Page 44 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness
“What? Most men can’t.”
His face shifted with displeasure. “Can’t or won’t?”
“Uncertain.”
Kylo sighed heavily. “The bar is truly in Lillian’s hells.”
I wasn’t sure Jacob had ever read a book front to back in his life. Yet he sure did love to shit all over the genre of novels I enjoyed.
“Maybe men just need eighty years to reach full maturity,” I said as I set up our magickal area. I used a branch to dig protective sigils around us. Then I sprinkled salt in a circle.
Kylo laughed. “I’ve thought about this problem quite a bit, actually. It’s the reason for my expansive education system before and after clan initiation.” He watched me move with a curiosity and tenderness that warmed me from within. “Men need a higher power, or they will become their own. Whether that higher power is group consciousness, the spirit of the revolution, or devotion to one or more gods—there has to be a system of meaning that exists beyond their own egos. Greatness is derived from connection. A man’s unchecked ego breeds alienation, profound spiritual loneliness, and insecurity. And instead of self-betterment, those lost souls will falsely believe that conquering, dominating, and stealing others’ light is the only way to fill the bottomless voids they themselves created.”
I paused, half of my pillar candles lit, and turned to face him. “Your soul is beautiful, Kylo.”
His pensive face melted into something adorably human and vulnerable. I craved this side of him, the side he saved for me.
“Thank you, Evie. You already know how I feel about yours.”
I grinned. This soon-to-be warlord almost appeared bashful as my compliment sank into his chest.
The rest of my candles sparked to life. I thought about Kylo’s words as I cast my circle, as I wrestled with this inescapable dichotomy between light and dark, sex and violence, retribution and sublimity.
Kylo had turned my entire world inside out. He wasn’t perfect, nor had he claimed to be. But the shadows inside me had always called to his. I’d known since the beginning ofusthat he was safe.
When the circle had been cast, I invoked Hekate. I called to the four cardinal directions. I channeled the heavens and the underworld, and I opened myself up to the power of the new moon.
Death, darkness, and rebirth. A new beginning.
An initiation.
I leaned into the certainty of Kylo’s presence as I held his hands in mine. On our knees, our foreheads touching, my muscles unwound.
Never in my life had I imagined I could be so close to a man. To share my spirit world, my magick, and my devotion. I thought there were parts of myself that would remain hidden and private forever.
“Hekate, I offer myself to thee.”
Kylo brushed his lips across my forehead. Behind my eyelids, I saw the cosmos.
“I initiate myself as your daughter, marking my body with your ink and chosen symbols forever. I initiate myself into the Hekate Clan, blessed by the shadows to protect all mortals. Here and now, ever and always, I devote myself to our shared will. I dedicate my body and spirit to a power greater than myself, and I vow to always strive to abide by your guidance, wisdom, and infinite blessings.” I let power swell, and winds whistled through the trees above. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
After consecrating the ink, blessing it in the name of the goddess of witches, I lay on the long, cushioned green bench Kylo had carried out from his house.
Kylo grinned the moment his hand gripped the needling tool. Shadows from the candles danced across his beautiful face.
I closed my eyes.
“I need to tell you what happened the night Idris and I ran.”
15
EVIE
“Okay. I’m here to listen.”
I opened my eyes again.
Kylo appraised my body for a moment. “But first, you’re wearing too much clothes, angel. I need to see my canvas before I decide where each piece will go.”
