Page 15 of Monster's Heart

But that wasn’t why my dick was ready to hammer nails. Of course, it wasn’t. It was touching her that spiked heat through my blood. Touching her seemed to fulfill every secret wish I didn’t know I had, even if I only indulged in the feel of her for a moment. No more than that. I didn’t dare. I withdrew my hand just as quickly, and Luna continued after taking one more deep breath.

“Then they blocked the door with a concrete bench. I couldn’t move it. Not an inch. The thing was, inside that crypt there was a whole nest of moths, and once the door shut and I was alone with them, they started moving, swarming around me, their wings and legs touching my skin. I cried so hard, covering my mouth, and closing my eyes tight, trying to make myself invisible so they couldn’t get me. But it didn’t work. I was covered in them,” she croaked the last bit out and shivered.

“How long?” I growled.

“What?”

“How long till they let you out?”

“They didn’t,” she replied, her voice barely audible. “A search party was sent out the next day and I was discovered around two in the afternoon.”

A single tear streaked down her face as she whispered her last word, and my vision turned white. I’d heard people claim red was what they saw when they were angry. But I was not angry. The ugly, dark, twisted thing I felt inside me was deeper than that. Bigger than that, too.

And it was white fucking hot.

Rage.

I’d never really let myself indulge in it before, probably because I figured if I did that would be the end of the world. But what I felt right then was pure, unadulterated rage. But it was a focused sort of fury, and it might have been the reason why I didn’t accidentally summon a black hole to destroy the very fabric of time and the realms themselves. Something I would take a closer look at much later.

Amrin shrugged and sat up straight, her pose no longer relaxed. I could feel her embarrassment and I hated that for her. I did not want her to feel anything but comfortable with me. Finally, she looked at me. Her pale eyes were so completely honest and unassuming, I felt myself tremble as I became hypnotized by that steady, ethereal stare.

With her gaze riveted to mine as she opened her pretty pink lips and said, “Anyway, that’s why I’m afraid of moths.”

Something inside of me snapped. Maybe it was her voicing her fears aloud. But I reached for her when I shouldn’t have. She deserved better. She deserved more. But even knowing that, I still put my hands on her, closing my eyes at the shock to my system when our skin met.

“You never have to be afraid again, Luna,” I growled, and tugged her against my body.

Her small hands clutched at my shoulders, but she didn’t push me away, and that was something. My tail wrapped around her waist, holding her where I wanted her as I bent my head slowly.

“What are y-you doing?” she whispered.

“I’m kissing you, Luna. After that confession, I think we both need it.”

Then I slammed my mouth to hers, and all my ability to think or speak went rushing right out of my head with no way to stop it, like the surging tide. One word echoed in my brain. Just the one. It was a word I hadn’t thought for a very long time.

Mate.

CHAPTER 7

Amrin

Was this what flying felt like? I wondered as Sten sealed his lips to mine. I expected him to be cold. Maybe it was his coloring. I think people tended to associate blue with cold things. Ice. Winter. The sea. The sky.

But he wasn’t cold, like at all. He was hot. Like the electric blue flames you sometimes see on a gas burning stove or grill. Nah. Hotter still as he pulled me tighter to him, crushing me in his arms and delving into my mouth with his wickedly long tongue. So hot, I was burning from the inside out wrapped in his embrace.

I saw a documentary on volcanoes once, one of the many things I did to try to fall asleep when I couldn’t, which was often. Anyway, I recalled part of the episode that talked about magma igniting sulfur dust and causing rare blue flames to erupt as a result. That was the kind of heat I felt as Sten wrapped me up and held me to his hard body.

And I liked it.

Like really, really liked it.

He tasted like smoky spice and forbidden desire. I’d been kissed a time or two, but never like that. His chest rumbled with the force of his growl, and I was so close to fucking swooning. If he wasn’t holding me up, I’d have melted into a puddle at his feet.

There was something about Sten that had always attracted me, but I never considered the possibility he might return that attraction. He was so big, so beautiful. The curves of his muscles pressed against my soft body, and I loved the contrast. Was mesmerized by the steel in his arms, and the softness of his lips as they cherished mine.

His tongue stroked inside my mouth, deep and long, and delicious. My body swelled with need. Moisture pooled between my thighs, and I couldn’t have stopped myself moaning if I tried. Turned out, I didn’t have to worry. Sten seemed to like my moans.

An otherworldly purr built inside his chest, and he slowed the kiss until his plump, impossibly soft lips were brushing across mine. I didn’t know when he’d loosened his hold on me to cup my cheeks with his hands, but it made me tremble inside.

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