Page 29 of Consume Me
The sound of something else in this room cuts through the heat like a bucket of ice water.
Kendall makes a small sound of shock. I still my hand inside her, lifting my head to look. Over the back of the couch, the firelight catches on steel, and every muscle inside me coils to strike. To fight and defend. But it’s not a creature that’s somehow breached my wards and gained access to my sanctuary.
It’s a blade.
The remaining dagger lies on the floor, gleaming, its sharpened tip angled toward us like a predator ready to strike.
Kendall twists to see what I see and instantly stiffens, her body going rigid. The scent of her arousal tangles now with something colder—fear.
Chapter 9
Kendall
My impending orgasm is snatched away by the sound of metal clanging against the floor. I know immediately what made that sound, and rage burns through me, chasing away the haze of lust. When I open my eyes, Noctan’s mouth still hovers near mine, his hand still warm against my skin, but his gaze has shifted over my shoulder, the look in his eye now sharp and lethal.
I twist to look, knowing what I’ll find.
The dagger.
Just sitting on the floor behind the couch like it’s been here the whole time, gleaming in the firelight, humming that low, ugly song in my bones. I can’t hear its voice in my head, not while I still have my body pressed to Noctan’s, but the buzzing is inescapable.
The visions threaten to suck me into their thrall.
“Shit,” I breathe.
Noctan is already moving, up and over the couch in a blur of muscle and fury. He doesn’t touch it—he justcrouches, studying it like it’s a snake about to strike. “I don’t understand. How the fuck did this thing get here?”
I drag a hand through my hair, trying to brace against the sudden chaos of the dagger’s hissing as Noctan breaks our contact. “It does this.”
His head snaps toward me. “What do you mean itdoes this? I have wards in place that should’ve made this thing disintegrate the moment it tried to come through.”
“I mean—” My voice comes out sharper than I intend. “As long as it’s bonded to me, it doesn’t matter where I am or what wards are in place. The dagger’s magic will always find me. Always.”
That’s because you belong to us,the dagger snarls inside my head.
Us. Even with one of them gone, it still thinks like a pair.
I grab my shirt from where Noctan tossed it on the floor and slide it over my head. When I straighten, Noctan is studying me. He still hasn’t touched the dagger, but the rune on his arm is glowing again. It looks painful, and I wonder if he’s weighing the idea of shifting into his wolf and destroying the thing right here and now.
Your fate is tied to ours, little fae, the dagger says, and any doubts I might have had about surviving its destruction evaporate.
My chest threatens to cave in as hope drains away.
“What’s wrong?” Noctan asks as if he can sense my distress.
“If you destroy that thing, I’ll die,” I say quietly.
Noctan’s eyes flash with something. Anger?Regret? “I know.” His jaw works, and I can see the storm brewing in him. “We have to find a way to break the connection.”
The dagger’s voice slithers into my mind before I can answer, silk over steel.
There is a way, little blade.
Noctan stiffens like he knows it’s talking to me. “What’s it saying?”
My lips press together because I know he’s not going to like it. “It says there is a way.”
He straightens slowly, eyes on me. “And?”
