Page 44 of Grave Revelations

“Lie.”

She ground her teeth. “I would have. If I had known how hungry she was.”

“No one touches you against your will.”

Rebecca crossed her arms, glaring up at him, but she didn’t have a response to that. He wasn’t mad that Sophia had done it. He was mad that she’d taken something from Rebecca without her permission. How could she be upset with him for that?

His gaze softened. “She’s your friend. You might have helped if she asked. You might not have, but it was your choice. No one gets to take your choice from you.”

Rebecca swallowed, her mind tripping over his words.

He held the backpack out to her. “Will you come with me to Patmos?”

Chapter 27

Sophia

Sophia darted away, tears sliding along her cheeks and into her hair as she ran faster. Azazel had every right to be angry. She was upset with herself. Despite the feeling, she wiped her eyes, clearing her vision.

There was one other place she had to check before she’d accept they were gone. She raced through dark streets, the occasional streetlight flickering overhead. Her feet sunk into soft ground as she left the city, following a well-worn path up the side of a steep hill and stopping at the edge of a sheer cliff.

It was empty.

Something in her chest fractured. They’d been taken, and if the night-being’s plans for them were anything like the others, they didn’t have long.

Why had she been spared? Had they thought her dead?

An image flashed in her mind of a woman with blood-red hair and eyes like liquid gold. The woman touched Sophia’s face and stared into her eyes. Then, nothing. It had felt like magic, but not like any magic she’d experienced before. It was old. Vile.

Sophia reached for her necklace and, remembering it was gone, wrapped a honey-brown strand of hair around her finger instead, staring out over the expansive ocean below. The mighty beast lapping at the edges of her mind craved her attention, but it no longer soothed her.

She fought the urge to wrestle the waves into submission. To tame them. To freeze them. Her heart told her it was wrong. It went against nature to seek to control the elements, but her twisted new gift begged for dominance.

In her need, some of her command of her gift slipped, and she succumbed to it, thrusting her hand to the waves crashing far below. They reached for her, rising higher, frosting at the tips. As they splashed up the side of the cliff, the ends froze before shattering and dissolving back into deep blue.

Ice spiked up her fingers, rushing through her veins up her arm. It raced along veins no longer filled with blood but with the essence she’d drained from Rebecca and Azazel. She pulled her hand back, letting the ice recede, fear choking her lungs.

Her twisted magic had sought a path straight to her heart.

Chapter 28

Rebecca

Rebecca wrapped her arms around Azazel’s neck, forgetting to close her eyes as he lifted them higher. Her gaze caught on the complex lines swirling over his face, and she followed their movement, noticing they didn’t remain in one place but trailed an intricate pattern over his skin. She watched them disappear below his shirt collar and let her gaze slide down his front, imagining the pattern slipping lower.

The wind whipped against his thighs, and her vision halted on the outline of him, somehow more erotic now than when he’d chosen to wear nothing. Under her stare, it lengthened, a deep growl reverberating against her side.

Mine.

His voice in her mind brought her out of her daze, and she looked up, face flaming.I didn’t mean to stare,she thought.

You’re welcome to look.

She met his gaze, dark eyes devouring her in their intensity. Goosebumps broke out along her skin, pebbling her arms and neck. An image of him staring down at her, pressing her into a bed of vines, flashed in her mind. She tried to bury it, to stop the thoughts, but it was too late. His heated look was all the confirmation she needed that he’d heard her thoughts, too.

When you accept me, they won’t be mere thoughts in your mind. They will be reality. I’ll give you everything. Our lovemaking will be too boundless, even for your imagination.

An ache started at the apex of her thighs, and she squeezed her legs together, trying desperately to keep the flood of thoughts from rushing into her mind. It was no use. They came one after another. His tongue running over a nipple, down her stomach, to the place aching with sudden need. His mouth devouring hers, hands fisting her hair as she moaned around their kiss. The hard length of him pressed against her heated skin, sliding until it found her entrance.

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