Page 55

Chapter

Forty-One

Ravencrux

Caught in Gold

H er cheeks flushed, her panting so sensual it set my blood on fire.

My woman was the most exquisite creature in any realm.

Her unawareness of beauty only made her more stunning, and her compassion, the only goddess who ever possessed it, made her rise above all.

Just the sight of her made my heart hurt and my need burn brightly.

“You talk dirty all the time,” she gasped, the words breaking as I thrust deep.

Her walls clamped down on my cock, pulsing violently as she came hard. I rode through her orgasm. I wasn’t done with her yet. I’d never be done.

“And I’ll do filthy things to you,” I vowed. “All night. Every night.”

Yet beneath the hunger for her, gratitude burned. She was alive in my arms, pliant and wanting. Her desire was mine, and mine was endless.

Before her climax faded, I pulled out and lifted her.

She protested in a breathless whimper until I settled her onto my face.

My tongue dragged over her, drinking her nectar, basking in her scent.

She rocked against me, no longer shy, grinding her wetness over my mouth.

Every movement was so erotic, my cock throbbed in pain, needing to be deep within her again.

But I held back. I needed to savor her first. My mate’s arousal was its own addiction.

Then I gave her what she craved, pleasure infused with pain. My fangs grazed her clit, teasing before I nipped. Her scream was music, her gasps heating my blood. Nothing sounded sweeter or sexier. She came again, shuddering uncontrollably, her release dripping onto my tongue like pure honey.

And then it got rougher. Filthier.

She took control, shoving me onto my back with a strength that startled us both. The timid girl who’d first stepped into my academy was gone, replaced by this wild, demanding woman who knew exactly what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to take it.

“My turn,” she growled.

Fuck if that didn’t make me harder.

She straddled me, but when I reached for her hips, she swatted my hands away.“No touching unless I say so.”

I arched a brow but obeyed, lacing my fingers behind my head.“As you command, my queen.”

The words escaped before I could bite them back, but she was too consumed by her newfound dominance to notice.

Her nails raked down my chest, leaving crimson trails that vanished almost instantly.

She frowned, then did it again, harder, watching with dark fascination as my immortal flesh stitched itself back together.

“Does it hurt?” She dug deeper.

“Yes.”I bared my teeth in a grin.“And I fucking love it when you do it.”

She leaned down, biting my shoulder hard enough to draw blood. Pain lanced through me, straight to my cock, and I growled. Pleasure came later.

She was learning what we both needed, that edge of pain that made the pleasure sharper, more real. After eons of numbness, of hollow existence, she made mefeel .

When she finally sank down onto my length, I closed my eyes and groaned in ecstasy.

She set a punishing pace, riding me like she was trying to break me.

Her hand wrapped around my throat, squeezing just enough to steal my breath.

I could have easily broken her hold, but I didn’t.

I let her have this control, this dominance she’d never dared claim before.

“Look at me.” Her voice was a firm command, and I obeyed, playing the role. Her eyes were wild, pupils hazy with lust and something darker. Power. “You’re mine .”

“Always,” I rasped through her grip on my throat. “In every lifetime. Every realm. Yours.”

Her grip tightened, stealing my breath. My vision blurred at the edges, but I didn’t resist. Every sting from her hands was a gift. Too soon, she released me, oblivious to the fact that death couldn’t claim me. I exhaled sharply, the way her sex clenched around me driving me over the edge.

“Good answer,”she panted, still riding me with reckless abandon.“Because I’m never letting you go.”

I hauled her against me, my teeth claiming the curve of her breast. Her scream ripped through the room, her nails scoring my skin.

“My turn, babe.” My palm cracked against her ass, the sound echoing off the walls.

She retaliated instantly, fisting my hair and wrenching my head back. Her mouth found my throat—teeth, tongue, and white-hot possession.

“Harder,”she demanded, hips grinding down on me.“You might not believe it, but I won’t break.”

I gave it to her. I flipped her beneath me, one hand pinning her wrists above her head while the other closed around her throat. I squeezed as I drove into her, watching her eyes roll back in ecstasy. That trust—letting me control her breath, her pleasure—was an offering.

A surrender.

“Pain defines us,” I growled in her ear. “ But you—you make me remember why life matters.”

I was the death god, and I loved her more than anything.

She wrapped her legs around me, using the leverage to meet my brutal thrusts. Words had long since deserted us; now there were only gasps, moans, the slick friction of skin on skin.

She slid down my torso, palms braced against my chest, then took me inside her again. A whimper escaped her as she arched against my size, the sound melting into a moan of pure satisfaction. She rode me savagely, her body rising and falling in a frantic rhythm.

I yielded control, letting her take what she needed. She was my eternal mate, even if she didn’t yet know it. There was nothing I wouldn’t give her.

I drove up into her, meeting her wildness with my own.

I felt her pleasure as if it were mine. Her eyes glazed over as I cupped her breasts, pinching her nipples just shy of too hard, walking the thin edge between pain and ecstasy.

“Oh stars,”she moaned.“I missed home. I missed you, my king.”

I went still. She had spoken in the tongue of Underworld. Is she remembering?

I waited, breath trapped in my lungs, my heart nearly escaping my ribcage, but she said nothing more.

“What did you just say, baby?”I coaxed, keeping my voice soft and careful, though every muscle was coiled tight.“Say it again.”

She blinked in confusion, then shook her head as if clearing a haze. I wanted to push, to pry the truth loose—but I couldn’t.

“I don’t know,”she murmured.“I’m sorry. It was just nonsense. You’ve made me lose my mind.”

“It’s alright, love.”I pulled her to me, comforting her with a kiss while she rode my cock.

Then suddenly, there was a note of wrongness, a split-second warning, before the windows exploded.

A tornado ripped through the night, tearing the roof away. Glass shattered like falling stars. Wind and rain lashed inward, howling.

My thoughts burned sharp, lightning-quick.

Ambush. A strike this precise required power only Olympians could wield—multiple major gods, relics, spells woven together. And one unforgivable truth hit me:someone in my circle had betrayed me.

Dante?

Orren?

Morrigan?

Impossible. My team had been unshakable for eons. They’d bled alongside me, endured the same endless curse. They wouldn’t turn on me now.

Unless—

A knife-twist of doubt.What if one of them had finally broken? What if they’d decided my mate was the price of freedom?

I crushed the poisonous thought before it could fester. I’d already lost too many. If I couldn’t trust my men, I had nothing left.

I swallowed. Maybe the wards had frayed due to my long absence from Underworld, where I drew my power.

Maybe—

No.

Wrath ignited in my veins. Whoever had done this would beg for death before I finished with them.

I rolled, pulling Bloom beneath me to shield her as the world went to shit. Her face went white, her eyes wide with terror.

No time to speak. No time to move.

Everything happened at the same time.

The moment the roof was torn off, the golden net fell, plunging through the rain and debris like a hunter’s snare.

Hephaestus’s work.

Cold recognition hit. That damned net hadn’t been seen since the day Hephaestus ensnared Aphrodite and Ares when they were still fucking, humiliating them for the pantheon’s amusement.

Unbreakable. Inescapable.

And now it crashed down on me, pinning me deep inside my mate, my body still rigid with lust.

Vows and Broken Bond ,

the next and final book in the Dark God duology

releases in March 2026.