Page 37 of Claimed By Night

She doesn’t shift her gaze, doesn’t appear angry or self-conscious. Just continues to watch me as I look at her breasts and then the junction of her thighs. The sheet that covers her is all that separates her nudity from my probing eyes, and I wish she’d shift it, show me what’s beneath it. But she doesn’t.

I glance up at her again and watch as her mouth turns in a slight smirk. She seems amused. I can’t explain her reaction.She should be offended by my roving eyes, but she appears entertained, instead.

I don’t.

I feel weakened.

Compromised.

CHAPTER TWELVE

CAMBION

The Raven Forest,

Shadow Realm

My body is devoid of warmth and a throbbing headache makes it difficult to open my eyes. I sit up slowly, my body reluctant to follow my commands. When I look around, all I see is an overwhelming darkness, so black I have a hard time believing my eyes aren’t still closed. But then, light appears like a beacon from a lighthouse tower. Fire. At first, the light from the fire is the only thing I can see. Everything else is an inky black. Instinctively, my eyes blink against the darkness, willing my vision to adjust. Behind me, I can barely make out the dim outline of trees—twisting, contorted branches coated in deadly thorns—their shapes barely visible against the darker blackness of the sky.

Feeling pain in each of my limbs, I struggle to remember where I am. The last thing I recall is healing the beautiful angel. Beautiful, but powerful in a way I find myself wary of. Angels and fae are friends, yes, but Variant is also an angel and we all know how that story ended.

Angels are beings of light, but they aren’t immune to corruption. And I know their proclivity toward decadence and greed better than most.

Then, I remember the visions the angel had...

First, the fucking. A not-altogether-unpleasant visual. It was more than a vision, though. Like a dream, the sensation—phantom, but present—has arrested me and now I can’t stop replaying the feeling of my cock sinking into her, the way her flesh yielded.

I don’t trust her. And I don’t trust the vision, either. In fact, the more I think about it, the more convinced I become thatshe’s after something. Women, I’ve found, are manipulative, and the smart ones understand they possess what every man wants between their legs. This one is no different. I’m more than convinced she’s using her extreme beauty to seduce us. And, so far, it appears to be working. Well, at least on Dragan.

Yet, I, too, find myself craving her, the way anAtacomiteaddict craves his poison. But I’m not satisfied that this desire originates from inside me. Instead, I wonder if I’ve been enchanted. Dragan definitely appears to have been completely bewitched, because he can’t take his bloody eyes off her for more than a few seconds. The barbarian is too stupid for his own good.

I can’t deny there was attraction between the angel and me from the onset. I know that much is true. But the ferocity of my need and my inability to curb it fills me with concern. I’m not a man who obsesses over a woman; I’ve never been that type. I’m too rational, too logical of mind. And yet I can’t stop thinking about this woman—a woman I don’t even know.

She’s placed falsehoods in my mind, I’m sure of it. And these lies are confusing because they feel like the truth. For example, I now have a memory of an event (of us fucking) that never occurred.

Then it was a vision of the future, perhaps?I think to myself and can’t help the swelling of my dick.

If it’s a picture of the future, I worry about the implications of participating in a destiny I didn’t help dictate. In general, I’m a planner. I’m not like Dragan, who lives according to his impulses. Instead, I weigh all things and act accordingly. I don’t like risks.

And the feeling I had when I witnessed our sexual tryst was that I had no control over myself. Yes, I was in control of penetrating her, but she was the one who maintained the power. It’s difficult to explain, because I hardly understand it myself, but I felt as if I were her captive—as if I was incapable of denyingher… anything. I felt helpless against her female charm. It’s a feeling that’s visited me in wisps since I’ve laid eyes on her.

Her beauty is undeniable, but it’s her power that concerns me.

I’ve seen first-hand the hold she already has on Dragan and I won’t allow myself to become her second casualty. Where he sees an injured doe in the woods, I see an intelligent predator in the midst of setting a very convincing trap…

The vision she had of the battle is more difficult to explain. It was the darkest day in my memory. And the sight of it forced me to revisit all the feelings and emotions I’d had so long ago. The anxiety, the agony of watching my comrades destroyed right in front of me, the crushing weight that came with the realization that we’d lost to Variant.

And it wasn’t even losing to Variant that stings the most. It was the corruption and duplicity of the Unseelie King, Theren, that still burns me as sharply as it did one hundred years ago. Perhaps that’s because the Seelie and the Unseelie, though different as night and day, have always been allies—until Variant made a mockery of that alliance. Or perhaps the Unseelie’s treachery never stopped stinging because Theren, the Unseelie King, is also my brother.

I close my eyes against the memories. The battle was so long ago, yet it still burns as if it were yesterday. Instead, I focus on remembering. On tracing the steps that led to me sitting here, in this shadow forest with these assholes.

Shortly after witnessing the battle vision, courtesy of the angel and her suspicious magic, the world went dark. But what had happened just prior to that? I close my eyes and rack my brain, trying to understand. Suddenly, I see Dragan’s face and, along with it, I feel a flash of anger.

My eyes blaze open.

The fucker used his magic against me! It’s his fault I’m here now, in the middle of this fucking forest in the shadow realm!

I return my focus to the fire and make out the white of the angel’s hair. She seems to be glowing with a light entirely her own. Her sheet is wrapped tightly around her shoulders and even from my spot, separate from the group, I can see she’s shivering. I shift my weight onto my aching legs and stand.

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