Page 20 of Darkest Need

I should have done better math on that one and figured it out, but all I saw were her injuries, and all I felt was the need to save. I should have known someone that pretty, who fed off an immortal, was bad news.

Being saved isn’t something to take lightly. I was saved as a child. Protected. And I swore I would always do the same, no matter what.

I wonder what Mason will do without me?

Timber, Cassius, Alex, Stephanie, Genesis…Horus, so many family members. And now this is how I go.

I sit up as best I can while being chained. The crazy goddess is gone but probably not too far away since she’s extremely eager to get some blood in her.

“Let me guess…” I clear my throat. “Something about my blood mixed with what’s inside you will give her a supercharge, and the more she does it over the years, the more powerful she gets. The more she’s able to break her curse of having to look after the Fallen Goddesses—aka you—and the closer she gets to taking over all the divine power the Creator so generously stripped from her to limit her control of Their Creation… Am I close?”

“You’re practically on fire.” She folds her hands.

“And have you ever resisted?” I ask.

Slowly, she shakes her head. “No. I don’t remember ever saying no to temptation, not in the last thousands of years. It is, after all, what I’m known for.”

“And I think my life is hard sometimes.” I try to smile, but it falls flat. I never really had to face my death, never really even thought about it. “Will I at least orgasm? Because if I get no orgasm, I feel like that’s a no on this deal.”

She actually laughs and covers her mouth with her hand. “Don’t be funny right now. This sucks.”

“Me thinks you do all the sucking.”

“Me thinks you do all the moaning,” she snaps right back. Our eyes meet, and I understand why she never says no. Because I don’t want to say no either.

I want to sayyesa million times. I want to consume her. I’m so hard from looking at her, I don’t understand what’s going on with my own body.

Her eyes swirl with gold around her pupils.

She leans down, then jerks back the minute I strain toward her, my mouth so eager for hers that it’s all-consuming.

I have no choice but to allow it to happen, and she has no choice but to do it. This is the part of the story where the hero normally explains to the villain that everyone always has a choice, but I don’t really see a way out of this. And because of my weakened state, all I can do is watch as she leans over my body with red eyes.

“Remember,” I point out, straining toward her scent. God, it smells good. Like fresh rain and apples—like the earth. Like the Garden itself. “Orgasm or no deal.”

She leans down and licks my neck, her tongue searing hot before she whispers in my ear.

“I was prideful to think I could ever resist you.”

“I was prideful to assume I would want you to,” I say honestly, body shuddering under her touch. She jumps on me and then straddles me. In one instant, she jerks my jeans completely down my body, moving so she can pull them off, all before straddling me again. I wince at the glorious pain of need, the wanting.

“Do it now. Do it,” I whisper. I can’t see straight, but I can feel. Hell, I can feel everything down to my core. My fangs elongate, my body telling me I want to mark her with my blood and scent, too. Maybe she’d enjoy the werewolf bite. But we typically don’t just go around biting people who aren’t our mates, just in case we accidentally make a mistake and claim out of lust.

I will claim her before I die.

Then again, it’s like she’s claiming me—sheisclaiming me.

She bites down on my neck. I let out a roar, my body bucking under hers. “Lilith!”

“Yours.” She pulls back. My blood drips down her chin before she kisses me. I taste myself on her, I also tasteherand lose control as my hips jerk. She’s not giving me what I want. And it might kill me.

Lilith shakes her head and pulls back as if she’s trying to regain some semblance of control. “If you keep moving, this will be over.”

“If I don’t, I might die,” I say through clenched teeth. “Grab me.”

Her eyes glaze over and turn so dark red they’re nearly black. “Tarek—”

“Take what you need.” I‘m sweating now. “And give me what I’m owed for being tied to a fucking bed, getting fucked to death. At least give me—”

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