Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga, #2)(62)

I caught the icicles mid air, one of them missed my hand hitting me in the side. With a wince, I fell to my knees as time began again, and the ice crashed against the ground.

“Cassius!” Stephanie was immediately at my side. “I’m so sorry, I don’t know what came over me, I just… he was making me angry and—”

“Learn how to control it,” Ethan snapped, his eyes green with rage. “Council member or not, I would not hesitate to remove your head from your body if you harm Genesis.” Fangs elongated out of his mouth as he let out a loud growl. Mason protectively covered Genesis with his body, while Alex paled, his thoughts nothing but confusion and hurt.

“It’s not you,” I said.

“She’s getting worse,” came his answer back to me. “Fix it.”

“I can’t.”

Silence.

Admitting that this was a battle she could only fight on her own, one that she had no training for, one that I could not win for her.

“Stephanie.” I held out my hand. “Upstairs.”

She placed her hand in mine, offering an apologetic glance at everyone as we slowly put more distance between the council members and her.

“I’m dangerous,” she said once I closed the door to her bedroom.

“Yes.”

“I could have killed him.”

“Harmed… not killed. Big difference.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better.”

“That wasn’t me trying to make you feel better.” I cupped her cheek and kissed her mouth softly. “This is.”

Tears welled in her eyes. “I’ve loved you for a lifetime.”

“And I you.”

“I’m afraid.”

“Don’t feed the fear with irrational thoughts. They have no place in our lives, and the more you think upon them, the bigger Darkness gets. Insecurity will always be a part of you, just like emotions, jealousy, anger, it’s all there, but as a Dark One, you can harness the power, push them away, long enough to regain control of yourself. You must, otherwise…”

“That’s the scary part…” She muttered. “The otherwise. The but. The if.”

“Think upon this,” I kissed her again and again, showering her face with kisses, spreading the love I felt for her as far and as wide as was possible, kissing every inch of her face, until I thought I’d go insane with dizzying desire to take her. “Think on us.”





Stephanie



I IMAGINED THAT YEARS from now, centuries even, I’d still think his kiss was paradise, the greatest touch, the press of his fingertips against my skin. To love Cassius was to be wrapped up in rightness.

But that was now.

When he was near.

When I was touching him—the fear was gone. Everything ceased to exist but him. Clarity filled my head and I realized yet again how right he was, about everything.

If anyone had reasons to be upset about his life, parentage, or even the curse he’d been given, it should be Cassius.

And he was comforting me.

An outcast from birth.

The first of his race.

With two powerful races up in arms—over his tiny existence.

His being born, caused centuries of continual unrest between immortals and humans—it caused a giant tear in the balance of life, of exiting.

One that has never been fixed.

One life.

One life did that.

One choice did that.

“Your thoughts are heavy,” Cassius whispered, his mouth was warm, the complete opposite of the way our cold bodies pressed against one another. His tongue grazed mine and in an effort to keep him close, I grabbed onto his hair, pulling his body onto mine.

“You’re heavy,” I fired back.

His full lips spread into a grin. “You could lift me with one hand.”

“Maybe two.” I nodded. “For sure two.”

He ran his fingers through my hair, bringing it to his nose only to close his eyes and exhale as his eyes turned white, his lips the same color. “I wish to look upon you for an eternity. I would watch… if it were my job to watch you.” He kissed my lips softly. “I would never close my eyes.”

My heart swelled. “Who knew Dark Ones could be so romantic?”

“Romance,” he answered quickly, “is inherent in everyone—like a treasure that is opened only when you find the one worthy of its words, sonnets, its adoration.”

His hands slinked down my body, bracing my hips grazing my bare skin near my stomach as he raised my shirt and brought his lips to my belly button. “Let me kiss you…”

“Please.” I whimpered. “Please kiss me.”

“Only because you begged,” he teased, assaulting me with his mouth, with his lips, making me yearn for more of him as my body twisted and arched in every direction, needing him, only him.

My mate.

Eyes a blazing white, I felt him, not just physically but mentally, pushing me, almost like there was this invisible wall he was trying to break.

I pushed back.

His eyes blazed whiter. “Let me through.”

“No.” Where had that response come from? It didn’t sound like my voice. I wasn’t even thinking of saying no, it just came out through my lips, guttural, evil.