Chapter 8 #3
His blood…gods. My skin tingled now, becoming overly sensitive. The tips of my breasts ached as they brushed against the fine dusting of hair across his chest. I whimpered, pressing down against the hardness straining through thin pants. I wanted…no, I needed him .
“Whatever you want,” he said, his words a vow. “I will give it to you.”
Him. I wanted him.
Keeping his wrist to my mouth, I planted my hand on his chest and pushed—pushed hard.
He fell onto his back as I tilted my hips, rubbing against his length.
With shocking strength, he lifted both of us just enough to shove his pants down to his thighs with one hand.
The feel of him hot and hard against my lower body dragged a thready moan from me.
“Fuck,” he gasped, his large body shaking.
And then he moved again, lifting me in one fluid motion and angling my hips.
He brought me down onto him, sliding deep inside me.
His wrist smothered my cry of surprise as his hips flexed and thrust upward.
Toes curling, I pushed down, matching his pace as I curled myself around his arm, drinking deeply.
“She’s taking too much,” the other man said, his voice closer. “You’ve got to stop her.”
Even in my lust-addled mind, even as tension coiled tighter and tighter inside me, I knew the one who moved under me and in me wouldn’t stop me. He’d let me take it all. He’d let me drain him dry. He’d do that because he...
“For fuck’s sake,” the wolven snarled. A heartbeat later, I felt his arm clamp down on my waist as his fingers pressed into the skin under my jaw. He pulled my head back, but I didn’t fight him because this male’s blood was everything to me.
The one under me sat up, curling an arm around my hips, just below the other’s arm.
A sharp swirl of tingles rushed through me.
He reached around the wolven’s grip, fisting my hair as he pressed his forehead to mine.
Under me, he moved his magnificent body at a furious rhythm.
My entire body stiffened and then lightning flew through my veins.
My muscles clamped down on him, spasming.
My cry mixed with his rough shout as his hips pumped furiously, and he followed me into the wild, mindless bliss that wracked my entire body.
Slowly, the tension poured out of me, turning my muscles to liquid.
I didn’t know how much time passed, but finally, the hand under my jaw eased, and one of the arms slid away from me.
My cheek fell to a warm shoulder, and I sat there, eyes closed and breathing shallowly as he held me tightly to his chest, his hand still tangled in my hair at the back of my head.
He nodded, and the wolven left. The click of a nearby door signaled his departure, but I remained, sated and relaxed.
The heat of the blood coursing through me cooled. His blood…
Hawke’s blood.
Casteel’s blood.
The nothingness in my mind shattered in an instant.
Thoughts flooded me, connecting with memories.
They reached into the deepest parts of me, linking with a sense of self.
Shock found me first—utter disbelief and anguish over what Alastir had done while we stood at the Chambers of Nyktos and everything that had happened after that.
I’d trusted him.
I…I’d wanted acceptance from the people at the Temple, but they’d called me a Soul Eater.
They’d called me a whore . They…they’d called me the Maiden, and I was none of those things.
Anger crowded out the horror. A rage that carved itself into every bone in my body.
Fury hummed at my very core, striking against the wildness growing inside me.
They would pay for what they had done to me.
Every single one of them would discover exactly what I was.
I would never be struck down like that again. They wouldn’t succeed…
But hadn’t they already?
I could still feel the bolt striking my flesh, tearing through vital parts of me.
I’d tasted death. Felt it—the breath I couldn’t take, the heart that no longer beat, and the words I couldn’t speak.
I’d been dying, but there had been a different pain, too, a fiery one that had ripped through me.
Drink. Keep drinking. That’s it. Keep swallowing.
Drink, Poppy, keep drinking for me … The taste of citrus and snow still coated the back of my throat, my lips.
Still warmed and filled that gnawing, painful hollowness inside me.
I shuddered, and the hand on the back of my head stilled.
Oh, gods, they succeeded. He’d…Ascended me.
What had he been thinking? I will not lose you. Ever. I love you, Princess. He hadn’t been thinking. He’d simply been…feeling.
Suddenly, it was like a chest in my mind unlocked, and the lid was thrown off.
Emotions poured into me—nearly nineteen years-worth of them that went beyond what had happened in the Temple, the memories and beliefs, experiences and feelings.
Nightmares came, too, heavy with desperation and hopelessness.
But so did dreams full of such wonder and possibility.
Dreams bursting with need and want and love .
I sat back so quickly I lost my balance. An arm dropped to my waist, stopping me before I toppled out of his lap. Through the messy strands of my hair, I saw him, really saw him .
Dark, disheveled hair tumbled across his forehead.
Tension bracketed the corners of his mouth, and shadows smudged the skin under his eyes, but they were a bright topaz as they held mine.
Neither of us moved or spoke as we stared at one another.
I had no idea what he was thinking, and I barely knew my thoughts in that moment.
So much had happened, so many things I didn’t understand.
Namely, how I was in here after I had Ascended.
After he’d done the unthinkable to save me.
I remembered the panic in his father’s voice as he pleaded with him not to do it—not to repeat history.
But he’d risked—gods, he’d risked everything.
And I was alive because of him. I was here because of him. But none of this made sense.
The Ascended were uncontrollable after being turned, dangerous for mortals, let alone an elemental Atlantian.
It could take them years to control their thirst, but more unbelievable was that I could still feel all those heady and exhilarating and terrifying emotions within me.
I could feel love , and I didn’t think any Ascended was capable of feeling such a miracle.
I didn’t understand. Maybe this was some sort of dream?
Perhaps I had passed and was in the Vale, an eternity of paradise awaiting me.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to know if that was the case.
I lifted my trembling hand and pressed my fingers to the warm skin of his cheek. “ Casteel .”