“I’m fine,” I lie.“Just hot up there.”My footsteps are quick as I stow my cleaning cart.
He frowns.“You’re flushed and your eyes are glassy.Are you getting sick or something?”
“No, just ...it was a long shift.”All I want to do is get out of this godforsaken building, but I can’t just run out.Calvin is my friend, and I don’t want him to worry about me.So, I smile for his benefit.
His gaze lingers, sharp and assessing.Then he nods slowly, handing me a sealed bottle of water from the personal cooler I know he keeps under the security desk.
“Drink this,” he says with the kindness I have come to expect from him.“And get some rest.There is a bug doing the rounds.”
I nod with another forced smile.“Thanks, Calvin.”
I keep my steps measured, even though I want to sprint until I am safe in my little apartment, forcing myself to walk casually out the front doors even though everything inside me is screaming.I can feel Calvin’s gaze on my back the whole way.
Outside, the streets are quieter than usual, and I am thankful for that.There are fewer people and fewer questioning gazes and stares caressing my already feverish skin.The night is cool, but I can’t stop sweating.My skin burns like I’ve got a fever, my core throbbing in time with my racing pulse.By the time I reach the bus stop, I feel like I’m going to explode.
All I want to do is make it home where I can safely hide from the rest of the world and whatever the fuck is happening to me.I want to disappear into the safe little cocoon of my apartment.
Malik, the night bus driver, gives me a strange look when I climb onto the bus.
“Rough night, Z?”he asks, concern coating his deep voice.
“You could say that,” I mutter as I pass him to find a seat.
He doesn’t push.Just nods and flicks on the overhead fan.I slump into the first available seat, clutching the water bottle like a lifeline, and close my eyes.Trying to breathe.Trying to stop shaking.
It takes another twenty minutes to make it home to my one-bedroom shoebox on the third floor of a building that always smells like damp carpet and broken dreams.I make it inside without seeing a single person, deadbolt the door, and lean against it, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.
Once I catch my breath, I make my way across the carpeted floor of my tiny apartment, I strip down to my skin and step into the shower.Opening the water, I set it to ice-cold, hoping to shock whatever is happening to me out of my body.It doesn’t help ...not even a little.My body pulses with awareness, heat licking every nerve ending.
I slide my hand between my thighs, slickness coating the tips of my fingers.I zero in on my distended clit, rubbing harshly, desperate for relief.A growl of dissatisfaction slips from my lips as I shut off the water.I can’t even get myself off, what the hell?The need inside me only continues to grow and nothing helps or even takes the edge off.
I dry off with trembling hands and crawl into my bed naked.The sheets feel like sandpaper against my oversensitive skin, and I feel like crying.I bury my face in my pillow and try to breathe through it.Praying to whatever deity will make this end before it gets worse, and I have a really bad feeling it is going to get a lot worse.
But the scent is in my head and embedded in my flesh.I can still feel him, Acheron Draven, even though I never saw him.When sleep finally comes, it brings fire with it.
I’m dreaming, I know I am, but it feels too real.The heat.The darkness.The air full of smoke and something else.Power?Hunger, perhaps?All I know for certain is that it is just another overwhelming phenomenon to add to the ever-growing list of things I don’t understand and can’t explain.
From the shadows, he comes to me with wings of midnight and eyes like molten gold.His voice is thunder, and his presence is scorching flame.
Mate.
He doesn’t say the word, but I feel it inside me.Like a thread snapping tight between us.His claws graze my thighs before his mouth seals over mine.He doesn’t ask.He takes.And Iwantit, more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my entire life.
A brand sears across my soul and I know nothing in my life will ever be the same again.
I wake up moaning, my sheets soaked through, my body spent and aching, but I’m still unsatisfied.The arousal thrumming through my veins is painful, but I don’t know what I can do about it.None of this is supposed to be happening.
I do know one thing for sure, though—something has changed in me.I can feel it and I know, deep in my bones, that this is only the beginning.
