Page 11 of Consume Me (Immortal Vices and Virtues: All Hallows’ Eve #4)

Noctan

A t my invitation, her cheeks flush. The most delicate wash of color, high on her cheekbones. Gods help me, it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve seen in centuries.

I extend my hand, not trusting myself to speak just yet. She hesitates… then slides her palm against mine. Her exhale is a heavy thing.

“Are you hurt?” I ask, suddenly worried I’ve missed some injury.

She shakes her head. “The daggers… I can hear them.”

I frown, looking around at the room spelled with wards more powerful than any other. “We left the remaining blade in the Earth realm,” I say.

“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “I hear them in my head. But when you touch me…” She looks at me with wonder. “I can’t hear them anymore.”

I find myself caught in her blue-eyed gaze like prey in a snare. “In that case, probably best to not let go. ”

Her mouth quirks, and gods, I want to feel that mouth. On several parts of me. My cock twitches at the thought, and it’s all I can do not to shift my body to keep it from pressing painfully against my pants.

Fuck, this pixie-looking fae is going to be the death of me.

Her thumb moves, just slightly against my skin. With my free hand, I reach for my whiskey to keep from shoving her beneath me on this couch and touching her in places that would make her forget all about those daggers.

“Can I ask you something?”

I take a generous swig of the burning liquid and then set it aside. The fire burns just enough to distract me from the urge to take her right here, and I nod.

“How have you never found a mate?” she asks softly. “You’ve lived this long—centuries, you said, but you’ve never found someone?”

“I’ve never met anyone I cared about more than my vow to my people,” I admit. “But I’m starting to think fate was right to wait. That the wait has been worth it in the end.”

The ice in her eyes begins to thaw, and for the first time in my long existence, I allow myself to become vulnerable. Anything to see her look at me like that a little longer.

“I dedicated my life to the safety and protection of others. But since losing my cadre, a new generation of sentinels has come to serve in our place, and when my oath of vengeance is fulfilled…” I pause, tightening my hold on her hand. “I’ll serve only myself—and my ma te.”

She doesn’t respond to that last part. I suspect we’re both still trying to wrap our heads around it, so I don’t push her.

But I’m not sure I can wait much longer.

My beast whines, longing to make his claiming bite.

It might have taken centuries to find her, but now that we have, my beast has no intention of waiting around to possess what’s his.

“And you live here in Sanctum? Alone?” she asks.

“When I’m not hunting, yes.”

She looks like she wants to argue that. Instead, she asks, “Isn’t that lonely?”

I huff a short laugh. “I’d rather be alone than spend a single second in a room full of empty-headed strangers.”

She laughs then, the sound catching me off guard and hitting somewhere I didn’t know I was vulnerable. Somewhere empty that suddenly feels full. “You sound like my sister, Tori.”

“You have a sister.”

“She lives in Tartarus with her mate, Legion. Who, by the way, is best friends with that wolf shifter we saw at the party, so I’m sure I’ll get a call from one of them soon enough.”

“Does he want to mate with you?”

“Klyn?” She looks a little horrified. “No. Of course not. He’s like… an uncle or something.”

I force myself to relax.

“But he’ll likely tell my sister he saw me. And then I’ll have to explain more than I want.” She shakes her head with a small smile. “Tonight reminds me strangely of their story. ”

“Because we’re mates from two different realms?” I ask.

“No,” she says, smirking faintly. “Because they tried to kill each other when they first met, too.”

I lean forward just enough that she can’t mistake the weight of my words.

“I have not lifted a finger to harm you since the moment I laid eyes on you, Kendall. And I never will.”

Her expression flickers—something uncertain threading through it. “I saw you kill me,” she admits quietly.

My chest tightens. “Explain.”

“My mother was a nymph. I think I get my connection to nature from her. Among other gifts. My father was dark fae. From his bloodline, I inherited future sight. Specifically, death sight.”

“You can see how someone will die.”

She nods. “For two years, I’ve had a single vision of my own death. A white-star wolf, its fur coated in my blood, my life force draining away until it’s gone.”

I search her face, hating the fear I see there. Fear for me. For my wolf. Who would do anything for her. “Visions can always change.”

She nods slowly. “I know. I saw two futures for Tori once—different outcomes based on her choices. But I’ve only ever seen one outcome for myself. No matter what choices I’ve made, that vision has never changed. I’ve lived in fear of your wolf for a long time, Noctan.”

“And now?” I ask, my thumb brushing the back of her hand. “Are you still afraid of me? ”

She looks down at our joined hands, a long pause stretching between us.

“Not in the way that you think,” she says at last.

The fire in her eye is a spark to dry tinder.

I’ve waited long enough.

