Page 54 of WitchCurse
“You,” I said. His soul entwined with mine in a way that assured, as long as he lived, I’d never be completely alone. Even if that meant I’d take him with me when I died, cruel as that might be, he would always be mine.
“I like that you are mine, and I am yours. Are we only friends? Or can we be lovers?”
“I would give you whatever you need.”
“I’m not talking about what Ineed, rather what Iwant.Do you understand the difference? That I want you as more than my bondmate, my prince, and my mentor? Iwantyou as my lover.”
I breathed in the intensity of his gaze, my newly awakened body reacting to his words with a longing I’d thought lost ages ago. Fear with an edge of panic wrapping around my heart. I already cared too much to chance losing him, and Zephyr had manipulated me into hurting him.
“They will keep coming for me.” Did he understand, the deeper we dove into a complex relationship we’d danced around for centuries, the harder it would all be when I lost him and myself to madness?
“No more dancing then,” Nick said. “Think of it as enjoying the time we have left.” He pressed his lips to mine, devouring any protests with his kiss. I returned his kiss with my own, hands coming up to trace the strength of his shoulders and bask in the warmth of his skin. He wound his fingers through my hair, gripping, but not pulling, pressing our lips together until there was no distance left.
I sighed into his mouth, sinking into the heat that warmed me from the core outward. Tension eased from my shoulders and I wanted to bask in his touch as his fingers explored my sensitive skin. It was strange, and tickled in spots, my body newly awakened to the touch after being long starved. Nick grabbed my hips and tugged me down beneath him on the bed, covering every bit of me with his own body, large and defined as it was.
Where had the wolf gone? I blinked beneath Nick’s kisses, heart racing with sudden anxiety.
Nick’s grip in my hair tightened and he met my gaze. “Focus on me right now. Is my touch bringing you pleasure, or pain?” He slid a hand down my hip to wrap firm fingers around my cock. My hips lurched upward as though seeking his touch. He squeezed a little and worked my shaft a few times. His face and body defined with muscle and a golden tan in color was all I could see. He looked like warmth, everything about him from his burgundy hair and molten eyes, to the rich heated color of his skin. Beside my pale flesh, it felt alive, and magical, like he could restore the sanity to my bones by painting me in his caress. It was divine and terrifying all at once, like I could lose myself in him, and that would be okay. Even if it meant the end of the world.
“Just you and me,” Nick whispered, peppering my face with kisses before capturing my lips again. He tasted warm and sweet like the honeyed bread they loved, and I sank into his heat, wishing I could shatter the constant chill in my gut and bask in feeling completely free again.
I reached up to touch his chest, tracing his left pectoral muscle and the delicate nipple with reverie. It felt wrong and decadent all at the same time, and I worried at my lip, fearing he’d find something he didn’t like and cast me away like all the others had. He kissed me again, capturing the bruised lip and sucking it into his mouth. His hand on my cock stroked in long forgotten divine sensation that had me writhing to his touch.
“Is this okay?” Nick asked as he cupped my balls, rolling them gently in his grasp, fingers sliding lower in a playful touch. I trembled beneath him, body awakening, confused and needy all at once. Was it wrong to say I was uncertain? That I wanted, but still feared everything unraveling?
Magic rippled around us, stretching to fill the bond and add sensation to every touch. An overwhelming rush of emotion and physical awareness made me tremble, my hips thrusting into his touch. He pressed a thumb to the flesh beneath my balls, a tease of circling force, the barest glimpse of a caress over my hole. I gasped wanting everything, yet struggling to grasp at anything. It was too much and not enough all at once.
I wanted to reach for Nick’s fine cock and hold it in my hands, but couldn’t do more than rest a hand on his chest and another on his hip, trying to sort the awakening nerves and oversensitive skin. Numb too long, every touch amplified by a thousand, even Nick’s leaking pre-cum dripping onto my hip echoed like a rock hitting water, rippling outward with heightened awareness. I gasped into his lips, hips moving without any real finesse or will of my own, only the need for his touch. I feared a release would set the beast free. Too long removed from the world, Nick had said. What if I couldn’t hold back the darkness?
“Let go,” Nick whispered into my mouth. “Give me your release and let me shatter the final barrier between us. Give me the darkness. I can handle it. Let me help you contain that power. I’m not afraid of you.”
I gaped at him. Did he know what he was asking for? And how could he? I’d worked forever to hide it. He tightened his grip on my cock, squeezing, and then easing his hold to let me slide between his hot fingers. I wasn’t going to last much longer, but the spiraling strength of sensation ripped away barriers. Nick chiseled away the rest, carefully and slowly as he painted my face in more kisses. He ruffled through my mind with subtle strength and careful precision. There were few places I’d locked away from him, only the darkest recesses of my past locked away.
“Will you keep me out?” he asked, kissing my jaw. “Or let me bring you release?”
I didn’t have an answer. Too long bound, and far too weak before this pretty scion of mine. He smiled and kissed me again, diving in like he planned to devour me, and it was divine. I trembled, the edge racing closer as his touch found a dancing rhythm between stroking my cock and teasing my hole. Sliding, circling stroke, pressure, teasing caress. I could barely breathe.
Nick reached the last barrier, his mental touch tentative at first, careful as he seemed to search it for weaknesses. I held it strong, the final ward to lock away the darkest part of me, certain its release would end everything. I had seen it in others like myself, none as powerful as Sebastian or I, but knew well what nightmares hid in that writhing darkness.
Nick nipped my lower lip. “Kiran, let go. Let me have it. I’ll find a way to use it or release it.”
I couldn’t let him past that final barrier, it would mean death for us all, not only Nick and I, but the mortal realm. Hadn’t Sebastian just devoured Underhill? Was that what they wanted, total destruction?
He touched the shield, magic rippling outward as though he planned to crack it with sheer force, using his strength combined with Toby’s, if I didn’t comply. But I’d never really been prey, hadn’t he reminded me of that? I snapped the magic away from their grasp, coating over those internal layers within, locking the darkness beyond reach, and shoved Nick out of my head, closing barriers behind his retreat. The final shield remained in place, the last thing keeping him out, and safe. The monster locked away, my anger rising. Had he planned this with the wolf?
Their absence from my mind was both unusually quiet and comforting as I knew my thoughts were my own, no longer disoriented by their noise, the darkness safely locked away. I rolled out from beneath Nick, sliding off the bed.
Nick sighed reaching for me. “Someday you’ll trust me enough to give everything to me,” Nick said, kisses dancing over my face until his lips touched mine again. I didn’t return his kiss, not thrilled at all with his attempt to shatter a barrier heknewwas necessary.
“You seek to kill us all?”
“I seek to set you free,” Nick said.
Hadn’t he glimpsed the darkness? The beast hidden in the darkest recesses of my mind knew no love, or trust, or hope, only destruction. Through the barrier he must have caught a glimpse of the monster inside, it paced forever hungry and demanding freedom. I’d thought it dead for a time, the barrier buried deep enough to silence it. The fall of Underhill had reawakened it, or eased the barrier, neither of which was good, nor did I ever plan to release it while I had one shred left of my sanity.
The flame returned to my skin, hot enough to burn, and so long absent that it startled me to have it erupt around me. Nick slid backward, away and into Toby’s arms and I stared at my hands, glowing with magic. A pale shadow of what it had been, but the magic was still mine, heat and energy welcome.
I closed my fist and snuffed the flaming, thinking I needed to breathe, and maybe escape for a time, the noise in my head, my own, but deafening with screams of too many memories.