Chapter 26
Nix
Volik boosts me higher, breaking our kiss.
I blink my eyes open and look down into his.
I wrap my arms around his neck, holding myself in place when I realize I am sitting on his forearm.
He’s once again holding me up with one arm, his hand gripping my hip, without a single grunt or noise of exertion.
I no longer feel big.
I lean down and press my lips to his, enjoying the high ground.
The fingers on my hip flex, and I grind into him.
It’s been one minute, and I’m already climbing Volik like it’s my divine purpose.
He’s the drug.
My heart is racing.
Our hearts are racing.
I slide one hand around to the side of his throat, feeling his matching galloping pulse.
Volik tips his head forward so our foreheads are touching but our lips are not. “Nix. Ma Fleur. Put your hand here.”
Lifting my head, I look at his mouth. “What?” My voice is breathy.
“Replace my hand with yours.”
My brows furrow. “Replace…” I glance down, and instinct makes me jerk away when I see the giant knife in Volik’s hand.
I tip backward, off my perch on Volik’s arm.
“Nyet!” Volik’s lips pull back as he says the word like a command.
My body halts as the rope wound through my ribs stops me, then pulls me upright until I’m pressed against his side again.
What the—
“Do not hurt yourself,” Volik growls.
I grip his shoulder with one hand and press the other against the base of my throat, as far away from the weapon as I can get it. “You don’t hurt yourself. You’re the one with the knife pressed to—” I choke on the statement, unable to finish it.
He looks down to where the knife is pressed, point first, against the skin of his chest, over his heart.
“I do it for you.” He lifts his gaze back up to mine.
“Do what for me?” I whisper, not understanding any part of what’s happening.
“We cannot stop the bond.” He leans his face closer to mine. “I do not want to stop the bond. But I will not rush you.”
“What bond?” I roll my hips, grinding myself into his warm, melty-hot side.
That drugged, hazy feeling is coming back.
I can’t keep my thoughts straight.
“Nix…” He drags out my name as he presses his forehead against mine again. “The mate bond, Mea Unica. Our mate bond.”
My eyes close. “I-I don’t know what that means.”
“It means you are My Only. The other half of my soul. You are my fated mate.”
I can taste his words.
And they taste… true.
That pull in my chest.
The tug in my bones.
The heat in my blood.
The beat of my heart.
It all tells me the same thing.
Volik is speaking the truth.
Opening my eyes, I move my hand from my throat to his.
I slide it down slowly to his chest.
Then over, until I can feel the thump of his heart under my palm and the cool steel of the blade against my fingers. “Why are you holding the knife?”
He pulls his forehead away from mine and holds my gaze. “So you can slow me down.”
“Slow you down?”
“Da. I will follow you. I will never be able to stop myself from finding you. But I will not hurt you, Nix Novak. If you are not ready for me, push this through my heart and run.”
Push this through my heart and run.
I lift my hand from his chest and slap at his hand holding the knife. “Don’t be an idiot.”
“Be careful.” He holds the knife out, away from me. “It will not kill me. Just slow me down.”
“I’m not stabbing you.” The urge to cry hits me at just the thought of Volik being hurt. “Don’t say that again.” My words crack.
He releases the knife, and it clatters to the floor. “I am sorry, Mea Unica.” Volik brings his empty hand to my cheek and strokes it with his thumb, catching a stray tear.
“Don’t—” I try to swallow down my rioting emotions. “Don’t offer me that again. Ever.”
“I promise.” He drags me around from his side to his front and wraps both arms around me. The material of my skirt bunches with the movement, rising as it twists around my waist.
Volik holds me tighter. “If you will not run from me, then you are letting me stay. Do you understand what that means?”
I think I know. But my mind is so fuzzy right now that I’m still not sure this isn’t all just some dream.
So I shake my head.
Volik palms the back of my head and pulls my face into the side of his neck. “It means I am going to take you now. And you are going to take me.”
Air pushes out of my lungs, and my stomach dips, like I just experienced the drop of a rollercoaster.
