What Lurks Between the Fates (Of Flesh & Bone, #3)(97)

All gentleness was lost, all trace of emotion gone from his face as I wrapped my legs around his hips, pulling him deeper still. Our hips moved in tune with one another as I thrust up to meet him.

It was a battering of bodies—a battering of souls clashing against one another. My claws dug into his back, shredding his tunic as the monster within me rose to the surface. But Caldris met her gaze where she stared out from behind my eyes, then grinned at her as his own beast rose within him.

I felt the surge of darkness pulse off him, felt my monster purr in delight as my body clenched around him in answer. Caldris laughed, the sound a dark, mangled thing that spoke of possession and ownership rather than joy.

“That’s my good girl,” he murmured, pressing a hand against the front of my throat.

I snarled, baring tongue and teeth as that hand settled over the most vulnerable part of me. The creature within me lashed out, striking at him so harshly that I felt her move beneath my skin. He hoisted my legs higher as he rose over me, pinning me to the bed with that hand at my throat. He knelt between my legs, fucking me with deep, sharp thrusts as my legs spread to accommodate him.

I clawed at his forearm, tearing through the skin there. He didn’t make any move to choke me, to harm me as he pinned me and fucked me. His blue eyes blazed as he held my furious gaze.

“I wondered when you would come out to play with me again,” he murmured.

The image of that night in the bath after the boy on the bridge surged through me, reminding me of the cold creature who had possessed my body.

Was that what had happened? Was she the same monster who lingered within me now?

I bucked up, my body not entirely my own as she writhed within me. She didn’t like our throat being vulnerable, wanted to wrap her teeth around his and force him into submission. The cold was gone from her now, replaced by the fury of a thousand flames.

Caldris pushed me back, pinning me to the bed beneath him once again. His cock stroked over that spot inside me, sending my eyes rolling back in my head even as the creature tried to focus.

“You’re mine,” he growled, baring his teeth as he stared down at me.

The ghost of a vision flashed over his face, half of it consumed by a skeleton as his own monster showed itself.

I swallowed down my fear, the trepidation I felt when staring at the creature within the God of the Dead. At the monster behind the beautiful face. But my creature wasn’t afraid. She used my mouth, my throat, to emit something between a purr and a growl as Caldris kept fucking me.

Whatever he saw there made him smile; whatever that sound meant made him lean forward, daring my teeth to kiss me.

And instead of snapping and spitting and raging, the creature within me embraced him. We welcomed him deeper, welcomed him into our body and our soul.

Caldris pounded us into the mattress, his thrusts turning harsh and frenzied. I didn’t remember a time when he’d fucked me like this, as if he’d been waiting for that monster to rise to share it with me.

His eyes glowed blue, flashing between that and the shadows of a dark night beneath the moon as he approached his orgasm. He took me with him, forcing my head to the side so that he could lay his mouth upon the side of my neck.

My creature purred as he sank his teeth into our flesh, grinding them into our skin. I went lax even as I felt myself bruise beneath the grip of those teeth, the claim that they possessed. But my body clenched around him, the bite shoving me into my orgasm as he groaned into my skin and followed.

We lay there for a few moments as the monsters settled, and there was blood on Caldris’s mouth when he pulled back. His lips were twisted with the warning of a growl, waiting for me to fight the claim he’d just laid upon my monster and me.

His voice was more rumble than word when he spoke finally.

“Mine.”





32


Estrella


The cages were empty where they hung from the ceiling of Mab’s throne room, but one of the Summer Court Faeries had lit them on fire. The metal burned even though it was impossible, casting a golden glow down on the room as the flames stayed inside the bars of each cage. The Llaidhe had hung dark draperies of fabric, sweeping from one side of the throne room to the other.

The effect was ominous, sinking into that darkness everyone feared. The music that the troubadours played upon the stage near Mab’s throne pulsed through the room as bodies moved in the twining of a dance that I recognized.

A jolt of disbelief struck me in the chest, with the realization that the very dances I’d been tormented into memorizing by the Priestess had been taken from the Fae. We’d stolen the culture and heritage straight from the very things we claimed to hate.

I scanned the gathered group of Gods, searching for the tall frame of my mate and his silver hair that would gleam in the firelight. There was no trace of him in the crowd as I made my way toward the center, hoping to catch even a glimpse of him.

Malachi watched my every move, seeming unwilling to allow me out of his sight, even at an event where I was meant to mingle. Mab wanted me to be sociable, had given me orders through Malachi to make myself welcomed among the Gods. I had no doubt it was so that she could watch my every move and interaction or use me to gather information for her down the line.

With Mab, there was always an ulterior motive.

Rheaghan approached me where I stood in the center, his light green eyes entertained. There was nothing sexual about the assessing stare he swept from my feet up to my face. The maroon of my gown was thin, the fabric breezy as it swept to the side to reveal a line of thigh. The top half of the dress was carved into sharp points that glimmered with gems, cut out to reveal lines of cleavage and breast that barely covered the necessary bits.