Page 22 of Darkest Need

And I fully give in to the feeling of being inside her, of truly knowing her. And in that moment...my future is even more clear.

It’s her.

My mate.

And I will die before I ever get to claim her.

I scream as my release hits, over and over again. She jumps off me, high off immortal blood, then comes back, chest heaving. Her breasts are so perfect I jerk against the handcuffs, but I’m too weak and about to get weaker.

She climbs back onto me again and lowers herself. “Now, I’ll take you rougher.”

My eyes roll to the back of my head as I stupidly think to myself,so much for a break for round two.

The rest of the day flies by in a flash.

I lose track of how many times she says, “again.” I’m bleeding everywhere, but all I can think is,wow, she’s really pretty.

Chapter Nine

Cassius

I hated the thoughts that haunted me, the memories.

“Any word?” My wife, Stephanie, wraps her arms around me and pulls me close. She’s no longer afraid of the sharp edges of my wings if they come out—she’s powerful in her own right—and it’s nice to be held.

I look down at my hands. “Do you ever blame me?”

Her dark hair swirls down by her waist as she lays me back against the bed and caresses my face, her blue eyes nearly twinkling like the stars. “Blame you for what?”

“Protecting you.” I swallow. “For being what I am—?”

“Ninety-nine percent Archangel and one percent Dark One?” She winks. “Your father, Sariel, sacrificed everything for you. So much that he gave you his essence, so you’d one day go back to where you were always meant to be.”

I snort out a laugh. “Heaven? Who, in all of this world, deserves that privilege?”

“Nobody,” Stephanie says quickly. “But that’s the point. We help the humans learn how to ascend and how to become their best selves, and then we hope that when Anubis and the Creator judge, they can become what they were born to be before…” She starts to choke up. “Before the Fall in Eden.”

“The war in Greece, so much war.”

“And…” She’s quiet for a minute. “The day in Pompeii, when you were forced to make a choice and almost lost everything because of it. Do you ever wonder where they are?”

I smile. “I’d like to think I’m all-knowing, but I only see so many possibilities. I don’t know the choices.”

“But you see their faces.” She rests her head against my chest. “Can you trust me and honor me with the answer of the face you see now? The grown child?”

My chest is tight.

I saw it tonight.

I saw it clear as day.

I saw him chained to the bed.

And then I sawher. The cursed goddess, Lilith, and Danu, who has the power to destroy it all if she can continue acquiring more blood for the next few years.

Lilith will suck him dry.

Then she’ll relinquish the power of the blood because she has no choice.

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