Chapter 3
Sera
Back in the Labyrinth…
Memories whirl through my mind, the recollections ones that feel so familiar yet foreign at the same time. It’s a bizarre juxtaposition. I… I know these memories are not mine. However, very real sensations roll through me with each remembered experience.
“I feel like I was there,” I whisper to myself. “But I know I wasn’t. It’s… it’s so strange.”
“You feel like you were where?” Maliki asks from the kitchen.
He’s cooking again. Something about making one of his favorite human dishes. I… I was listening when he spoke. But it seems that I wasn’t listening well.
Probably because my mind is whirring with a lifetime I never actually experienced.
“I can remember how it felt to crawl,” I tell him. “The pressure on my knees as I… she…” I shake my head. “She reminds me of Serapina. Like my former self?”
A palm against my cheek draws my focus to Maliki—who is apparently right in front of me now. I’m not sure when he left the kitchen to join me in the dining area, but he’s so close that I can smell the hint of peppermint on his breath.
“Sera?” he whispers, his gaze level with mine.
I frown, the question in his tone confusing me. “Yes?”
He searches my eyes. “You’re still you, right?”
I blink. “What do you mean?”
“You’re my sweet mystery, yeah?”
I stare at him. “Not sure about sweet, or being a mystery,” I tell him.
“Why do you call me that, anyway? Not that I mind. It’s a lot better than some of the other nicknames, like little human.
” I all but growl that pet phrase. “Or sugar tits.” I shudder.
“Some of those fae at the den were…” I frown.
“It’s like they’ve never met a woman before. ”
Maliki releases a breath against my mouth, his forehead meeting mine as he visibly shudders. “Thank fuck.”
“What?” I frown again. “What are you—”
His lips touch mine, silencing my question. A shiver tracks down my spine as he palms my cheek, his body leaning into mine and bathing me in necessary warmth. I moan, loving the way he feels. His strength. His heat. His muscular form.
“Styx, Sera,” he breathes.
And suddenly his tongue is dueling with mine, causing every thought to flee my mind. Because all that matters is Maliki. His touch. His mouth.
He takes possession of me with his kiss, his embrace borderline desperate. I don’t know what brought this on. When we arrived back at the cabin, he wrapped me up in a robe and took me to the kitchen, determined to feed me.
Now, he seems to be more interested in seducing me.
Which is fine by me. I much prefer this to food.
But before I can truly fall into his touch, he pulls back and presses his forehead to mine again. “Please don’t leave me, trouble,” he whispers. “I need you to stay.”
My lips curl down, my lashes fluttering as I open my eyes to look at him.
“What are you talking about?” I ask him.
“Why would I leave you? Especially after a kiss like that.” My cheeks heat at having blurted that last part aloud.
“I mean… I mean…” My brow furrows. Actually…
“Maybe I should leave. You stopped. Why did you stop?”
Maliki’s eyes widen, then he releases an abrupt laugh and shakes his head. “Ah, sweet mystery…” He closes the gap between us again, his mouth capturing mine in a long, sensuous kiss.
Then he pulls away from me.
Again.
This time straightening and returning to the kitchen.
I gape at his back. “Seriously?”
“You need to eat” is all he says in reply.
I huff at that. “I’ll eat you,” I mutter.
Another laugh overtakes him, causing his shoulders to shake. “No, that pleasure belongs to me.” His gold eyes swirl with wicked promises as he glances back at me. “If you’re a good girl for me, I’ll indulge you for dessert, yeah?”
His words inspire a new wave of heat, one that creeps up my neck into my cheeks.
But then another thought occurs to me.
One… one I decide to voice aloud. “Maybe I don’t want to be a good girl.” Because Persephone would have been good. Just like the old me. The obedient, meek little girl in the Monsters Night universe.
There are so many similarities in my memories and the ones I seem to possess now from Persephone. So many similar traits.
All at odds with the strong, independent woman I was trying to be in the Netherworld Village.
Only, that’s the woman who met Maliki.
“I don’t want to be good,” I repeat, locking eyes with the fae in the kitchen. “I want to be bad.” I push away from the table. “I want to be Sera. Not Serapina. Not Persephone. But Sera.”
He arches a brow. “Yeah?” He cocks his head, sending a dark, unruly strand of hair over his sinful gaze. “Tell me more, trouble.” He sets his spatula down and faces me fully. “What sort of bad behavior do you have in mind?”
A flicker of interest dances through his handsome features, the flicker morphing into a golden simmer as he studies me intently.
