Page 58 of Hers to Rule

Mari screamed as searing pain engulfed both of her forearms and wrists. She tried to twist it, to subsume it, but nothing worked. The burning agony of it roared through her until she could do nothing but sob, surrendering herself to the endless torment. It was as if he held her pinned under him, covered in the molten heat of his body.

Gradually, the pain eased, and she looked down at her arms. The blood that had covered every inch of her was burned away there. Through her tear-filled vision, she saw the marks of his clawed hands burned into her skin like a brand as if he had held her down long enough to scorch her. She could see every whorl of the designs carved into his skin mirrored on hers. As she watched, the red glow slowly faded, leaving the marks more subtle, like intricate tattoos, but the afterimage of them was burned into her retinas.

He curled his fingers, and the marks flared to life again as if he’d tightened his grip around her wrists. She writhed as the sensation of heat rose swiftly, prickling over her skin and making her arch toward him with the need of sating the rising desire. Where Argento’s touch had felt unwanted and uncomfortable, Dohal’s felt like coming home.

“Your father kept us both starving for fear of what he thought I would do.” The sensation of his hands moved up her arms slowly and over the rest of her body, a delicate, dangerous caress.

“But I would have you be the whole of who you were always meant to be, for both of us.” Mari felt the whisper of his lips over her mouth, even though he hadn’t moved any closer to her. Every inch of her ached for him.

One spectral hand moved to her neck, tightening around her throat. The platinum of her necklace heated under his touch until it felt molten, but somehow, it didn’t burn her. The metal moved and writhed against her skin like the most intimate caress. His power flowed through the necklace and into her, choking her for a moment until she surrendered to it.

The phantom hands moved over her body, stroking every part of her on the way down. His claws dug into her hips as she tried to move toward him, holding her down. His scorching fingers slid down over her thighs. Her legs parted for him with no resistance, welcoming him. She could deny him nothing. Wanted to deny him nothing.

“Every inch of you is mine, bavi.” He said the last word like a prayer, in a whisper. The heat of his kiss descended between her legs, and she moaned. Penetration followed, hot and quick, like being fucked by something huge and made of fire.

Pleasure detonated inside her, unlike anything she’d ever felt. She was unmade from the inside out, torn to shreds by him as he stood a dozen feet away. She was sure she wouldn’t survive if he ever actually touched her.

The room snapped back into motion while she was still panting for breath as she recovered. Her entire body felt swollen and achy. Every stitch of her magic had been pulled from her. And in the space where it had been, all that remained was a numbness so profound, she wondered if she’d ever feel again.

Dohal was gone as if he’d never existed. But Mari had no doubt that he would be back to claim her eventually.

Cisco reacted first. His eyes took in her blood-drenched body in an instant. “What in the fuck just happened?”

Mari just shook her head because she couldn’t speak.

“Kima, get the fuck over here and release me.”

The woman jumped into action at his command, though she’d been staring fixedly at the gore Mari sat in the center of, trying to figure out what had happened to Argento. The moment she removed the cuffs, Cisco lunged for Rio.

Cisco growled as he tore away the silver, then quieted when he pulled Rio into his arms. The puma shifter was still unconscious from whatever Argento had done to him, but he was already healing. Once satisfied that Rio was safe, Cisco looked Mari over again. “Are you okay? Whose blood is that?”

Mari finally found her voice after swallowing twice. “That’s what’s left of Argento.”

Kima inhaled a harsh breath as she bent to remove the chains from the other bound man. He groaned softly as she moved him, and she soothed him with a quiet murmur. Afterwards, she went to check on Willow.

Cisco’s eyes lingered on her wrists and on her neck for a moment, but his next question wasn’t about either. “Did you do that?”

“Not intentionally.”

Cisco finally looked around the rest of the room slowly. “I wasn’t judging. I just wanted to know if there was something more dangerous than him that we had to worry about.”

Mari started laughing, and she couldn’t stop for a long, long time.

Chapter 19

Mari stared at the wall opposite her desk as her fingers played over the details of the necklace welded to her with magic more complex than any she’d ever felt. It was a thing of dangerous beauty, circling her neck with a motif of roses and thorns sharp enough to cut. Cisco had already sliced his hands several times trying to remove it, even with his tough skin, though it never seemed to hurt her. She traced the flower at the base of her throat, ruby petals surrounding a large, dark sapphire at the center. Greta had said that sapphires were the spellstones of demons. Was that what Dohal was? Whenever she touched the gems like this, she could feel an answering tug against her magic.

The necklace was a mark of ownership, as surely as the one her father had placed around her neck was, but for some reason, this one felt different. Rather than stealing her power, this one amplified it. She suspected it also linked her much more closely to Dohal. And no matter what they had tried, they couldn’t get it off her neck.

“It’s really creepy the way you stroke that thing sometimes,” Cisco said from the doorway.

Gesturing for him to come in, Mari smiled. “Just trying to figure it out.”

He crossed to her desk in a couple of steps and leaned on the edge. “Maybe the sex witch Esmé recommended will be able to help you figure out how to get it off. She’s supposed to be here the end of next week.”

She nodded. “How’s Rio?”

“Feeling better, though he pouted when he discovered that you’d left without waking him up. I brought him breakfast in bed, and now he’s napping again.”

---