Void(35)

“Go touch him,” Banner ordered, and I snapped my gaze back to him, my hair floating around me as I spoke.

“No,” I whispered. “I’m barely containing it as it is.” I knew that the moment I touched his skin, I’d be swallowed up with need. I wouldn’t be able to stop.

A smack of hunger coursed through me. It was the Void’s distaste of my refusal. It wanted me to put one foot in front of the other and tackle the Shifter Paragon and consume him whole.

“Do it. I won’t let any harm come to either of you,” Banner promised as he swatted at a tendril of smoke trying to graze across his chin.

“If you fuck up, I’ll tear you to shreds, neutralizer,” Gritt promised as he looked warily at the smoke that hovered all around him.

My feet reluctantly pounded on the wood planks of the platformed gazebo to move toward him. My smoke was hanging in the air like a weight, greedy in nature, eager for me to make the last connection.

Banner moved behind me, keeping a close distance as I positioned myself in front of Gritt. The Void’s hunger was bitter and kept grinding me down, withering me away into nothing but the all-encompassing Void. Lifting my fingers up, I gently pressed them to the edge of Gritt’s jaw, keeping as little surface area between us as possible, but still closing the distance between us.

It felt divine. But with the neutralizer at my back, I was able to discern that it felt wrong, too. Gritt went weak, his eyes rolling back in his head with just a tentative touch. I watched him for a moment, lost in the Void and lost in myself. Then I felt jerked by an unfamiliar pain, a sadness building deep in my gut. I didn’t want to hurt him.

“Enough,” I said, snapping the Void back. To my relief and pride, it retreated immediately.

I half expected the broody shifter to cuss me out for nibbling on his power, but instead, Gritt’s eyes widened in a blended expression of awe and need. He lifted his hand up to touch me, like the Void was too seductive to resist. I took a step back and crashed into Banner’s chest, who remained solid and infallible behind me. His cheek brushed along mine for half a second as he leaned forward to watch Gritt’s response to the Void.

“Interesting,” Banner murmured.

“What?” I asked, frowning at Gritt’s expression. “Gritt? Are you okay?”

He looked drunk. High. Not himself at all. Maybe I’d taken too much after all, maybe he was hurt, or maybe I—

“Look at his reaction,” Banner said, cutting off my train of thought. “It’s like he...enjoyed it. Like he wants more.”

As if he weren’t hearing our words at all, Gritt reached out and splayed his hand over my chest, his fingers dipping just under the collar of my shirt and warming the skin there. It felt erotic and wrong, but the connection immediately made my Void come surging back. It created a livewire of smoke to flutter like ghosts between us. His expression had gone dark and hungry, his eyes nearly black. Tawny hair started covering his arm, and his teeth bared with predatory presence.

Gritt was leaning forward, licking his lips and staring at me with hunger, and my smoke continued to swirl around us, feeding in gentle sips that I never knew it was capable of. It felt amazing. Like drinking warm tea after a cold day. It wasn’t devouring in the all-encompassing and terrifying way like usual. It wasn’t uncontrollable. This was different. This felt right. As if I’d always meant to feed my Void this way, and by the look on Gritt’s face, he was feeling a similar sense of pleasure that I was. That...that was weird. My Void powers always hurt other supers. But Gritt was enjoying it. It didn’t make any sense.

“What’s happening?” I asked as a glow started to cover his skin. I watched, transfixed, as the glow started spreading to my chest where he was still touching me.

“Oh, shit,” Banner whispered, but I barely heard him. I was too lost in Gritt’s stare and the warmth of his palm. Too caught up in the Void’s pleasure and the smoke that curled around our glowing bodies.

I felt a hand creep around to my stomach from behind and delve under my shirt, as Banner’s palm connected with my skin. He pushed his cooling, neutralizing powers into me, and just like that, the connection was cut off. My smoke disappeared and Gritt’s whole body shuddered as his hand dropped, and he staggered back. He shook his head and looked at me like he was struggling to clear a haze. I was panting, my heart racing way too fast, utterly exhausted but oddly...invigorated, too.

After blinking a few times, Gritt’s expression flitted from shock to anger. “What the fuck just happened?”

Banner dragged his hand along my stomach, resting it against my hip. “You were about to mark Devicka as your mate.”

Gritt’s eyes zeroed in on Banner’s hand, and a growl escaped his lips. When he realized what he’d done, Gritt immediately cut off the growl and scowled at us. “Impossible. There’s no way any of my animals would want to mate with the fucking Void!” he spat.

I was too stunned to speak. Shifter mate bonds were usually uncontrollable. It was based on compatible powers, and once the bond was complete, they were shared for life. Bonds were rare and random, but completely indescribable. Anyone would be lucky to earn the devotion of a shifter. Of course, it would be my luck to get saddled with one that hated me.

“Well, you were about two seconds from marking her, so I suggest we not use you as target practice anymore. Her Void is obviously too tempting for you.”