Page 145 of The Spider Queen

Though truth be told, I could’ve stayed all day in the water pool and let myself be pleasured. But it was Thane I wanted between my thighs. My blood called to him. It wanted him. More than it wanted food. More than it wanted sleep or air.

Whatever had happened between us on that stone altar changed me.

Forever.

“Fuck it,” I growled. “Again,” I commanded.

The water fingers returned, and it was a long time later before I got out of the bath.

Chapter 3

I grabbed the towel that rested on the edge of the pool and dried off before wrapping it around my body. I headed back into the bedroom; a black dress was spread out on the bed for me. It slid against my skin and I marveled at the silky feel of it. It was like I was wearing nothing at all. I put on the pair of matching black slippers, looking around for the exit. I hadn’t seen Cass come into the room, but she’d said the doors slid open.

“I want to find Thane,” I said softly. The entire front wall of the bedroom glided open to reveal a long, dark hallway.

I took a hesitant step. What would I find at the end of it? Answers? The enigmatic man who’d haunted my dreams and gave me exquisite orgasm after orgasm? Who had a magic pool that pleasured me at my will?

Remaining in the bedroom wasn’t an option. I needed answers to my questions, and I’d do anything to discover them.

I walked into the hallway, which remained dark. “Let there be light,” I commanded in wry humor.

With a whoosh, the torches blazed with magical fire. I was reminded of the cavernous tunnel I ran through to get to Thane, to find him standing at the stone altar. Nothing had prepared me for him, in the flesh. He’d stolen my breath; I’d given him kisses and my body. There hadn’t been any thought or control. I’d spread my legs and begged him to enter me.

Would that happen again? Would I be overcome with lust when I saw him? Why did I have such a powerful draw to him? Why couldn’t my body say no?

Golden light radiated from the end of the hallway, compromising my vision. I came to a stop and let the speckles in front of my eyes vanish.

Thane slowly rose from his ornate chair, his glittering black gaze unwavering. The trestle table in front of him was long, fit for an ancient barbarian king.

“Poppy,” he said, his voice deep, rumbling, sliding over me the way I wished his body would.

Skin to skin. Slick. Hot. Writhing.

I gritted my teeth. “Make it stop.”

He cocked his head to the side in a supremely human gesture, even though he wasn’t one. “Make what stop?”

“This…thing.”

“What thing?”

“The desire. The unrelenting, unquenchable desire,” I said, desperation coating my voice. There was no reason to hide it from him. Not when he was looking at me like he wanted to spread me out on the table. Not when he was looking at me like he could see the visions I had of us in my mind. Because he could, I realized. We were linked.

He sighed and hung his head. Dark hair fell across his brow. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s out of my control. Poppy, you freed me. Which means you’re my—we’re—”

“No. We are nothing to each other! I love Hunter. Where is he?” I knew how I sounded. Maniacal. Desperate. For Thane, his body, his desire. Even though I didn’t want it. Or did I? My hunger for him obliterated any sort of clear thinking.

Thane marched toward me and gripped me by the arms. “Look at me,” he growled.

I closed my eyes and turned my face away. If I didn’t look at him, maybe I wouldn’t want him so much.

“Poppy.” His voice gentled, but his hold was iron.

“I didn’t have a choice, Thane. Not really. If I wanted to live I had to—” A tear slipped out to cascade down my cheek. I felt Thane gently swipe it with his finger.