Stephanie
I IMAGINED THAT YEARS from now, centuries even, I’d still think his kiss was paradise, the greatest touch, the press of his fingertips against my skin. To love Cassius was to be wrapped up in rightness.
But that was now.
When he was near.
When I was touching him—the fear was gone. Everything ceased to exist but him. Clarity filled my head and I realized yet again how right he was, about everything.
If anyone had reasons to be upset about his life, parentage, or even the curse he’d been given, it should be Cassius.
And he was comforting me.
An outcast from birth.
The first of his race.
With two powerful races up in arms—over his tiny existence.
His being born, caused centuries of continual unrest between immortals and humans—it caused a giant tear in the balance of life, of exiting.
One that has never been fixed.
One life.
One life did that.
One choice did that.
“Your thoughts are heavy,” Cassius whispered, his mouth was warm, the complete opposite of the way our cold bodies pressed against one another. His tongue grazed mine and in an effort to keep him close, I grabbed onto his hair, pulling his body onto mine.
“You’re heavy,” I fired back.
His full lips spread into a grin. “You could lift me with one hand.”
“Maybe two.” I nodded. “For sure two.”
He ran his fingers through my hair, bringing it to his nose only to close his eyes and exhale as his eyes turned white, his lips the same color. “I wish to look upon you for an eternity. I would watch… if it were my job to watch you.” He kissed my lips softly. “I would never close my eyes.”
My heart swelled. “Who knew Dark Ones could be so romantic?”
“Romance,” he answered quickly, “is inherent in everyone—like a treasure that is opened only when you find the one worthy of its words, sonnets, its adoration.”
His hands slinked down my body, bracing my hips grazing my bare skin near my stomach as he raised my shirt and brought his lips to my belly button. “Let me kiss you…”
“Please.” I whimpered. “Please kiss me.”
“Only because you begged,” he teased, assaulting me with his mouth, with his lips, making me yearn for more of him as my body twisted and arched in every direction, needing him, only him.
My mate.
Eyes a blazing white, I felt him, not just physically but mentally, pushing me, almost like there was this invisible wall he was trying to break.
I pushed back.
His eyes blazed whiter. “Let me through.”
“No.” Where had that response come from? It didn’t sound like my voice. I wasn’t even thinking of saying no, it just came out through my lips, guttural, evil.
“Stephanie,” Cassius tried again, rocking his body into mine. “I need all of you, not just a piece. Give me everything… I need your trust. I need the essence of who you are.”
I shook my head and slammed my hands against his chest, sending him flying in the air, he barely stopped himself from hitting the wall. With a snarl he stood to his full height and started stripping.
“What?” I shook my head as my vision clouded. “What are you doing?”
His smile was lethal—beautiful. “Distracting you.”
“What?” My eyes honed in on his perfectly sculpted body, its thickness as muscles flexed and strained as if they were ready to break through his skin. In a flash of light he was in front of me, pulling at my clothes. “What are you doing?”
“Making love,” he said simply, his hands worshiping my body while something inside of me said it would be a bad idea to let him in, then he’d see. He’d see all the horrible thoughts I’d been having about him, humans, all the darkness.
He’d see the darkness.
If we were together again, he’d have access to everything.
He’d see my shame.
“No.” Darkness seeped out of my voice, as a trail of soot left my palm and imprinted against his bare skin.
Hissing, he pulled back, his skin blistering where I’d touched it.
“So that’s how this is going to be?” he asked, his eyes cheerful as if I didn’t just burn him, as If I wasn’t hiding everything from him.
“Y-yes.”
“Well.” He stretched his arms above his head. “I guess I’d better ready myself for a battle. I was never good at winning wars, but battles? Excellent speed, aggression, timing.” He kissed me harder and harder as my body weakened against him, wanting him so desperately while my mind screamed that it would ruin everything.
But what? What would it ruin?
My thoughts were a confused jumbled mess.
Let him in, and he’ll see you for what you really are. Evil.
“No.” I shook my head.
“My voice.” Cassius held my head, our eyes locked. “Focus on my voice, my body, the feeling of us joining, focus on nothing else. And Stephanie?”
I swallowed.
“Whatever you do, do not close your eyes.”
It was what I needed to hear as Cassius pressed a searing kiss against my mouth, his eyes never wavering, never leaving mine, as if his job, his duty, the only reason he had been created.
Was to watch.
To watch me.
I was afraid to blink, afraid I’d miss the planes and angles of his perfect face as he moved his head left, then right, kissing me in every different direction, only to increase his speed, taking his time tasting my mouth, while at the same time leaving remnants of his own flavor, the richness of his blood called to me. He was under my skin, every inch of my body was aware of Cassius in such a real, almost unnatural way, that I had no choice but to kiss him back, match him touch for touch.
His large hands cupped my breasts, staring down at my body in reverence before a guttural groan escaped between his lips, as his head again descended, pleasuring me with his mouth, causing me to whisper his name, until whispering wasn’t possible anymore.
The room trembled.
While my body shook.
Time again seemed to bend and alter right before my very eyes as the air around us stilled, moisture froze midair into tiny pieces of floating ice as Cassius’s head lifted, his eyes white, his mouth swollen from kisses.
“You will never have her.” His voice was loud, dominating, as his body moved against me, slowly… and then faster. “She will never be yours.”
I knew who he was talking to.
I could feel the anger reverberating inside, the maniacal laughter of Darkness as it tried to break free.
“Look at me,” Cassius instructed, his breath like smoke as it froze in front of my mouth. “Watch me. Love you.”
When we joined, it wasn’t out of hurried passion.
Or even pleasure.
But love.
His eyes flashed with swirling white as his hungry kisses made demands of my mouth and his body commanded my pleasure, taking me beyond the mortal realm, into something so beautiful that I ached.
“This,” Cassius said softly as every ounce of darkness drained from the room. “Is what we have together…”
I cried out against his chest as he moved one last time, triggering every pleasure point in my body simultaneously.
Limbs weak, I sagged against him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he whispered, rocking me in his arms, back and forth, back and forth, our legs still tangled, our bodies with frozen beads of sweat.
It was then, that I forgot his words.
And closed my eyes.