Page 20

Chapter Seventeen

You always wanted poison

Tate

It felt like a homecoming finally having her between us, slick and panting; body thrumming like a live wire.

Ours.

My tongue moves against hers, slowly at first until our hunger broke through, both demanding–devouring. She tastes like blood and sugar laced with something darker.

Earthy.

The music from the main stage slows down–a remix of Beyonce’s “All Night” curls around us like silk.

My hand fists her hair, pulling her closer to me as I deepen our kiss, slowing her moans, drowning in her taste. From my lust heavy lids, I look up at Chase as his lips drag along the curve of her spine, his hand between her legs as he plays her center like an instrument.

The other…

Well fuck– is on me, jerking me off with the beat. Cordelia moans into my mouth as if she’s giving me her last breath, or maybe her first.

The drugs invade my system, blurring everyone but them. Her body arches against mine, her hips rocking forward into Chase's greedy hand, then back into mine.

She’s so drunk on it–all of it.

It was intoxicating... Watching her let loose.

When she opens her eyes, her eyes glow with a soft, unholy blue before she looks over her shoulder at Chase.

“Don’t stop,” she whines as she rocks harder; her mouth parts, and her knees buckle as we deliver the pleasure she demands.

Chase kisses the base of her neck, fingers still sliding inside her and curling just right while his palm grinds against her clit. My dick twitches beneath his firm grip, desperate to sink into her warmth… or his.

Then a voice speaks from behind us as a woman giggles, “Aria, don’t.”

I cast a quick glance over my shoulder and see four women but one is standing just behind me. Her deep brown skin glistens with sweat and golden glitter, and her eyes are heavy from the DUST or whatever else she took.

“You guys are hot.”

A blonde with short hair steps in to grab her.

“Aria,” she pleads with her friend. The other girl, with plum-colored hair, looks lost as she looks at us.

“Nikki may leave her,” the long haired brunette says.

“Bethany, let’s go.”

She grabs a hold of the girl with the plum-colored hair, but before Aria can retreat, Cordelia purrs from between us.

“Come closer.” Her voice is low, commanding, and predatory. She pulls away from us a bit and moves towards her, and Chase’s fingers are still inside her as she cups the woman's face.

“More,” Cordelia purrs, and Aria does.

She moves like someone walking into a warm bath, completely oblivious to the danger radiating off Cordelia’s skin. Her eyes drop to Cordelia’s body–where our hands remain inside her.

“Can I try?” Aria asks, her voice low and syrupy.

Cordelia doesn’t speak, she just cups Aria’s cheeks and pulls her in, locking lips with her.

A real kiss.

Tongue.

Teeth.

Messy and deep.

Cordelia's mouth is spread open wide–unnaturally wide. Small, translucent threads slide past her lips–bioluminescent and pulsing.

A bloom in fucking motion.

The tendrils slip between Aria’s lips like liquid silk, causing her to moan before she begins to choke. Her body convulses,fingers twitching at her sides. When Cordelia finally pulls back, filaments dangle from Aria’s mouth like parasitic jelly. The woman turns to her friends as they scream.

“Be-Th-” she tries to say as the threads continue to worm their way down her throat. I watch in horror as her body drops to the foam-slicked ground. Her friends continue to scream.

The music doesn’t stop. Nothing did. The crowd just circles us. Drawn to the sound… the scene… the movement… I don’t fucking know.

“Grab her,” I snap at Chase. But he doesn’t move. He’s frozen–hand still on her cunt, lips hovering over her shoulder, pupils blown wide. Stuck in horror or shock.

“Fuck,” I snap, quickly grabbing Cordelia and tossing her over my shoulder, causing Chase to snarl and bare his pearly whites in my direction. I slap him across the face.

“Snap the fuck out of it,” I hiss.

I’m not understanding what the fuck is going on. Why do these people continue to circle us and the group of women who seem to stick out like sore thumbs against the crowd as they close in.

A scream pierces the air, motioning me to run with Cordelia’s head dangling off my back. Thankfully, my slap snaps Chase back to planet earth, and we take off running.

Through the screams.

The music.

Through bodies grinding and blooming and breaking behind us.

I can hear snarls. Rabid sounds as footsteps thud against the wet ground.

And still, “All Night" played.

Up ahead there’s some sort of double door hidden between trees. I pump my legs, holding on to her ass as she claws at my back. Smacking her jiggly ass.

“Calm the fuck down,” I hiss running straight to the door. Chase opens it for us and closes it just in time for the crowd to run into the door. Their chase coming to an end.

“What the fuck is happening?” I ask Chase who looks like he’s just seen a ghost, and breathes heavily as he presses into the door, slides onto the ground, and buries his hands into his chestnut waves.

“I fucked up, Tate” he groans.

Cordelia continues to claw my back, twisting in my arms.