I’m not quite sure what to do here.
Something bold.
Something reckless.
Something… memorable.
Because maybe I’m about to be erased. Replaced by Persephone. Vanish into the plane of nonexistence.
My stomach churns with the thought, a bolt of fear flashing through my veins.
No.
I’m not going to entertain the notion. Not going to think about the future. Only going to focus on the now.
With Maliki.
Here in this cabin.
Alone.
His eyebrow inches up a little higher, his expression daring me to do something. Anything. To be bad. To prove my point. To be… Sera.
Holding Maliki’s gaze, I unfasten my robe and decide to just do what comes naturally to me. His eyes slide downward as the fabric leaves my shoulders, his gaze following the silk all the way to the ground.
Though, rather than move toward me, he leans back against the counter and continues to study me.
This time, my brow arches. “You’re not going to touch me?”
His lips curl. “Is that the bad behavior you have in mind? Because I think I have permission to touch you already, Sera. So we wouldn’t exactly be breaking any rules now, would we?”
I consider him for a long moment. “I was told to come back here for a calming bath and to dress for an evening out.” All while Hades went to meet with Ares. “He expects me to be ready for him. Waiting for him. Preparing for him.” My jaw clenches. “Well… I’m not going to do any of that.”
Maliki’s smile grows. “No?”
“No,” I echo. “I want to get dirty instead. And you know what else? I don’t even want to think about him. Only you. So are you going to help me with that or not?”
“You’re asking me to help you defy Hades’s orders?” he asks, his tone filled with dark amusement.
“I’m not asking, Maliki,” I decide aloud. “Didn’t you say I’m your new boss now?” I seem to recall him commenting that to Hades at some point. While we were in bed, maybe? It’s all a blur. But I definitely remember hearing those words. So… “Consider this my version of an assignment.”
Maliki catches my hip and pulls me toward him, his opposite hand going to my nape. “You should know that I’m particular about word choices, boss,” he tells me. “So you’re going to have to provide very specific instructions.”
“Kiss me,” I say bluntly.
His eyebrow wings upward again. “That’s it?” He shrugs and leans in to brush his lips against my cheek. “Done.”
When he releases me, I reach out to grab his arms. “Kiss me on the mouth.”
He grins and does what I request, only chastely, before trying to slip away again.
“Maliki.”
“Yes, boss?”
“Stop being coy with me.”
“How would you prefer I be?” he asks, obviously amused.
“Rough,” I growl at him. “Treat me like I’m unbreakable.
Take me against a wall. On the counter. On the floor.
Somewhere. I don’t care where. I just… I just want to feel dirty.
Used. The opposite of rested. The opposite of everything he expects me to be.
I want to be Sera. I want to be me. And I… I want to be yours.”
I’m rambling. Ranting. Making very little sense. Yet Maliki seems to understand. Because he’s no longer smirking. He’s staring down at me with an intense look, his irises glittering with savage intent.
At some point in my demand, I awoke his predatory side. The dangerous part of him that I caught sight of in Death’s Den that first night.
Only, I know he has no interest in hurting me.
His expression exudes possession. Darkness. Yearning.
He claimed me with his bite, yet somehow it feels unfinished. I can’t explain it. Can’t define how or why I feel that way. All I know is that I want to finalize it. To be worshipped by this dangerous fae and become his.
Maliki never had a preexisting claim on my soul.
We are not fated mates.
But the attraction between us burns.
And I want to revel in it. Experience more.
“Give me a memory that I’ll never forget,” I whisper, allowing him to hear some of the raw emotion bubbling up inside. “Give me something… something that’s for us, Maliki. Not for Persephone. Or the Mythos Fae. Or Morpheus or Hades. Something that is just between you and me.”
Any hints of our previous game have fled. This isn’t about me being his boss or wanting to be bad. This is about finishing a dance we started days ago. Weeks ago? I don’t know. Time no longer matters. All I care about is the feeling growing inside me. The craving. The smoldering desire.
“Sera,” he says, his tone completely different from before. It’s deeper now. Underlined with intention. Dominance. “You remember your safe word?”
I blink at him. “Safe word?”
“Hades,” he replies. “You say his name and everything ends.”
My brow furrows. “Why?”
“Because that’s how a safe word works, Sera. It allows you to be in charge even when you might feel helpless.”
A tremble works through me. Not one born of nerves, but one founded on excitement. “Okay.”
“Then you agree that Hades is your safe word?” he presses.
“I don’t want to think about him.”
“Which makes it the perfect safe word, yes?”