Chapter Fourteen #2
The hope in my chest deflated. Popped, really, like a sharp needle to a balloon.
“Are you saying you could never be in a relationship like that?” I asked. “Being with someone who loved other people too?”
Lord Onyx watched me, his expression indecipherable. “Is that an invitation?”
“Um.” My mind blanked as my heart went into overdrive. “Do you want it to be?”
“I have little need or desire for romance.” His voice dipped low as he reached for my face, brushing his thumb over my bottom lip. “However, I would gladly pin you down and ravish every inch of you. Burn a piece of myself into your very soul.”
My breath caught. This demon with his searing gaze would stop my heart someday. Maybe that’s what Lupin meant by one of my men killing me. Death by failure to breathe in the presence of such a stunner.
“Or not.” A slanted smile touched his lips. His finger lingered on my mouth before he pulled away. Different than how he’d yanked away earlier. “Look at the flush in your cheeks. Teasing you is much too fun.”
“The rumors about you are true.” I crossed my arms, hoping he couldn’t hear the wild racing of my heart. “You’re a wicked demon lord. Just downright evil.”
His musical chuckle joined the sound of rustling leaves as another spring-like breeze reached us beneath the tree. Still not spring but getting closer every day.
Oreo took off after a butterfly and batted at it with his paw, then rolled over to his back in the grass. It fluttered around his head before landing on his nose. He exhaled through his nostrils, and it flew away. The puppy emitted a growl before giving chase, leaving the shade of the willow.
“He’s happy,” Lord Onyx said, watching him play in the field. “I noticed he’s taken a liking to your men as well.”
“I think he likes whoever gives him treats and head pats.” I focused on Onyx. His gaze remained on the puppy, giving me the chance to admire the smooth planes of his face and his sharp jawline—my weakness. I reached over and patted his head.
And then I froze. Pretty sure I stopped breathing altogether.
He seemed to freeze too before he turned to look at me. My hand remained on the top of his head. I should definitely move it, but my brain was having trouble operating. Firing on all cylinders? It wasn’t even firing on one. More like a little poof of exhaust from an overheated engine.
“Having fun?” he asked.
I drew my traitorous hand back and shoved it into my lap. “Was just curious if head pats worked on you too.”
His cool expression fractured, revealing a smile that damn near took my breath. And his laugh… gods. The low, melodic sound found its way to my heartstrings, giving them a gentle strum.
Onyx reached over and smoothed his thumb over my chin. The soft touch sent a flood of tingles through my body. I found myself being drawn into his orbit, lured by his woodsy and smokey scent. It was intoxicating. Hypnotic.
Irresistible.
“I should go.” I cleared my throat and uncrossed my legs to stand.
A touch to my wrist stopped me. I settled back into place and looked at him. Big mistake. He was closer now.
“There your heart goes again,” he softly said, turning my face to his. “Beating so quickly. Do I make you nervous?”
“A little,” I answered shakily, going for honesty.
An electric current moved beneath my skin, right where he touched me.
The sensation was both familiar and foreign.
Familiar in that my other men had affected me that strongly too, the connection between us sizzling before we finally came together.
But it was also different. More intense and kind of terrifying in that intensity.
“Because you fear I’ll harm you?” His breath feathered over my lips.
“No.” I swallowed the tightness in my throat. “Because I’m afraid of… this. The way you make me feel.”
“How do I make you feel?”
The current beneath my skin traveled lower, the electricity fizzling throughout my chest. “Like I’m falling.”
And it would hurt like hell once I hit the ground. Because I didn’t know if he’d catch me.
“If you fear falling, you can always spread your wings, little bird.” Lord Onyx moved in closer, enough for me to feel the slightest pressure of his mouth on mine. “And fly away.”
I knew what he was saying. If I wanted to, I could get up and leave him there beneath the willow. Run from these feelings.
But they had been building since the night I woke in his castle: a prickling tension that caused every nerve ending in my body to awaken and grow restless when he was near. Every meeting with him in dimly lit corridors, every conversation and shared look, had only strengthened that connection.
I couldn’t fight it anymore.
“What if I don’t want to fly away?” I whispered.
“Then you’d be foolish.” He rested a hand on the side of my neck and angled his head, ghosting his lips over mine. “A reckless fool, just like me.”
From the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar glow.