Hot.

Veins glowing.

What the fuck?

She begins to laugh, and then Chase mimics her laugh as his head bangs against the metal door.

The lights cut on from the screen in the room. Placing Cordelia down, I try to look at the video playing before us. Her hand wraps around my throat–too strong– and– painfully, her nails dig into my flesh.

“Cordy,” Chase whines, watching as Cordelia snarls.

A clicking sound leaves her mouth as her jaw clicks back and forth.

“Cordelia, baby,” I say as she forces me back into the wall.

My eyes move to the screen as I watch a man with roots spilling from his eyes and ears tear through the stomach of another man who’s dressed in a lab coat. Pushing her off me, I grab her arm, twisting it, and pinning her against the wall.

Chase growls.

“What the fuck is going on, Chase?” I bark out at him as he circles me like I’m prey, and Cordelia snaps her teeth,fishing for a bite. From behind me, another video feed begins to play.

“Subject 5 has fallen under control of the cordycep. No connection established. Another failure,” the man says as he lets out a sigh. My eyes widened from the shock–the realization–as I thought of my conversations with Professor Johnson. Cordelia’s experiments.

“Fuck.”

But before I know it, Chase's arm wraps around my neck, grabbing me from behind, holding me still for his Queen. She looks at me with a wide, bloody grin, translucent filaments escaping her lips.

Cordelia

I see Tate’s throat, the way his pulse flutters beneath his skin. My mouth waters. My jaw clicks.

My screams.

“Take him,” a voice in my mind says. “He’s yours. Infect him.”

I lean in, feeling the tendrils claw their way up my throat, and my mouth falls open as I fall to my knees. Each movement causes a clicking noise. Filaments slide between my teeth, and his scent invades my system.

Fear, trust, and everything I ever wanted fill my lungs.

Chase's eyes soften as he falls back, still holding onto Tate to allow me to crawl over them. Straddling them both, my hand moves to his throat but I don’t bite.

“Spread!” the voice demands. “DEVOUR!”

Instead, I freeze.

Because in the darkness consuming my mind, light flickers.

Stars.

A sky above a cheap blanket that feels too rough on my bare skin. Tate’s hand in my hair. Chase's chest pressed against my back. The world felt… safe. Maybe for the first time.

We didn’t fuck that night.

We just existed.

Holding our breath as I whispered. “I think I love you both.”

And no one ran.

“Cordelia, baby.” Tate groans, his voice cracking in the end. “I’m yours.”

The darkness takes the stars. The voice grows louder. Clutching the side of my head, I cry–then laugh as my eyes flutter open.

“Infect,” the voice continues but Tate also continues .

“I’m sorry it took me this long. I love you. I love you both,” his voice calls to me through the dark.

I snarl before I lunge at him, stopping just before my teeth pierce his flesh. Licking the spot, I savor the salt from his skin.

Mine.

I pull away with a growl, the veins in my body glowing. My mouth is full of blood, spores, and numerous other things I can’t name, but my chest is burning.

Because I remember who it belongs to.

Who I belong to.

Them.

Tate

A breath escapes my lips as I watch her fall on her ass, and Chase’s grip loosens around my neck. Both glowing–panting, but not snarling.

People crash into the door as if their weight will tear the metal doors down. What the fuck do they want? I look over at Chase, who’s head hangs between his legs, waves falling over the side of his face. “Cordy, I’m sorry,” he whispers.

I glance over at Cordy–her eyes still bioluminescent, but no longer wild. Instead, they are focused and sharp. “Little snake?” I whisper. She looks up at me and then at Chase. Then the screen flickers.

Subject: Queen B

Status: Ascension

Hive Queen - Active.

Cordelia stands slowly, mouth wiped clean as I look at the screen with terror and admiration.

“Let them in,” she says. “They want a queen.”

I shake my head. “What are you talking about?”

But it’s Chase who answers. “Professor Daniel stole your thesis and hers. Sold it to Luxor Labs, and now we are smack in the middle of their experiment.”

My stomach drops, jaw tightens, and my restraint snaps, but quickly, Cordelia moves between us. Her hand presses right into the middle of both of our chests.

“No, this was all my plan.” My brows come together as I study her gaze.

“We did it, Tate.” She smiles. “We created a connection... a purpose.”

I didn’t understand.

Her hand moves away, and I watch as she walks towards the door. Looking down at my hands, I see the same glow.

“Are we infected?”

She shakes her head.

“No, we are connected. We evolved into something that united as one.” I hear her voice in my head but her lips don’t move. Without any further explanation, she opens the door.

Glittery bodies stand by the entrance holding their breath, filaments erupting from their ears, mouth, and nose as they parted ways for their Queen.

“Let them see what evolution looks like. It’s time to bloom, my loves. Let the hive rise.”