Page 15 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

I closed my eyes for a moment, shoving the thought away.

Princeton had told me to be quick. I grabbed objects hastily, my intuition leading the way. This wasn’t ordinarily how I practiced magick. I was used to being careful, meticulous, and well-researched.

Youarewell-researched,one of my guides gently reminded me.

I remembered the book on Hekate and her magick that I’d been reading, the book I’d once been frightened of. I’d asked the chaos witch section in Etherdale University’s library to show me what I needed, and the book had flown at my head.

Hekate had always been preparing me. Supporting me, guiding me. Even when I’d been too in denial to listen properly.

“Kylo?”

He’d been wordlessly taking objects from me to place on our makeshift altar in the center of the circle. Helping me without question, without any doubt in my abilities, despite me having only reconnected with my unpredictable, chaotic magick hours ago.

“Yes?” he asked, quickly scanning my eyes and body.

“Have you ever tattooed someone before?”

“Many times.” He glanced at Idris. “I already gathered those materials for Idris. He will need clan tattoos.”

My next breath was deep. “After we bring Idris back, I will also need you to tattoo… me.”

He took a step forward. Something shifted in him. He released a shaky exhale, his eyes burning with a different, darker intensity than the grief or fear. They dropped again to my body, landing on my fluttering jugular.

I reacted to him subconsciously, despite where we were and everything that had happened. It was beyond my control. The way I tilted toward him, my skin warming with anticipation.

Kylo was close now, and I didn’t back away. He didn’t touch me; he didn’t need to. His words were a cool caress down my spine.

“I would love nothing more.”

6

KYLO

Despite what Evie believed after my breach of trust, I’d never intended for her to join the clan. My drive had always been to protect her innocence, her dreams, her autonomy. I’d sooner die than make her feel used the way her parents had used her.

Even when she’d told me she wanted to join us, before she found out I had murdered John-Jarod-Whatever-His-Name-Was, I still had never fully agreed. I’d been resistant, consumed by my own protectiveness.

I didn’t want this for her.

Not after I’d been powerless to save Aisling. And certainly not after the last witch in this position—my friend, brother, and mentor—had been slaughtered and was still without justice. All we knew was that Princeton’s killer had been a masked mortal who’d gained access to our erotic dungeon, likely a witch. It was a maddening, unanswered question that served as yet another threat to Evie’s life.

Yet I couldn’t deny the way it felt to be working with her now, to be in the presence of power she’d finally freed from its cage. To have my purpose bound to hers after I thought I might have lost her.

Blood bond or not, I would’ve searched every inch of this realm until I found my angel and brought her home.

Luckily, my blood still coursed through her veins, through her fragile, beautiful heart. I wasn’t sure what I would do if, gods forbid, another choice needed to be made during this ritual. To save Evie’s life or let her die trying to save her brother’s.

I didn’t want to think about that.

I wanted to focus on the pleasure of serving Evie, making sure she had everything she needed. The ecstasy of her dark, starlit power flooded the room.

She was a dark goddess, a being that didn’t belong in this realm. I was lucky to be near her, blessed merely to witness her brave, ethereal magick.

“I’m going to close the circle now,” she said.

Such strength in that heart-melting, sweet voice. I didn’t even feel guilty about the way it made my cock twitch in her direction.

“We won’t be able to leave until the ritual is completed,” she said. “No matter what, I need you not to interfere, not even if you think I need help. You could destroy us all in the process.”