Page 57 of Eryx

“You are not only a heavy breather, but your screams can get quite loud as well,” I said, arching a brow. “Especially when I touch you in all the right places.”

“You’re an ass,” he said, punching my arm, this time harder. His red cheeks signaled his embarrassment.

Ignoring his feisty attitude, I crawled toward him and covered his body with mine. I thought he might push me away—which was what I deserved—but he didn’t. I stared down at his face, seeing the dirt upon his cheek and the wild look in his eyes that came from having been so scared only moments ago.

“You were frightened when I ambushed you.”

He averted his gaze. “I was not.”

Lightly touching his jaw, I turned his face back to make him look at me. “Do not lie to me, Axios. Please. Even after the shock of it passed, you trembled in my grip. What was it that frightened you?”

Several moments passed where he said not a word. He only stared at me as shadows clouded in his eyes. He lifted a hand and caressed my jaw before moving his fingers to my lips.

“Although admitting such a thing goes against everything we are taught as Spartans, I feared death,” he said, still touching me, almost as if he was afraid I’d leave if he didn’t. “But, what frightened me most? Never looking upon your face again. Never feeling your mouth moving on mine nor hearing again the sound of your voice whispering my name. All of these things I have memorized of you would be lost to the unknown abyss.”

My feelings for Axios ran deep, yet I struggled sometimes with how to show him. In my private thoughts, I could call him my beautiful raven. I could allow myself to picture a life with him where we spent each day making love and never thinking of war. But when I tried to tell him how I felt, it never came out right.

The fear he spoke rang true with me, for I’d thought the same when I’d been at the end of the helot’s blade.

“I do not fear death because I’m afraid of dying, Ery… I fear it because it would take me from you.”

The tenderness in his eyes as he confessed his feelings gave me the encouragement I needed to do the same. Instead of words, though, I captured his lips in a heated kiss. He smiled against my mouth as I pushed his legs apart and settled between them. As I rolled my hips forward, he rewarded me with a gasp.

I reveled in the sound and kissed him harder, stroking his tongue with mine. He moaned and gripped my biceps as I grinded against him. Sense slammed into me, and I broke from the kiss.

“Wait,” I said, panting against his lips. “We cannot become lost in each other this moment. Our orders were to hunt and return home.”

Gods, how my body ached for him, but we’d been given direct orders.

Axios wiggled his brows as a mischievous gleam sparked in his eyes. “Youarehunting. Now it is time to claim what is rightfully yours.”

The battle was lost. My desire for Axios outweighed everything else. I growled and claimed his lips again, alternating between hard kisses and gentle bites. Snagging his bottom lip with my teeth, I nibbled it before sucking it into my mouth.

He groaned and held me tighter. But I had other ideas. After grabbing his arms, I placed them on the ground behind his head so he couldn’t touch me. He fought me, of course, and lowered them again before running his fingertips down my spine.

Growling, I gripped his side and flipped him onto his stomach.

Fighting for dominance had become a game of ours over the years. We pinned each other down while consumed in a demanding kiss and fought for control. Axios never won, but I sensed he never wanted to. He enjoyed challenging me so I’d take him harder after he lost.

I nipped at his shoulder and pinned him down. He struggled halfheartedly before turning his head to the side and resting his cheek on the ground. The smile on his face took away my animalistic lust and replaced it with an emotion I couldn’t explain.

He was too beautiful for this world. Beautiful and kind, even though Sparta had chipped away at the boy he used to be.

I brushed my lips across his ear as a lump lodged in my throat.

“You are my heart,” I confessed, and the weight of the words nearly crushed me. But Axios kept me strong, just as he always did. “I do not easily confess emotions in the way you do, but know I feel the same. The words I once spoke to you hold true: I will kill any man and turn the whole world to ash for you, my warrior. I fear neither battle nor death, but I fear the day you are not by my side. Never question where my heart lies, because it is forever yours. In this life and the next.”

Over the years, I had proclaimed my feelings for him in smaller ways but never so completely. Love had no place in Sparta… yet, that’s exactly what I’d found.

“In this life and the next,” he repeated.

The words felt like an oath. I vowed to never break it.

“Shall we continue?” he asked, as a smile tugged at his lips.

I used my fingers to prepare him, and once he was whimpering and on the verge of release, I withdrew my hand and eased into him with something bigger. He sighed and tilted his head up for a kiss, which I obliged. I softly whimpered once I was past the barrier that fought me. Vocalizing my pleasure was rare, but I cared not in that moment.

Axios enjoyed the sound and ushered more from me by tugging me deeper.