I close the last inches between us.

Her lashes flutter, her mouth parting just enough for my breath to brush hers. That tiny opening is all the invitation I need. I tilt my head and capture her lips with mine.

The first taste of her is like nothing I’ve ever known. Whiskey and warmth and pure defiance. Heat and challenge. She doesn’t melt, not at first. No, Kendall meets me head-on, lips moving with mine in a dance that’s equal parts battle and surrender.

I waste no time pulling her into my lap, reveling in the sounds she makes as I settle her core over my cock.

Her fingers clutch at my shirt, curling in the fabric like she’s trying to anchor herself. My own hands slide up her arms, over her shoulders, memorizing every line and curve. The shirt she’s wearing, my shirt, is too much of a barrier, and I want her—skin to skin, heat to heat.

I break the kiss just long enough to tug the shirt up. She raises her arms without a word, letting me pull it over her head. The fabric falls to the floor, forgotten.

And then… gods above.

Her skin is soft and pale in the firelight, the curve of her breasts exquisitely perfect. My gaze lingers, greedy, taking in the flush blooming over her cheeks, the way her breath quickens under my scrutiny. She shifts beneath my perusal, self-conscious, and it only makes me want her more.

“You are the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen,” I tell her.

I reach out and cup one breast, my thumb brushing over the tightened peak. She inhales sharply. Before that breath is even gone, I’m leaning down, replacing my thumb with my mouth.

She lets out a sound—half gasp, half moan—and it goes straight to my cock, hardening me until my control is a frayed thread.

I close my lips around her, suckling gently at first, then harder when her fingers tangle in my hair.

The taste of her skin, the way she arches into me, the small, desperate noises she tries to swallow… they’re all maddening.

My free hand slides to her waist, splaying over her hip to keep her pressed to me. I want her to feel the effect she’s having on me, the length and heat of my arousal straining against my trousers. Her scent fills my head, thick and sweet, the most intoxicating thing I’ve ever breathed in.

The mate-bond hums between us, not gentle—never gentle—but fierce and demanding. It pulls at me, drags me closer until I’m not sure where I end and she begins.

“Gods, Kendall…” Her name is a growl I make against her skin. I drag my mouth away from one breast only to claim the other, my teeth grazing her nipple before I soothe the bite with my tongue.

She gasps again, her head tipping back, exposing the vulnerable line of her throat. My beast wants it. All of it. My teeth on her skin, my claiming mark against her throat, her body sated and wrecked beneath me.

But I’m not done yet.

My hand leaves her hip, slides lower, finding the waistband of her shorts. Something loose falls to the couch cushion. I pick it up, examining it as Kendall groans.

“Is this part of my comb?” I ask.

“Maybe?”

I look down at her, more intrigued than anything. “Why?”

“In case I needed a weapon,” she says, and even though I can see she’s trying to remain dignified, her cheeks are flushing bright red.

I clamp down on the laughter that bubbles up. “I see.”

Very seriously, I hand the comb’s tooth back to her.

“I’m good,” she mumbles, offering a shake of her head.

“Darling,” I whisper as I toss the comb’s tooth onto the table and lean toward her beautiful body. “You are the weapon.”

I pause just long enough for her to glance down at me, her pupils blown wide with arousal, before I slip my fingers inside her.

The heat of her nearly undoes me.

I stroke her slowly at first, exploring the slick folds, learning what makes her shiver, what makes her breath hitch. She’s drenched, her body welcoming me like it’s been waiting for this. For me.

When I slide two fingers into her, she clenches around me—tight, hot, perfect. A low curse escapes me. “You’re so wet,” I rasp, moving inside her, my thumb brushing over her clit in lazy circles.

She makes a sound that’s pure sin—breathless, needy, unguarded—and my restraint shreds. I keep my forehead pressed to hers, drawing those sounds out of her again and again, each one another nail in the coffin of my self-control.

The pull to claim her is a roar in my blood now. My beast is pacing, snarling, desperate to take what’s ours and never let her go.

Her hips rock against me, and I groan.

My words are a desperate rasp. “You’ll kill me before I ever get to?—”

Thump.

The sound of something else in this room cuts through the heat like a bucket of ice water.

Kendall makes a small sound of shock. I still my hand inside her, lifting my head to look.

Over the back of the couch, the firelight catches on steel, and every muscle inside me coils to strike.

To fight and defend. But it’s not a creature that’s somehow breached my wards and gained access to my sanctuary.

It’s a blade.

The remaining dagger lies on the floor, gleaming, its sharpened tip angled toward us like a predator ready to strike.

Kendall twists to see what I see and instantly stiffens, her body going rigid. The scent of her arousal tangles now with something colder—fear.