Page 38 of Serpent In White

He’s just such a sexual being. His voice, his look, the dangerous charm and all of his erotic qualities. They make him irresistible. He’s seduction personified.

“The drugs…” I murmur. “What are they?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” he sing-songs, teasing me with his voice and his tongue in my ear.

I’m vibrating. I’m so keyed up right now, the slightest brush might set me off.

“I would. Please,” I beg, and he pulls back to look down at me, tilting his head in that way I’m beginning to realize he does often, when he’s studying you. “I want to try it.”

The little smirk disappears from his face as he stares at me. He lets go of my wrists, and it isn’t until he does that I realize how tightly he was holding them. I’m getting blood back into my hands, like a scant rush.

“You don’t know what you’re even asking, do you?” He lifts a brow.

“Then show me.” I lean up on my elbows. “I want to try what makes him… feel like that.”

“Imake him feel like that,” he growls, barely audibly. I gape up at him, bemused, and he closes his eyes, taking a breath. When he reopens them, he’s back to examining me. “You want to experience Empyrean, Abdiel Harmony?”

A small voice of worry in the back of my mind warns me against it… everything I’m considering. But my curiosity snuffs it out as I nod. “Yes. Please.”

The smirk tugs at the curve of his lips once more and his hand slides up my torso, fingers grazing my throat. “You’ll be fun to play with, little mouse.”

My heart leaps behind my ribs as he hops off me and slithers over to his desk. I sit up, nervous energy rippling through my limbs as I watch him open a drawer and take out a vial, the same one he had for Head Priest the other day. Then he removes a plastic package and opens it, revealing a fresh syringe.

I swallow hard. I’ve never had an injection before. I don’t mind needles, since I get tattooed, and acupuncture on occasion. But being injected with an unknown substance is a totally different thing.

Drake trots back over and sits down next to me, crowding me on the couch so that our legs are touching. “Don’t be scared, little mouse,” he whispers in my ear. “I won’t hurt you.”

He sticks the needle inside the vial and sucks up all the clear liquid.

“What’s in that stuff? Is it safe?”

“I made it.” He grins at me. “So, yes. It’s definitely safe.” I show him a nervous look and he hums, “Trust me. I wouldn’t give it to the most important person in my life if it weren’t.”Darian.“Yes. Darian,” he speaks my thought and my head spins. “Now, lift up your sleeve and wrap your left hand around your right bicep, just above the elbow. Like this.”

He shows me by cuffing my arm with his hand, and I can’t ignore the sparks I feel at his touch. My eyes slowly lift to his, and he licks his lip. My breathing shallows.

“Stop giving me those eyes, little mouse, or I’ll have to eat you,” he rumbles by my face.

Nothing has ever sounded as good as that.He chuckles.Stop listening to me.

“It’s harder than you think.” He smirks. “You’ll see in a second. Behave, and do as I say.”

Wrapping my hand around my bicep above my elbow, I squeeze and look up at him for some confirmation that I’m doing it right.

“Tighter,” he instructs, pressing on the pump of the syringe until some liquid shoots out. “Let me see those pretty veins.”

Shivering at his words, I do as he says, squeezing even harder, watching the veins in my forearm pop more than they usually do. He inspects them, then taps one with his fingers before inching the needle to my skin.

“Breathe, little mouse,” he says over my lips, and I’m so focused on his mouth I don’t even notice that he’s stuck the thing into me.

At the pinch, I glance down at my arm, watching blood mix with the fluid before he pumps it inside my vein.

Once the syringe is empty, he removes it and whispers, “Let go, Abdiel.”

As I release my arm, the air around me shimmers and thumps instantly. My head darts around as I watch it… The air.

I canseetheair,moving like waves, colors snapping all around my body.

“Fuck…” I breathe, and I hear a small chuckle from Drake, but I can’t even focus on that. Molecules are sprouting from the oxygen, taking shape in front of my eyes. I reach up to touch one, popping it like a bubble with my finger. Then I do the next one, and the next, huffing a laugh in awe. “Are you seeing this?”