Page 367 of Fated to be Enemies

My breath hitched, and my eyes bulged. I averted my eyes, looking instead at Freya’s broken and crumpled body.

“Fuck, Thalia. Too much,” he said, voicing what I was thinking.

“Go be with your girl.”

I held my breath when he turned to face me. He was covered in blood, his hair disheveled, and a dark unsatisfied rage swam in his blue eyes. He took long strides, closing the distance between us. Thalia sped out of the room, a knowing smile on her face.

He pressed a bloodied finger against my chin and tilted my head upward to look at him. “I would never hurt you.” He must’ve mistaken my expression for fear.

“I’m not scared of you.”

“I enjoyed it,” he admitted as if it would push me away.

I splayed my fingers against his chest. “So did I when I killed Freya. It wasn’t like Alexander, when I was plagued with guilt. Freya deserved it. She was a monster.” I’d confessed something I hadn’t even admitted to myself, until now. I’d felt powerful when I pushed the dagger in her, delighting in the violence when her life was in my hands. She’d taken so much from everyone, from good people, so when I heard her last breath, I’d felt no guilt. “Maybe I’m not as good as you like to think.”

He shook his head, an incredulous stare in his eyes as he lowered his lips to mine. I tasted Freya’s blood on them, but I didn’t care. “You’re good, baby girl,” he whispered against my lips. “With a taste for the dark. There’s nothing wrong with that.” He walked me backward and pushed me against a wall. His arm was next to my face, his hand against the marble pressing cold against my back. “It comes with being a goddess. You’re stronger than anyone now. You can bring down entire buildings if you want. No one can make you do anything you don’t want to again.” His gaze burned into mine. “An immortality to match your fierce heart.”

Losing myself in his words, I wrapped my arms around his body with primal instinct. Staring into his eyes, I stated, “Then I only want you!”

I ran my fingers around his neck, kissing him with an animalistic ferocity. I bit his bottom lip until I heard him moan against me, rocking his hips against mine.

“I love you,” I whispered when I pulled back an inch, feeling freedom in those three words. “Maybe too much.”

He kissed me harder, ripping my pants down. “My love,” he said, removing my top off and baring my breasts. “I love you too.”

Sweat mixed with blood as it dripped down the muscles on his back. He lost himself inside me, gliding his dick against the silk of my wetness and going deeper until I bit my lip, screaming out. Digging my nails into his arms, I gasped when the wall cracked with his next pound. His wild eyes latched onto mine. He let out a low growl as the wall crumbled under us, shaking the entire building. I didn’t care who heard or saw us. All that existed was us, tangled in a mess of desire and panting.

I screamed his name as my orgasm rolled through my body, tipping him over the edge. He erupted inside me, his hips rocking as his eyes rolled toward the back of his head. After one final rock, he rested his forehead against mine.

I looked around at the rubble and couldn’t help but laugh while trying to catch my breath. “Thalia’s going to kill us for destroying her living room,” I said. After all, it was all hers now.

His eyes never left mine. “I don’t care. Nothing matters but you.”

My heart ballooned. “I’ll never leave you.”

He thumbed my lip. “I will never leave you either.”

I watched as Raiden said his good-byes to Thalia and joined me at the portal. “Are you sure you can’t come back?” I asked her again.

She shook her head. “I am happier here with the dead than I ever was alive. I spent enough time with them, this feels like home.”

I nodded slowly. “Then I guess no one will replace you as goddess of the dead.”

She pulled out the vial with the small glowing orb inside it—the vitality of the goddess of the dead—and handed it to me. “You can gift another with immortality. It’s yours to do with what you wish.”

Raiden clicked his tongue. “That’s a lot of pressure, Tal.”

“She’s strong enough.” Thalia winked at me and turned on her heel. “I’ll ensure nothing gets out. Well, mostly.”

I couldn’t help but smile. I shoved the vial into my pocket and knotted my hand with his. “Are you ready to step back into my world?”

“Yes.” He squeezed my hand, but I saw pain quiver his smile, his fixated glare on the portal lost for a second.

“Your brother would be proud of you.”

His breath hitched, but he said nothing else, and the portal opened to Edmund, Naomi, and a shivering, furious-looking Maddox.

“Three hours,” Maddox said, berating me. “It’s been five. We must have opened the portal four times. We’re almost out of blood.”

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