Page 40 of Entranced By the Basilisks

“Jasper.”

A sound escapes my throat at the way he caresses my name with his voice. It breaks my control.

“Please.” Fuck, I shouldn’t have said that.

A triumphant hiss leaves Ari and his mouth crashes against mine. I moan as he licks away the blood on my lip, sucking the small wound in a way that makes it throb in the most toe-curling way.

This is too much. I can’t have this. I push him away and he growls, flipping my body so my back is pinned to his front. His hand curls around my throat, not squeezing but holding me hostage.

“Ari,” I choke out. The man behind me stops squeezing my body and blows out a breath as if trying to regain his control. Control that broke because of me.

Because he wants me. The revelation is stunning.

His interest may not be a surprise, but the depth of it, the burn of his want, is.

Ari drags the tip of his nose up my neck and his next words warm my ear. “Tell me to stop, Jasper. Say the word and I will.”

I breathe hard, mentally struggling to catch up. We shouldn’t do this, but he wants me. How can I possibly say no? No one has ever wanted me like this. I’ve dated other paranormals sparingly, my presence doesn’t leave any feeling warm and fuzzy, and no one has drawn my interest quite like Ari.

I want this too much, no matter the consequences.

“I want this,” I say. The truth leaves me so bare. I crave Ari Zeyad and no inhibition is strong enough in the presence of his hand around my throat.

The sigh of air against my sweat-damp skin could be in relief, but I’m too distracted by the way his other hand slides down my body and palms my hardness.

“You seem to be having quite the reaction to our fighting,” Ari teases in my ear before nipping at the lobe.

“Fuck.”

“Shh, I like this reaction.” Ari strokes me through my pants and a broken hiss leaves me.

“Is it the struggle you like?” he asks before gripping me through the thin material.

I grunt. “I don’t—”

The squeeze of his grip borders on pain and I gasp in pleasure, my cock pulsing in his grip.

“Oh, it’s the pain.”

My head falls in defeat, in humiliation and in discovery. How can this be what gives me so much pleasure? But the way the pain sharpens into something needy when I’m with him is undeniable.

“I didn’t know.” Is all I can think to say.

The rip of fabric echoes in the room and a scaled tail the color of rubies wraps around my leg, curling up around my torso and trapping my body against the press of Ari’s at my back.

“Oh, fuck,” I moan.

He hums in my ear. “Do you need to struggle along with the pain, my viper?”

Yes. What the fuck is wrong with me? As if he can read my mind, Ari pulls down my shorts and my cock springs free, hard and leaking.

I’m struck for a moment with shame. My human features are dominant, I can’t shift into the half-snake form serpent kin have sex in and stay that way. It would take too much energy and focus, with my brain as fried from Ari’s presence as it is.

Ari moans, gripping my cock. Scales gleam on his hand from his transformation. “So pretty here.”

I shake my head. “I’m practically human.”

Ari hisses in anger, gripping my erection too hard and I cry out in dizzying pleasure.

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