CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX #3
“Tell me,” she said, her lips twitching at his grumble of frustration. Elias settled back and fixed her with a look, but she just stared at him. The picture of innocent curiosity. It wasn’t her fault he was so much fun to tease.
“It gives him a constant drip of dream energy,” he answered after a beat, at last accepting that if he wanted to play, he would have to abide by her rules. “Even when members are awake. The more people who are bound, the stronger he becomes.”
Cadi’s brows knitted together, that newest piece of information clashing with what she’d thought she understood. “Wait,” she said, pressing her palm against his chest. “If he’s taking the power from the other gods, why does he still need people to be bound to him?”
Elias’s hands drifted under the fabric of her top, sliding against her skin in a way that told her the time for questions was nearly over. And she was very close to agreeing.
“He can’t use the stolen power,” he replied as he pressed his lips to her neck.
“What?” she exclaimed, pulling back again. Elias let out a low groan, resting his forehead against her shoulder before he tipped his face to hers.
“Cadi.”
“Elias.”
She leveled him with a look, refusing to let her own desire show through. He couldn’t just drop that bomb and expect her to be able to focus on anything else until she got some clarity. He let out a defeated sigh and flopped back onto the couch cushion, running his hands over her thighs.
“Each god’s power is aligned with them specifically. If he tried to use it, it would be like giving a human the wrong blood type. It would destroy him. So he needs more members to get more power.”
“Then why is he taking the power of the other gods?”
Elias’s expression turned serious, his frustration loosening as he lifted his shoulders. “Greed. Spite. With the others gone, he stands completely unopposed.”
“But what abou—”
Elias leaned forward and pressed his fingers to her lips to stop another question from forming. His face was a breath away from hers, and the look in his eyes … well, she couldn’t remember what she was about to ask him anyway.
“I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” Elias breathed, running his thumb against her lower lip before he pressed his mouth to hers. Hard. A soft sound escaped her at the fierceness she found in his kiss, her hands wrapping around the back of his neck to pull him closer.
Elias slid his palms over her body, slowly exploring every inch of her as if each touch was new and precious. Cadi reached between them, her breaths turning ragged as she tugged at his belt, pulling it free and beginning work on the buttons of his pants.
A sharp trill cut the air, the unwelcome interruption making them both jump. Elias grumbled and shifted to the side to dig his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans.
“Are you serious?” Cadi asked, giving him an incredulous look.
He met her stare, his brows lifting. “What, you think I’m happy about this?”
She rolled her eyes and pulled her lips between her teeth at the clear frustration in his tone when he answered the call.
“What?” he growled into the receiver.
Cadi leaned forward to muffle a giggle against his shoulder before she turned to brush her nose against him, smiling at the way he shivered.
She drew the tip of her tongue along his skin, following the line of his neck to his ear.
After he had been so adamant about cutting off her questions, she was not about to make this phone call easy for him.
“Uh-huh,” he said, his hand squeezing her tight when she reached between them again and slid her fingers beneath the fabric of his jeans, wrapping them around his cock.
His breath shook when she tugged his earlobe between her teeth and started to work his hard length beneath her hips.
“Yep. Sure. Sounds good. Bye.”
Elias ended the call and chucked his phone across the room. In a swift movement, he gripped her hard, and Cadi’s squeal cut through the quiet when he twisted them both until he was hovering over her.
“Who was that?” she asked, her voice turning breathless as Elias nudged her chin, tipping her head back to draw his teeth against her throat. Fucking hell, she loved it when he did that.
“Sera,” he muttered, his voice vibrating against her.
“What did she want that she couldn’t have sent in a text?”
Elias chuckled, the heat of his breath ghosting over her skin to send a flurry of sparks right to her core. “Wants to talk with us this weekend,” he replied as he slid the hem of her top higher to kiss a path down her stomach. “But I’m not worried about that right now. What I am worried about …”
He inched lower, his eyes locking on hers as he hooked his fingers into her leggings and slid them down her hips. “Is the concerning amount of clothing we both still have on.”
Cadi laughed, the joyful sound bleeding into a soft moan as Elias’s mouth continued its journey. She threaded her fingers into his hair, letting him banish every thought or question from her mind as he pulled her deeper into their own private form of worship.