Page 115 of Cold-Blooded Creatures

38

GEDEON

She drummed her fingers on the collar locked around her neck as I led us into the hall with Zion trailing behind. The black leather complimented her spectacular dress in a way that declared you could look, but if you had the balls to try anything, your bones would become mine and your blood Zion’s.

The backless dress Jayla had picked out fit Kali immaculately. She was the personification of death cloaked in the night, a creature with a sharp jaw for a scythe and forest-green eyes flaming with the fire from the souls she had claimed. Only a crown was missing.

Celebratory shouts and cheers greeted us with raised glasses and Jayla shouted from beside Ava in the corner, “Finally! Now go fuck yourselves!”

“Ahm…I’m not even going to ask what she meant,” Kali mumbled as she beheld the crowd filling every corner of the vast hall except the far end, where a large desk stood on the raised dais. A multitude of light bulbs hung from the ceiling on individual strings of varying lengths, the illumination a faint glow warring with the swirling shadows.

Everyone was mostly dressed for now, but some were already shedding the extra layers on the large couches lining the walls.Ryder passed out the fresh-out-of-the-laundry cushions that would soon cover the scuffed-up floor for the comfort of those preferring more space than the couches provided.

Kali released the collar and fixed her hair so it fell both over her shoulders and back. “What’s happening?”

“They’re preparing to celebrate us.” I pulled her flushed bottom lip out from the entrapment of her teeth. “They are waiting for me to declare you as mine so the real festivities can begin.”

“But I already have the tattoo,” she said as we sauntered to the ebony desk positioned in the center of the platform. It was the one from my study that I had requested to be brought here just for this purpose. I wanted to remember this night each time I walked into my study.

“Hold on.” I hoisted her up on the desk with her back to the crowd and checked to see if Zion was lingering nearby to make sure no one dared to come close. She was not to be shared with others. Him playing with her, I was indifferent to.

That was a lie if there ever was one.

I had questioned the soundness of my mind from how Zion had jumbled my senses while Kali was getting inked. Fuck, seeing how my words had affected him, how he had obeyed me without questioning it, without an ounce of hesitation, it had taken everything in me not to throw Dorrian out of the room to have my way.

Encouraging shouts and whistles from the crowd enshrouded us, and Kali glimpsed over her shoulder. “There are people here. A lot of them.”

“Donotlook at them.” I positioned myself between her spread legs. “Keep your eyes on me.”

I had always been inclined to show off what was mine. Our friends, acquaintances, and the rest watching only solidified theneed to announce. But I wanted her attention on me, not the crowd enjoying the spectacle I was planning to put on.

“Do you understand?” I pressed. Testing a person’s limits came at a cost. Push too far and they would fall apart. Fear would choke them lifeless. So I was not going to push her over her edge of comfort. Not yet. I had full intentions of breaking her in the days to come. “I need your verbal confirmation.”

“Okay.” She slid her hands over my shoulders and up to my neck. “I just…” she trailed off, fixating on my mouth.

“Use your words,” I encouraged. “I am particularly fond of your voice.” I tightened my hold on her waist. “And the rest of you. The way you spit fire with your tongue. The way you make those little noises of delight when you take the first bite out of a freshly baked cream puff. The way you squeal when Zion tickles you.”

Her slow-to-appear smile muffled the sounds of the crowd, and the world shrunk to her before me and Zion keeping an eye on us from across the desk.

“Yes. I understand,” she said, and rushed out, “but I want a deal. My agreement for a question.”

I chuckled. “Ask away.” It was foolish to bargain without knowing the conditions. But with them, they did not exist. Both of them were the only conditions I cared about.

“Why haven’t you kissed me? You’ve gotten me off multiple times, but…”

“But what? Say it. Tell me what you want.”

“Not knowing why you don’t touch me like Zion does drives me crazy.”

“Because once I do, I am not taking my mouth off you. Your lips, the dip between them and your chin, the line of your jaw, behind your ear, your long neck, the curve of your breasts, your belly, yo?—”

“You’ve already had your mouth in most of these places.”

“And it has never been enough. I knew that once I began, I would not be able to stop.” I caressed up her spine, marveling at her eyelids turning droopy, and cradled her head. “You have a need to make deals. So I chose one for you. I would claim you fully after you willingly took my mark.”

Her eyebrows drew together. “Your mark?”

I brought her tattooed arm between us. “There is no going back once my ink is on you. I warned you when you asked for it.”