Page 14 of Claimed By Night

Nothing happens.

Reveal yourself!I think the command again, harsher this time.

But still, nothing.

Time is slipping through my fingers like sand… I’m stuck with a decision. Do I leave the girl to her fate, or run the risk of Anona revealing to Variant that I’ve broken through the figurative walls of my prison?

I open my eyes and look at her one last time. Then, I turn around, ready to leave the girl.

She isn’t my business. She’s not my concern.

CHAPTER FIVE

EILISH

Mortal Realm

Behold him, a voice compels me. A woman’s voice.

I’m swimming in a balmy sea, floating on an endless tide of elation. I can’t open my eyes, but I also don’t want to.

See him, the voice insists.

And while I feel myself still floating in the warmth of my bubbly sea, the images around me are different, now. I know my eyes aren’t open, yet I’m still able to see. How this is possible I don’t know, but the reason doesn’t particularly matter. Instead, I can see a room through my closed eyelids. Seconds later, I focus on a huge and winged man who appears above me.

Shadows cling to his skin, to the rubbery, black wings that arch out of him, bathing him in darkness. He’s impossibly large and broad. Muscles litter the landscape of his body like afterthoughts. He’s power and menace, strength and danger. He embodies the night just as much as the night embodies him.

I’m nothing but afraid of him. He’s terrifying. But the longer I study him, the more I realize there’s something lurking beneath his imposing exterior… something that speaks to me, something fleshly, carnal.

My body begins to respond to him, to the smoldering way he looks at me. And, in turn, I can see his body responding to mine: the way his cock begins to strain against his pants, the way his mouth opens and he scents me on the air with his tongue.

Yes,the voice says, inside my head.Call to him. Appeal to him. Use the power within you to pull him, to force him closer.

Staring up at this mountain of a man, I realize how immense he really is. He could break me in half with nothing more than a thought… Fear begins to echo through me again, beating a wild path inside me next to… exhilaration.

He leans down until only inches of air separate us. His heady, masculine scent invades my senses, filling me with a driving hunger, a need to touch him. He’s so close. He causes my heart rate to increase and I feel my chest expand as I take a deep, excited breath.

His face is hard, and anger vibrates off him. He’s rough and battle worn.

But it’s the light gray of his eyes that draws me. There’s something in them that’s beautiful, something that hints at a code of honor that still exists within him. I realize then that he won’t hurt me.

I want to reach out to him, to touch his olive skin, but my body won’t comply. Instead, I stare at him, taking in the angular lines and planes of his face. His black hair reaches his shoulders and matches the darkness of the stubble decorating his strong jaw, chin and cheeks. He’s stunningly handsome, but not in a beautiful way. Everything about him is harsh, rough, beyond masculine. Everything about him is darkness, shadow, and intrigue.

More than anything, I want to feel his shadows and darkness plunging into me. I want to feel him burrowing himself so deeply inside me that I scream out in a mixture of pain and pleasure. I want this barbarian, this beast, to own me, to imprint me with his seed.

***

DRAGAN

I take a step away from the beautiful woman, intent on leaving both her and the annoying sprite, but something pulls me back, as if invisible arms are pushing me to her. The shadows within me are pulling, struggling to maintain their grasp on the unconscious girl. I can feel them wrapping their tendrils of dark mist around her, holding onto her tightly.

“Bloody fuck,” I grumble under my breath as I realize I can’t leave her here, though I also can’t say why. A woman has never had this effect on me. Maybe it’s a sign I need to fuck. I haven’t fucked a woman in so long I can’t remember, and this must be the indication that my body needs it.

I wrap her in the bed linens. As soon as I touch her, though, something happens. I feel power pulsing through her tiny body. It envelops my hand and weaves up my arm, into my chest and causes my breath to freeze. It feels like a legion of ants dancing over every inch of my skin, but the energy is beneath my skin, not on top of it, thrumming and crackling electricity.

I pause momentarily, surprised. There’s strength in her. Power. Yes, I can detect theAtacomite,as well. Anona gave her a hefty dose, no doubt to keep her immobile and, as such, an easy victim. But there’s something else, just beyond theAtacomite. By touching her, I feel my own magic begin to boil up as if it answers her silent call. But this time, the shadows aren’t trying to force me to take her—they’re responding to her, stimulated by her, drawn to her.

I can’t explain it, but I feel captured by her, by the magic that undoubtedly flows within her.

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