on,” I murmured as I turned toward the staircase.
She followed me upstairs without another word.
My room smelled like cedar, leather, and her. That last part hit me the second the door shut behind us. She’d only been in here for maybe fifteen minutes to get cleaned up before we met in the chapel.
The pull between us tightened instantly.
Katalina leaned back against the door, watching me carefully.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked softly.
I stared at her for a long moment before moving toward the dresser. Then I turned toward her.
Confusion flickered across her face.
“What are you doing?”
“Come here.”
At first, she hesitated. Then she crossed the room slowly.
When she reached me, I positioned her in front of the mirror, my chest against her back. Her breathing shifted immediately. I ignored it.
Slowly, I lifted her shirt. When I kept going, she raised her arms without me having to ask. Her nipples peaked in the air-conditioned coolness. My cock instantly responded, and I knew she felt it by the way her eyes dilated and she sucked in a sharp but short breath. Then I spun her to face me.
She lifted her chin and stared into my eyes. Our breathing was unsteady, but I ignored it for the moment.
“Look over your shoulder,” I gently instructed.
Initially, her brow furrowed. Then she turned slightly—and froze. The silence that followed was thick and smothering.
Dark symbols curled down her spine like living ink, faintly luminous against her skin.
Ancient.
Beautiful.
Her face drained of color. “No,” she whispered.
My chest tightened. “You know what it is.”
It wasn’t a question.
Her eyes stayed locked on the mirror.
“That’s impossible….”
“What is it?”
Her throat moved once before she answered.
“A true mate bond.” The words settled heavily between us.
“My parents had them,” she continued, her voice barely audible. “Among demons they’re… rare.”
“How rare?”
Her eyes flicked briefly to mine in the mirror.
“Demons weren’t meant to love,” she explained softly. “Not after we were cast to Earth.”
Something cold slid through my chest.
“These marks only appear when a demon finds their true mate,” she continued. “And only if the human willingly binds their life to the demon’s.”
Human. I stepped back silently. Then I pulled my shirt over my head.
Katalina turned fully as I faced away from her. The room went dead silent. And I knew she saw it immediately. The same dark symbols carved into my spine. Her breath caught sharply.
“No,” she gasped. “That’s not possible.”
Slowly, I turned back toward her. “I’m not human.”
“I know that,” she snapped softly. “Nor was this an agreement we made. That’s the problem.”
Neither of us spoke for several seconds. The implications were too large. Too strange. Too impossible.
And yet—there they were. Burned into both of us. Proof.
In the mirror’s reflection, I watched Katalina step closer slowly, fingertips hovering just above the marks on my back before lowering again. Confusion warred openly in her eyes now. Fear too.
Not fear of me.
Fear of what this meant.
“What are you?” she whispered.
I almost laughed at that. Because for the first time in my life—I honestly didn’t know.
The silence stretched. Then she kissed me.
Hard.
Like she was trying to drown the questions before they swallowed us whole.
I grabbed her immediately, pulling her against me as the magnetic attraction between us finally snapped completely.
No restraint.
No denial.
No pretending this thing between us wasn’t real.
Her hands tangled in my hair as I backed her toward the bed, my wolf roaring beneath my skin at finally having her close again.
Mine.
The thought hit viciously.
And terrifyingly—her body reacted like she felt the same.
We fell to the bed, and it was as if the world exploded. Without thought, each of us ripped the remaining clothes from the other. Skin against skin, it was difficult to say where one began and the other ended.
We clutched at each other as our kiss turned savage. I’m not sure who drew blood first, but I tasted hers on my tongue at the same time as I noticed the sting on my lip. My head spun and my body tingled as if I’d taken a hit of the most potent of drugs.
She dug her fingers into my side and my back. I hissed at the burn of her nails scoring my skin. Yet instead of hating it, my cock hardened and I broke free of her bewitching lips and sank my teeth into the sensitive skin at the side of her neck.
“Yes!” she whispered, as her back arched and her tits pressed into my chest.
Before I knew it, she had flipped me to my back and straddled my hips. I hid my surprise as her hands splayed over my chest and she grinned wickedly down at me. Though I knew she was a demon, she looked like a goddess.
Slowly, she lowered her face until her nose was within an inch of mine. Her dark, silky hair fell in a curtain around us. She ran her tongue over her lower lip as if she was preparing to dine on her favorite meal.
“Do you know I could kill you with my kiss?” she murmured. “Suck the very soul from your body?”
The corner of my mouth lifted. “I doubt that.”
“Don’t tempt me, wolf boy,” she taunted with a smirk.
With a featherlight touch, I traced my fingertips over the runes along her spine. “I think this says differently.”
I watched her eyes darken and her pupils dilate. Those full lips of hers slightly parted as her snarky smile faded. She knew I was right, and she wasn’t sure how to process that.
“The only temptation I’m giving you, is this,” I corrected as I thrust up, causing my length to grind against her slit.
A moan slipped free as she circled her hips.
“Put my cock in that tight cunt and ride it like I know you want to,” I demanded.
Her nostrils flared and she practically snarled. Still, she reached her hand between her legs as she lifted up. In what I knew was an openly defiant move, she circled her clit several times before she did what she was told.
As I slid deep, we both groaned.
Though I knew I was destined for hell for the things I’d done in my life, in that moment, I was in heaven.
Unable to dictate a thing to my body, I mindlessly drove up into her wet heat over and over. The way we fit together blew my mind. The sensation of her slick core wrapped around my shaft had me ready to paint her insides with my cum.
Something warm ran down the side of my chest, and I knew her nails cut deep. I didn’t care. In fact, it drove my wolf wild. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to hold off until she screamed the name I once told her never to call me.
“Gideon!”
As her walls clenched and pulsed, I emptied myself into her.
She collapsed on top of me, her face nuzzled into my neck and shoulder. Both of us panted as if we’d run a marathon. Neither of us spoke.
Though the first time was hard and fast, the next was unlike anything I’d experienced in my life.
The night blurred into heat and tangled sheets and whispered curses against skin. Not frantic this time—certain. Like something ancient had finally found its other half.
Later, long after the storm between us settled, Katalina lay curled against my chest beneath the dim light filtering through the window. Our hearts beat together. Perfectly synchronized.
With one arm wrapped tightly around her, I stared up at the ceiling while her fingers rested lazily against my ribs, occasionally tracing the lines of one of my tattoos.
Neither of us slept yet. Neither of us could. Because we both knew exactly what this was. The calm before the storm.
And tomorrow—tomorrow, we were going to start a war trying to uncover why Zara had been created.
If we both lived through it… then would be the time to address what was happening between us.