Page 8 of Entranced By the Basilisks

“I said what I said.” My heart thuds as painfully as my cock. I love it when Ari makes me pay for my “insolence” as he calls it. It’s a game that will make all the worries of the day vanish until the only thing on my mind is Ari’s words and touches.

I want the escape he gives me.

“Perhaps we’re in need of a rematch then.” Ari leans forward and my throat tightens at the lazy movement. He touches me then. My thigh burns under his teasing fingers. His thumb traces circles on my knee and it’s pathetic how eager my body is for him, how impatient.

I stand, nerves stinging over my skin. I need to move. I need to progress whatever is going to happen between us and I need us to stop talking. I need to stem the tide of useless feelings that I already have for the man across from me.

And because I know my retreat is a temptation he won’t refuse.

I turn as if to leave and Ari is behind me in a flash. His arm wraps around my waist and he spins me. The kiss holds all the bridled violence a night between us entails. The spices from the dried meat and the sweetness of the grape against my tongue aren’t what have me moaning. The underlying flavor of Ari is a homecoming. Everything I want and can’t have.

Every time we do this is harder than the last. The intimacy between us only grows, sucking me into the gravity of his charisma. It’s a struggle not to bend to him past our bedroom games. It makes it all the harder when he speaks about taking care of me as if it would ever be possible.

Ari nibbles my lower lip and I gasp.

“You don’t seem so grumpy anymore,” he says against my lips. The restriction of his arms around my body teases me. An echo of how his tail would coil around me. His shift is close to the surface, but he hasn’t given in to it yet. He likes to extend our struggle and it’s better if we are on an even playing field.

“Grumpy isn’t how I feel.” I grind my hard cock against his firm body.

Ari’s smile is the worst mix of arrogance and fierceness, but it only makes my body burn hotter. He keeps one arm holding us together while the other slides up my back. His claws scratch my scalp softly before grasping my hair and tipping my head back.

I moan as he runs his lips up my neck.

“My viper,” Ari whispers and inhales my scent. “My stubborn, stubborn lover, do you want to fight me? Do you want to struggle against my body until I pin you and do all the things we both want? To prove my dominance over you?”

A fang scratches against my skin and I grunt at the spike of need that reverberates through me.

“Fuck.” It’s all I can say.

“Yes, we’ll do that,” Ari says, almost sweetly. “And when I’ve conquered you, maybe you’ll let me take you on an actual date.”

That has me blinking, but he doesn’t stop there.

His warm lips ghost over my neck and his breath hitches. “And in time, maybe you’ll finally come with me to this year’s Serpent Circle so I can show you off.”

Ice replaces the heat in my blood.

“No!” I press both hands against Ari, pushing away. Somehow, he knows from my tone that this isn’t a part of our game. He lets me push from his grasp. Annoyance crossing over his face with other emotions I rarely see from him. Hurt. Regret.

He wipes them from his expression and projects his usual haughtiness.

“Jasper, I’ve been very patient with you,” Ari says.

“I don’t know what you mean.” But I do. The impossible has finally happened.

“Seven years I’ve wanted you—”

My snarl cuts him off. “And seven years you’ve had me.”

“Not everything I’ve wanted from you.” Ari puts his hands on his hips, frustration lining his body.

The instincts that tried to warn me are Klaxon alarms now, but not even those alarms can make me push him away when Ari approaches. He tugs on my wrist cuff before his fingers brush over my skin, taking my hand.

His longing permeates the air and makes it hard to breathe.

“Jasper,” he whispers my name and I want to moan at the sound of it. “Do you think I’m a person who would have casual sex for seven years without an ulterior motive?”

Annoyance flares. “Our relationship isn’t like that. You have your pick of partners wherever you go—”

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