Page 64 of A Clash of Embers

"Eros! Put me down. Right now. I demand you."

He didn't stop. He just continued to walk as I lifted my head to watch the witches in the Beacon staring after us.

"Is anyone going to stop him? You're just going to let him take me!" I screamed at them. I could have sworn I saw a smile on Kay's face, but Estelle stood unchanging in her form. Serious and disconnected from anyone who talked to her.

"Help! Don't let him take me!" I screamed one final time.

I felt the hit across my ass and the sting that lingered as he said, "If you scream like that again, I'm gonna hit your other ass cheek."

I giggled, "Well, I might like that."

I heard him laugh slightly, "Oh, Clara. You have no idea what you're getting into."

Once we were outside, he placed me on the ground and I immediately turned and started walking in the opposite direction from him. I heard his steps following me, but I didn't dare stop. I saw a Dreary Willow in the distance and I thought there was no way it's the same tree.

When I was a few steps away from entering the Willow, Eros gripped my arm and turned me around to face him.

"The reason I didn't tell you was because hedoesn'tknow. He doesn't know that I'm his brother. I didn't want to give you that information without him knowing," he said slightly out of breath. "I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, but obviously things have been…difficult."

I bit back, “What else are you not telling me?”

He stepped closer. "Theo made sure to make our death believable for Athiana, enough to confuse her magic to let us out. Athiana quickly realized that she was tricked right after. And now she's on the defense. You already know that Theo is my father, and you know that you and I are mates." He pressed his lips to the side of my head, "And you know that we are true mates.Divinemates. You need to stop fighting me, and you need to trust me."

I pulled my head back swiftly pushing my hands into his chest. "Trust you? You have lied to me over and over again just like everyone else who has come into my life. But now… now I have vowed to myself that I would never allow someone to control me again. Never again.” I stepped into his space again. “So, the next time you think you can tell me what I should and shouldn't do, don't.”

His eyes flared purple as he stepped closer to me, filling the distance between us. “I don't want to control you and I don't want to fight you.” He breathed in deeply before he whispered while his eyes continued to study my face. “The only thing I want isyou.You. Not your title. Not your power. Not your influence. I want you.”

He licked his lips as he whispered inches from my mouth. “Making you kiss Madok under the curse was the hardest thing I have ever done. Then standing by and letting you form a relationship with him in this world nearly killed me. I won't stand idly by anymore because you areitfor me. You are the only thing I truly care about in this godforsaken world and I'll be damned to the abyss if I let anyone hurt you.” He laughed softly. “I don't want to control you, Clara. I only want to love you.”

Our lips were barely touching as I whispered back, "But everything I love is taken from me. I can't... I can't go through that again."

He sighed, “Nothing will take you away from me again. Never again.”

Our worlds collided, and his lips overtook mine as his hands wrapped around my back pulling me into his firm body. His wings wrapped around us, shielding us from anyone who could see.

His tongue danced wickedly against mine as I felt his fangs nip at my bottom lip.

He pulled back, only slightly, as he whispered, “You already know that I don't need blood to live, but I cancraveit. And with you, I want every part of you. I want to taste you. I know that the moment I do, my desire for you will become infinite.”

I looked into his green eyes that were laced in the most gorgeous shade of lavender and I whispered, “Then taste me.”

Chapter 32

Ev gripped my arms and pushed me into the cover of the Dreary Willow. "What is it that you want, Clara?"

He pressed his body into mine against the Dreary Willow. We were covered by the leaves and the darkness of night.

My breathing was quick and my thoughts were lucid. " I... I don't know."

He pressed into me with his hands drifting to my hips. "Yes, you do. Say it. Say what you want."

There was no going back after this. If I gave in to him, that would be it. He would be mine and I would behis.His hands lifted me off of the ground, and I instinctively wrapped my legs encompassing his waist with his wings expanding around us. Blocking me in.

He smirked, leaning me into the tree and pressing his length into the apex of my thighs as my head fell back at the feeling. His lips pressed into my neck, his most admired spot.

"Don't worry, darling. You won't kill me. Especially not after this," he whispered against my skin.

My eyes widened because I didn't know how he knew that.

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