Volik ducks, tipping me backward, and I blink up at my bedroom ceiling.
How did we get here from the kitchen?
Electricity skates over my skin as the room vibrates.
Thunder booms outside.
But I don’t think it’s the storm that’s shaking the building.
I think it’s Volik.
I think it’s us.
Volik moves to the foot of my bed.
I can’t see the queen-size mattress at my back. But the bed suddenly feels far too small.
Volik presses his lips to mine, and I tighten my legs around his waist. Then I drag my nails up the back of his head.
His hair glides between my fingers, and he groans into my mouth.
That heavy feeling in my chest thrums. And I can feel it wrap around my heart.
Is that the mate bond?
Is that what Volik called it?
I slide my hands higher, my fingers seeking—and finding—the base of his horns.
Volik groans and pushes his tongue into my mouth in time with my hands sliding up and down the ridges of his horn.
They’re so warm. So hard. Immovable. But so smooth they almost feel soft.
My hips tilt, seeking friction.
Volik shifts but stops when there’s a tearing sound.
I start to pull away, but he growls, so I don’t stop kissing him.
I taste him.
Lick him.
Consume him.
Volik jostles us, and when I hear more tearing and something falling to the floor, I smile against his lips.
I think he just ripped away the last shreds of his pants.
Meaning he’s left in just those tight-ass boxer briefs.
Volik grumbles something in a language I don’t understand as he lifts his knee onto the mattress.
The bed frame creaks.
Still holding me, he shifts, lifting his other knee onto the bed.
The bed frame creaks louder.
Volik ignores the sound of warning and bends forward.
I tighten my grip on his horns as he lays me on the bed.
Our kiss breaks as he slides his arms out from under me. But then he braces his elbows on either side of me, staying close.
Loosening my grip, I drag my hands up the length of his horns again.
“Ma Fleur.” Volik presses his face against my neck and inhales.
My vision warps.
My head tips to the side.
My heartbeat doubles.
Volik parts his lips. And I close my eyes.
But he doesn’t bite me.
He shifts a few inches lower.
There’s a tug on the neckline of my sweater.
Then air greets my chest.
My hands fall away from his horns, and I lift my head to watch Volik use his fang to slice my sweater straight down the center.
The room vibrates.
Thunder rolls.
Volik lifts his gaze to mine as he grips the waistband of my skirt.
The bed frame creaks with every movement he makes.
My mind feels like it’s on the verge of fracturing.
Volik rips my skirt in half.
The air crackles, like the lightning outside is in the room with us.
Tingles skitter across my skin.
“I must see all of you, Mate.” He reaches up, and as though it’s made of paper, he tears my bra in half.
Black dots flicker in my periphery.
With his large hands, he grabs the material at my shoulders, and I shift, helping him to pull the ruined clothes off my body.
He sits back, kneeling at the end of the bed, and tosses my garments to the floor.
I’m naked before him. This man I don’t know. With just my drenched panties left to cover me.
I’ve never been more exposed.
I’ve never felt more incredible.
“Volik,” I whine.
My eyes fight to stay focused on his form.
On his body.
“I know.” Overheated palms glide up my thighs. “I am here.”
Fingers hook in the top band of my thong.
The moan that crawls out of my throat doesn’t sound like me.
Hardly sounds human.
My hips lift, my body obeying without command.
My panties disappear.
“Nix.” Volik’s voice crawls across the room.
More fabric rips.
I try to lift my head, wanting to see. The only thing left to tear was his underwear.
I want to see.
But it feels like my skeleton is made of iron.
I can hardly move.
My thighs are shoved open.
Volik growls.
The room around us pulses.
The bed frame groans.
His hands drag over my skin, under my ass.
Fingers dig into my soft flesh. And he lifts me.
Gripping my ass, Volik lifts my lower half from the bed.
My shoulders stay pressed into the mattress.
My head stays pressed into the mattress.
My lips part.
I blink.
And I watch Volik lower his face. Between my thighs.