The male immediately turns, and in that instant, I feel it. A surge of power, raw and ancient, flowing out of him. My banshee freezes, her body frozen against the wall, and my eyes lock on hers. Desire and defiance, flare together in that single glance. However, it’s the power from the male that stops my breath. It hums through the air, alive and dangerous.
The tension coils tight around us as I step closer, “How can you tolerate my banshee’s scream?” I ask, my voice low, curious.
His eyes glint, dark and hungry. “It calls to me now… It didn’t before. But now I feel like it belongs to me, as if she belongs to me,” he says, every word vibrating with raw power.
A flicker of disbelief rises in my chest. “Belongs to you?” I hiss, inching closer.
His power thrums through the air, a dark pulse that makes the hairs on my arms rise. I feel it in my veins, stirring somethingferal I can’t control, and the way my banshee is looking at both of us, she’s hungry and desperate. I sense her tension. It’s not fear, it’s lust. Her body wants us, craves the collision of us both. The male shifts, his chest rising and falling. His mesmerising green eyes lock with mine, and the air between us snaps, crackling with danger and desire. Neither of us wants to yield, but neither can resist. The pull is magnetic and unavoidable.
The air shifts strangely and my hunger sharpens, no longer for her alone. I want them both. I want them both kneeling, desperate for my cock. And the desire isn’t just in me, it saturates the room.
Fuck me. I shouldn’t want Thorne this much. Every part of me screams that Braiden should be enough,that he is enough.However Thorne’s eyes burn into mine, and my chest twists with a hunger I can’t smother. Braiden’s touch still lingers on my skin, seared into me as if it’s fire. But, Thorne’s presence coils through the room like smoke, thick and intoxicating, impossible to ignore. I try to shake it off, to cling to the safety of what I know, but my body betrays me, thrumming with want. Two shadows, two flames, both ready to consume me… and I’m caught in between.
Overcome with guilt, my chest tightens as my eyes lock on Braiden. The raw devotion etched into his face cuts deeper than any blade, and I can’t stand it. Shame scorches me alive. I bury my face in my hands, as if hiding could erase my body’s reaction.
“This is your choice, Croía,” Braiden says, his voice low, burning with possession. “If you want this… if you want him… then takehim. I’ll give you whatever you crave.”
The words cut through me, stripping away every excuse, leaving nothing but the raw weight of my desire. My breath stutters, my chest rises and falls too fast. His words claw into me, digging deep, tearing at the wall of guilt I’ve been trying to hold up. I drop my hands from my face, and the moment my eyes meet Braiden’s, I see it, the hunger, along with something far darker simmering just beneath the surface. Thorne watches too, his mouth curved in a wicked smirk, as though he already knows which way I’ll fall.
My pulse hammers in my throat, heat curling low in my belly. Braiden stands over me, his shadow swallowing mine, while Thorne doesn’t move, he just leans back against the stone wall with his gaze sharp. I feel split open, torn between the wild safety of Braiden and the dangerous promise glittering in Thorne’s eyes. My voice barely breaks the silence, shaky and desperate.
“I… I don’t know if I can choose.”
Braiden’s hand brushes my cheek, firm yet grounding. “Then don’t,” he growls. “Don’t choose. Have us both.”
Thorne’s chuckle is low, dark, curling around my spine. “He’s right. Have one… have both… the choice is yours little banshee.”
Every shred of control I thought I had, begins to unravel. My knees weaken, and I press back against the cold stone wall, my palms pressed flat against it as if it can anchor me. However, nothing steadies me. Not with the weight of their eyes devouring me whole.
Braiden cages me in, his body a furnace of heat, his breath scorching against my skin. His thumb drags along my lower lip, until my mouth parts on a gasp. He leans in, his lips a breath away, still he doesn’t kiss me, he’s holding me hostage in the space between.
Thorne’s steps echo across the floor, unhurried. He comes to stand at my other side, so close his shoulder brushes mine, and the heat of his presence curls around me like smoke. He smells of fire, as though he's danger itself. His claw trails lazily down my arm, feather-light. The touch sears, sending shivers racing across my skin.
Braiden’s voice rumbles low, a growl meant only for me. “Say the word, Croía. Tell us you want this, tell us you want us.”
Thorne leans in, his burning red lips grazing the shell of my ear, his voice a silken threat. “Or don’t, I will take your silence as surrender.”
Go gcabhraí Dia liom… níl a fhios agam an dteastaíonn uaim troid ina choinne.(God help me… I don’t know if I want to fight it.)
My chest rises and falls in shallow bursts, every breath stolen from me by the heat of their closeness. My back scrapes against the cold wall as if the stone itself is trying to warn me, but I can’t move,I don’t want to.Braiden’s hand grips my chin firmly, tilting my face back to his. His eyes blaze with that ancient power coiled inside him, gold fire licking through the green. His mouth brushes mine and the ache it leaves behind makes me tremble.
Thorne’s claw drags across my collarbone, his touch possessive. His laugh is low, dangerous. “She’s shaking for us...”
Braiden snarls at his words but he doesn’t stop. His lips claim mine with a brutal hunger, his tongue demanding, making me forget my own name. My fingernails dig into his shoulders, needing more. Thorne presses closer, his body heat colliding with Braiden’s until I’m trapped in a storm of want and darkness, their power wrapping around me like chains.
Ba chóir dom cur i gcoinne.(I should resist.)
But I don’t, instead, I part my lips wider and let Braiden consume me, while shuddering at the way Thorne’s breath burns against my throat. My pulse is pounding in my ears, every nerve screaming with need. Braiden’s hands roam my body, dragging me impossibly closer to him, while Thorne pulls me off the wall and presses against me from behind, a shadow of strength and danger that I can’t ignore.
Their mouths, their hands, their power… it’s everywhere. I can feel the surge of Braiden’s energy, dark and raw, mixing with Thorne’s. A pulsing storm that threatens to consume me whole. My own voice is lost somewhere in the chaos, a whimper as I try to keep up. I’m trapped, yet I’ve never felt more alive. Every touch burns and I know I won’t survive. I don’t care. I want this. I need this.
When Braiden’s hand threads through mine, pressing me fully into him, I realize I’ve surrendered. Not just to them, but to the dark, hungry power that’s been whispering to me all along.Thorne’s growl vibrates through my chest, a warning, and I know there’s no turning back.
Should I be put off by the fact that I think this male, Thorne, as Croía calls him, is the actual diabhal. Any sane man would be, but sanity burned out of me the moment Croía came crashing into my world. Since meeting her,or watching her should I say,every truth I once clung to has crumbled. In its place something darker, more intoxicating has taken root. Especially now, with this new power thrumming hot and violent through my veins. I see things differently.
Ní chuireann an smaoineamh déistin orm. Cuireann sé sceitimíní orm, mar más é an diabhal an fear seo i ndáiríre, b'fhéidir nach bhfuil mé i bhfad taobh thiar de.(The thought doesn’t repulse me. It excites me, because if this male is really the diabhal, then maybe I’m not far behind.)
“I should kill you where you stand,” I growl. My gaze locked on Thorne, as I press my mouth against Croía’s hair, the scent of her making me dizzy. “But, right now… all I can think about is howfucking perfect she looks caught between us.”
