Page 82 of Queen of Darkness
It was the most intense thing I’d ever gone through. I struggled to maintain focus. I wanted torememberthis moment, this event. This was the beginning of the rest of my life—whether it was long or short remained to be seen—and I was going to cherish it for as much time as I had remaining.
Blood trickled down my neck as Aaron withdrew.
Even though his teeth were gone, a part of him was still there. Still inside me.
Just not the part I was used to. Though, judging by how his pants had tightened, I wasn’t going to be missing out on that either.
“I can feel you,” I gasped, touching the rapidly healing wound on my neck while staring at him.
And I could. A flicker of emotion and surprise at the very edge of my awareness that was absolutelynotfrom me. It was someone else, and I felt the surprise that appeared on his face come through that link.
“I canfeelyou,” I repeated in a tiny voice.
“Can you feel this?” he asked, and a second later, love and unconditional caring came flooding through the link.
“Yes!” I hissed, trying to send the same back.
Aaron’s face lit up, and pleasant surprise and joy came back to me.
“Now come here,” I growled, running a hand down his front and past his belt. “I want to see what else we can feel.”
When my fingers dropped past his buckle, I got the answer, and both our eyes widened.
“Oh, my,” he growled excitedly as clothing flew everywhere. “This is going to be fun.”
“Just don’t take too long,” I admonished, biting a lip in anticipation. “We still have a war to fight.”
“I know. And once we’ve won, I’m going to take a long,longtime to do this properly.”
“That had better be a promise,” I said, lying back onto the bed, enjoying the feel of arousal that came through our link as his eyes feasted on my body.
Yes, this would be fun indeed.
What comes next, not so much.
Chapter Forty
Ithought we’d need to demonstrate our new bond to Hades somehow, give him proof that Aaron had actually claimed me. But it never happened. We eventually emerged from the guest quarters and let the Enkk escort us to Hades. He’d taken one look, and that was all he needed. Whether it was just that obvious or being a god gave him the power to see things we couldn’t, he was convinced without us having to lift a finger.
Yet, as much as he’d been convinced, I hadn’t missed the surprise on his face when he realized it. He hadn’t expected Aaron to go through with it.
I always knew he was a better man than you expected,I smirked.
Now, as the rest of the team and we climbed the wall surrounding Hades’ stronghold, I leaned into Aaron. “Why didn’t Hades think we would go through with it?”
“You noticed that, too, did you?” he replied.
“It wasn’t hard to miss,” I said dryly.
“He’s been excessively paranoid this whole time,” Aaron said. “So maybe this was just part of it? Perhaps he never truly believed that I hadn’t claimed Elenia.”
“Even if you had, though, that wouldn’t stop you from being able to give up your claim on her and take me.”
“No,” Aaron admitted. “But I guess he thought I wouldn’t.”
“Or couldn’t,” I said. “If he thought you were a double agent this whole time, he would think you’d refuse at the last moment. Or maybe you’d do something and tell me that was claiming me since I wouldn’t know any better.”
Wry humor filtered through our link. I could tell what Aaron thought of that.
