Page 28

Then, her legs tighten around me, her breath caught in her throat, and she goes off like cannon fire. Her eyes roll back in her head, chest brushing against mine, back arched as if a woman possessed. She squeezes my fingers as she comes, bucking against my hand like a wild horse, her torso clenching with each gyration.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so heavenly before.

She’s an angel.

She’s a devil.

She’ll be my downfall.

While her breathy moans fill the air, I lean in and suck at her neck, lapping up the trickles of blood I left earlier. To my delight, the fresh blood that comes out of her tastes the same as before, creating an electrical storm inside my ribs.

She hasn’t lost her power; she still has the blood of a Syren.

I pull back, licking my lips, and brush her hair off her shoulder. There are faint lines from where her gills used to be, three pinkish scars.

She’s human now, and she can still give me everything I need.

For now.

For eternity.

Bound by magic, bound by blood.

I straighten up, removing my fingers from between her legs. While she looks at me with dazed, sated eyes, I slide my fingers over my tongue, making sure she can see how much I enjoy every inch of her. She’s delectable inside and out, and my cock throbs angrily, begging to finally come, but now that she’s panting, her legs growing limp against me, I have a moment to think, to gain clarity.

She wants me to lose focus. If I fuck her, not only am I throwing away my vows, but I’m one step closer to losing control of both the monster and the man. I have to hold on to something.

“How do I taste?” she whispers, her gaze focused on my mouth.

I raise my brow at her boldness. Then again, I shouldn’t be so surprised. She may have a human cunt, but she’s still a Syren underneath.

“Like the seas,” I tell her, sucking the rest of her off my fingers. “Like uncharted waters.”

And I’m the first to discover them.

The sound of blood sprinkling into the chalice draws my eye. Her blood from the cross has slowed, but the cups are full, and I can’t afford to let her bleed anymore.

I unhook her legs from around me and go to my desk, my cock aching as I grab the sage bundle. I light it briefly on a flame before blowing it out. I proceed to yank the spikes out of her bloodied wrists, one at a time, the pain causing her voice to catch in her throat, and I quickly press the burning herbs against the open wounds. I murmur my spell over and over until the wounds begin to heal.

She looks to me with big eyes. “Might you let me down too?”

I see what’s happening. She thinks because I made her come, I’m about to get sweet on her.

I smirk. “I already gave you ecstasy with my fingers. Don’t get greedy, little fish.”

Then, I turn and walk to the door, leaving her naked on the cross.

I don’t plan to be gone for long. I know she can stand on her toes to support herself, but soon, she’ll be too exhausted. She has to know that she is at my mercy, that I am not at hers, and yet I don’t want to go out of my way to be cruel.

Not unless she deserves it.

So, I steal into the night and head north. It’s cold, the smell of frost in the air, and the wind is just a whisper. I hear sounds in the bush, animals scurrying away as I run through the stunted forest. I move fast, a blur to the naked eye, heading toward the town of Ciudad del Rey Don Felipe. The general and his wife live there, and she wears fine gowns that look as if they would fit Larimar.

Tonight, I am a thief.

The town is quiet, with only a few babbling voices coming from a pub at the end of the muddy road. I’ve done a house call at the general’s when his aging mother was on her deathbed, so I know my way around the house.

I climb the side of it and look through the window. The general and his wife are asleep in bed, and though their house is still tiny in comparison to one they would have had in Spain, I know she has a dressing room for her gowns.