To possess.

I am obsessed.

“Hades,” she whimpers my name as I suck her into my mouth, sliding my tongue through the slick of her, swirling and twirling and sucking. She cries out, head back, neck arched as I pin my palm into her belly, sliding my teeth over her sweet clit before thrusting my tongue into her hot core.

She spasms around me, slender fingers twisting in my hair. I can’t tell if she’s trying topull me closer or push me away. The burning itch begins again, in the core of me. The need to possess her, to mark her, is strong. I want to climb inside her, to fill her, and spill everything I have to offer into her womb until she is so full, she is dripping withme.

Gripping her waist, I pin her in place against the wall as I fuck her pussy with my tongue. Stroking in and out, in and out, sliding over her clit, back in again. My fangs pulse where they rest against her cunt, spreading her for me, aching to sink into her soft flesh, to drink the blood that would bind her to me.

She is panting and breathless against the wall, moaning and pleading. I can’t help but watch her from below, my tongue pleasuring her, as she comes apart. Her orgasm is a thunderous thing that quakes her body and shutters her beautiful eyes. But I’m not done. I want more. More of her pleasure.

I want to show her that she doesn’t get to walk away from me and forgetthis. I want to watch as I force her to toss the thoughts of leaving this September into the flames of a reality that will never come to pass, watching it burn to ash.

Pulling my tongue from her core, I rise from my knees. She whimpers in weak protest, but I cut it off as I plunge two fingers deep into the center of her. Her eyes flash open at the brutal invasion, the rough claiming—and I see it. The light of the sun she possesses with absolutely no explanation I canfind for the gift, but will keep hunting for the answer for as long as I breathe.

Driving my fingers in and out of her, I fuck her against the wall with my hand, and wish it was my cock. Wish that I was inside her, climbing inside her, filling her womb. My mate. The soul that stands with my own, even if we aren’t of the same soul, that much I believe. That in the shaping of her soul, it was crafted to call, eternally, for my own.

“Eyes on me, little goddess,” I command as her eyes begin to drift closed. “I want to watch as you come apart for me.” A shuddering breath spills from puffy lips, painted red with arousal. She moans. Pride and pleasure bloom in my chest as she lifts her leg around my waist, giving me more access to her core. I practically purr, “That’s it, little goddess, feel me.”

“I want more,” she whimpers. “Deeper—Hades!” She tosses her head back as I thrust in quicker, deeper.

Her fingers grip my shoulders now, digging into hard muscle and burning flesh as she tries to rock her hips into me. Her whimpers have turned into full-on cries now, the beautiful symphony of desire, and need, and pleasure a siren-song formed exclusively to tempt my control. To taunt my madness. It’s a wonder how I keep from pulling my fingers from the warmth of her core to shove my cock home, tearing through the innocence that remains to steal what has always been mine.

Her body tightens as I curl myfingers up to stroke that spot that promises an exquisite shattering of pleasure. “Oh!” Her eyes slam closed.

“Eyes,” I growl low. “On.” I dip my head to nip her shoulder. “Me.”

Her eyes snap open, light seeping into the darkness of my gaze. The darkness that wants to devour every inch of her, to keep her for myself. I can’t take my eyes off her as another marvel appears in the deep of her gaze, no longer shining with any green at all. Through the sunlight that feasts on the devastating heat of Tartarus that still clings to my skin, I see something other. Something more.

If I thought her possessing the light of the sun was impossible and dangerous—this—this is something else. Because now, as she shatters in my arms, the otherworldly light bursting from her eyes, I don’t just see the sun. I don’t just feel the warmth possessed only by Hyperion and Helios.

I see the moon, feel its cool wash of light in the aftermath of her bright sun.

I see the stars, shimmering in the glow of their soft magic.

She erupts in my arms, and the galaxy flashes before my very eyes. Planets, stars, moon, sun, and the creation of all life.

I’ve lived for a long time. Ages. Eons. Lifetimes.

And I’ve never known fear the like that I feel it now as the power of the universe—an impossible powertoo massive for any one entity to possess alone—shutters.

Her body slackens in my arms. Her forehead connecting with my chest as I wrap her lithe body in my arms, against my chest where my beating heart rages a war of white-hot fear.

That fear burns away the remnants of Tartarus that blisters on my bones, freezing the simmering blood that flows through my veins to scorch the flesh I wear in the burn of dry ice.

She can’t possibly possess the power of the Universe. The power of all creation.

The power of the First Primordial Goddess,Chaos.

It’s not possible.

And yet…

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

Persephone