A red spider lily. It bloomed before my eyes, rising from the soil beside Lord Onyx and sprouting long, thin leaves and spindles. The same flower that’d appeared the night in the forest when the mercenaries attacked and led me to the barrier of the Shadow Realm—to him.
“Should you ever find yourself lost, look to the lilies,” Lupin had told me.
That advice had helped me the night of the ball. Just as it was helping me now. A sign that the path I needed to choose was right in front of me. I only needed to take that pivotal step forward.
I kissed Onyx.
The moment our lips connected, it was like the earth shifted beneath me. Electricity sparked and ignited a fire in my veins, a sizzling inferno that blazed through my bloodstream.
What fanned those flames higher? Onyx entwined his fingers in the back of my hair and met my initial kiss with one that damn near stopped my heart.
The temperature of his skin burned hot, and I sought more of that heat.
I drew him closer, and our mouths continued to meld, teeth lightly clanging and tongues swirling together. My head spun from the intensity.
“Breathe,” he murmured.
No wonder I’d felt lightheaded. Lungs burning, I sucked in a breath and chuckled.
A sound he echoed, though his rang of some deeper emotion.
Something rough and sensual. I dove right back in for another taste of him, savoring the traces of woodsmoke and cedar coming off his soft skin.
His silky black hair fell around me as we lost ourselves in kiss after kiss.
A possessive sound rumbled in his chest as he turned and pinned me between him and the tree. His tongue brushed the seam of my mouth before he kissed me deeper.
Driven by lust and the sizzling bond between us, I hooked one leg around his hip and drew him closer, clinging to every inch of him. Each glide of his tongue felt like liquid fire. Every hard press of his body created a delicious wave of heat from the top of my head down to my feet.
The raw, carnal desire burning through my veins was dizzying.
Made worse when I felt the hard cock through his trousers.
I grinded up into him and emitted a shaky moan against his lips.
A tremor went through his body as I wrapped my other leg around his hips too.
Our fated connection vibrated, heightening as our kisses turned more desperate.
He tore from my mouth with a growl and pulled away from me.
Wait. What?
Breaths ragged and heart racing, it took me a second to come back to my senses. When I did, I saw that he’d put a large gap between us.
“Did I do something wrong?” I asked.
“No.” He stood from the grass and straightened his disheveled shirt. “We should return. Your lovers will be wondering where you are.”
“Wait a second.” I sat up, trying to get my body to calm. “I’m sorry if that was too much, too soon. I got a little carried away, I guess.”
“No apology needed.” His shoulders were too stiff, his tone too damn cold. “As I said, you did nothing wrong.”
“Then why are you upset?” I couldn’t wrap my head around it. His mercurial mood, going from fiery hot to ice-cold, gave me whiplash. “Are you worried about what my men will say? You don’t have to be. I’ve already—”
“I care not what they think or feel,” he interjected, then turned to leave the shade of the willow. “Now come with me or you’ll be left to find your own way back.”
A heavy weight threatened to send my heart to the pit of my stomach. The hot burning behind my eyes said tears wouldn’t be far behind. As he put distance between us, heading for the path, I sat motionless beneath the tree.
Wondering what the hell had just happened—and what I did wrong.
***
Sleep deprivation and stress didn’t pair well. After a long night of being tormented by both, I found myself in the kitchen in the wee hours the next morning, doing what I did best. Forgetting life’s troubles by baking sweets.
“What’s he doing?” Rowan leaned against the wall, having just appeared in the room using his shadows.
“Making cookies,” Lake answered without looking up from the piece of wood in his hand. He sat at the table near the open window, letting the pre-dawn breeze ruffle the silver strands of his hair as he whittled.
“This early? The sun’s not even up yet.”
“It’s never too early for cookies,” I said, whisking eggs, sugar, and softened butter in a big bowl. The dry ingredients were added. One batter down, two more to go.
“Sure.” Rowan watched me flutter around the kitchen. “Should we wake Captain Glutton? He can usually calm him down when he’s like this.”
“No, don’t wake up Maddox. I’m okay. Really.
” I skidded to a halt beside the counter and hesitated, bowl of cookie dough in one hand and a cleaver in the other.
“Wait. Why do I have this?” I set the cleaver back down and grabbed a spoon instead.
“There we go. See? Totally calm and not frazzled at all.”
“Uh huh. Right.” Rowan gave an incredulous look to Lake.
“I saw that.” I spooned up dough and rolled it into a ball between my palms.