Page 33 of Spelled By Truth and Tresses

My jaw dropped as Jax removed his clothes, then stepped off the bank and prowled toward me. His incorporeal muscles drew my eyes as they bunched and flexed with his movements. Everything was too heightened with both of us in our natural forms. I ached to run my tongue over his abs , then lower.

I gulped. “And that involves you being naked?” I squeaked.

He chuckled seductively. “No, but the temptation to feel your warmth seep into my phantom body is too strong for me to ignore.” He winked, then continued speaking. “Plus, I needed to get you alone. There’s something you should know.”

Unholy shit. This was not good. He grabbed his fat cock and stroked it as he pursued me. I watched a bead of pre-cum form on his translucent head and my mouth watered.

I shook my head. Fucking focus, Zellie. Ignore the hot phantom.

“Does this have to do with what you’ve been hiding from me? Poorly, I might add.”

His gaze narrowed, and he nodded, but he continued leisurely stroking himself as he spoke. “There’s a reason you’re struggling to accept the inky void within you.”

I raised a brow and forced my gaze to his face.

“I suppressed one of your memories from the day Amara died.” He lowered his gaze. “But know this, Zellie, it wasn’t your fault,” he said, defending me.

“But it was an earthquake,” I stated, confused.

Jax pinched his lips. “Your pent-up magic exploded from you. Amara took things a step too far and your inky void rose to defend you. The shaking felt around campus was the physical manifestation of your magic.

I gathered my thoughts and finally spoke. “Show me,” I demanded.

He replied, and his gaze bore into me. “That might not be the best idea, pet.”

“Show me,” I growled. “Now.”

He took my hand in his and closed his eyes. I closed mine too and lowered my mental shields I had been crafting since the beginning of the semester.

The cloud of fog lifted. The skull-crunching sound blared in my mind. Thomas watched me darkly from the window as it unfolded. The memory shifted to the aftermath. My hand shaking as I gripped a shard of glass, ready to end it all. Jax rocking me as I cried the whole night.

The connection broke, and he drew me into his arms. The unnatural coolness of his phantom skin wrapping around me. He waited patiently for me to break, but I didn’t. Instead, I felt something else shoot through me.

Why had I been so weak to try to kill myself over a girl who had done nothing but make my life Hell?

I shouldn’t have let those thoughts cloud my better judgment, but it was better to own it than let it tear me apart. The inky void in my chest rattled and shook its bone prison.

“Zellie,” Jax said, then kissed the top of my head, “your siren nature is very similar to mine. My dark, inky void craves to take life when necessary, too.”

I pulled away from him slightly, his still engorged cock brushing the apex of my stomach. “It does?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, pet. And ever since you came into my life, it aches to kill for you too, but I know you can handle whatever threat presents itself to you,” he said, then smirked.

I wrung my wet hair between my hands, the golden mass much too heavy when soaked through with water. “So, acknowledging my inky void as a strength, and not something to be feared, is a necessary step toward controlling it,” I stated, then bit my lip to prevent the smile from taking over my face. Everything felt so much clearer now. I truly understood why Jax felt he needed to remove my memory. I was suffering from a mental breakdown and nearly ended my life. The combination of grief for my dad and the unfounded, immense guilt from killing Amara drowned me.

But now that my mind was once again my own, I felt so fucking free. I don’t know if I would ever completely forgive Jax for invading my mind without my consent…but there are better ways to spend my life than wallowing in sorrow—and I fucking needed him. It was an indisputable fact.

I raised my head, then met his smoldering gaze. “Fuck it, I am who I was always meant to be, dark void and all.” I took a step toward him. “And now that I know you’re just as fucked up as I am, I’m done denying the pull between us, phantom.”

“As am I, siren,” Jax growled.

He caught my hips as I lunged at him. Our lips collided, and I moaned into his mouth. I pushed Jax backward until we reached the edge of the bank. He sank to the ground with me on top of him. Water lapped at our hips as we kissed. I couldn’t control the need burning in my core.

“I need you. Now!” I said huskily.

“I know,” he replied, then yanked on my loose, wet hair. “Now shut the fuck up and ride this cock, siren,” Jax growled.

His head slammed into the reeds on the bank as I straddled him and dropped onto him in one quick motion.

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