Page 80 of Beg the Night

It was like nothing I had ever felt before. My phantoms roared, and I realized I had let out a roar, too, as the warmth of her magic pumped through my fucking veins.

Shepumped through my fucking veins.

It wasn’t until she reached her climax, wasn’t until she was writhing and arching against me, telling me it was all mine, that my power reached into her chest, too, and gave itself over to her.

“Athena, calm down.”

It took the space of a heartbeat or two to realize I was no longer in the forest. No, I was in Athena’s mind. Her memories. She stood around with what had to have been her family. I could sense the familiarity, just like I could sense her emotions and her thoughts.

And they weren’t good.

Darkness surrounded her—a darkness she couldn’t see.

Katherine screamed at her to calm down, to relax, but Athena couldn’t hear. Her attention was locked on her mother.

“Tell us the truth!” she yelled, her hands clenched into fists at her sides. “Why can’t we go into town? What are you hiding?!”

“I’m not hiding anything!” her mother responded. But her voice was laced with fear.

Her mother was afraid of her? Why?

The small kitchen where we stood would be cozy, if not for the anger that poisoned the air.

“It is for your own protection,” the older woman said.

“That’s what you and Father have been saying for years, but it isn’t true, is it? There’s something else. You hide us here like fugitives! You can’t keep us here forever!”

Her mother—fear and all—slammed her small fist onto the wooden counter. “I am your mother and you will obey me, dammit! I say you don’t go into town, so you don’t go into the damn town!”

Athena’s chest rose and fell rapidly with each breath, her pulse racing in her neck. Rather than calming like her sister continued to urge, she was more worked up.

But her mother took a long, shaking breath. “I’m not going to sit here and listen to this nonsense. I’m going to cool off in the stream.” She paused in front of Athena, eyes glossy. “If only you were more like your sister. Katherine has never had a problem following the rules?—”

“Well, I’m sorry I can’t be the perfect daughter that Katherine is, I’m sorry I?—”

“That is enough,” her mother interrupted.

“No,” Athena spat. “No, I’m not going to shut up and sit down anymore. I want to know the truth!”

“I can’t do this.” Her mother waved a shaking hand, then stormed off, leaving a fuming Athena behind with Katherine.

Two silent beats passed. Then Katherine lifted her head. “You work her up on purpose. She’s done nothing but provide for you all her life. Calm yourself down before you do something stupid.”

If only it were that easy. Athena’s anger was uncontrollable, unstoppable. It buzzed with something more than a simple emotion. It buzzed with something thicker, something tangible.

“She wishes I was never born. I know she does. Maybe I can’t blame her, because sometimes I wish she were dead.”

My eyes flew open, and all I could see was Athena. She was panting beneath me, her grip still tight in my hair as she came down from her climax. As I slid my fingers from her warm channel, her eyes locked on mine, and her body finally relaxed.

“Sinner,” she whispered. “Did you feel that?”

Okay, so she had the strange visions, too. I didn’t want to ask what she’d seen. We didn’t have to go there.

“It worked,” I said. “It worked, Athena.”

“Okay,” she breathed, though her brows pinched. “What now?”

I closed my eyes and rolled my hips, though I didn’t allow my pelvis to connect with hers. But we had to continue the ruse. We had to make it look as though we were still continuing the ritual.

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