I’ve never done it before, but I think I like it. My senses are suddenly heightened in the dim light, and as the fumes of arousal saturate my nose, I realise my heart gallops alongside Ghoul’s. Suddenly, his entire body relaxes, and he slumps under me, nothing but a dead weight. My head snaps back as I release him, my fangs dripping with venom and blood. Fascinated, I watch as his head falls onto his right shoulder, a small sigh escaping his lips. The shadows move lazily about him, as if they too are affected by the paralysis. Unbidden, a smile creeps along my lips, and I envelop us both in my invisibility, lifting him up with my telekinesis. In the darkness of the club, not a soul sees us.
Quicker than a striking adder, I get the both of us out of Club Venom and its writhing, fucking bodies, a smug grin—that I absolutely deserve—plastered on my face. Outside, the cold air slapping me brightly, I quickly consider my options and turnleft, walking us down the street. I’m dragging him through the air behind me, careful not to bump into the beasts and humans of the thinning crowd.
“I captured the basilisk lord,”I sing into his mind, channelling Savage and knowing full well he can’t respond to me.“I can do whatever I want with Mace’s mighty serpent general.”Maybe I’m a bit high from my first ever fang-paralysis situation. Or maybe I’m a bit high from my second time stalking someone, but I’m giddy inside and shaking my ass as I dance down the street with my paralysed captive, the most dangerous beast in the city.
This late at night, the streets on the outskirts of the city are empty, and there are parklands with pretty trees and botanical gardens. Primitive instinct leads me away from the concrete jungle into the real bushes and trees, where the smell of pine, eucalyptus, dead leaves and animal scat is fresh in my nose. There, behind some bushes in the dark, away from all prying eyes, I remove the invisibility shield so I can see the basilisk general properly. Dumping him on his back upon the dry grass, I crouch next to his near seven-foot body.
Lazy shadows bump and coil against my knees, like smoke from a dying fire. Red points, faintly visible behind the eyeholes of his half-skull mask stare up at the sky, his gloved hands resting by his sides. I remove the glove closest to me.
Curiously, I pick up the large, tattooed hand in two of mine. It’s darker and more calloused than my own, the fingers long and thick, the nails short, and I have to use my eagle eyes to see the dark ink decorating them. Two males, with their top half human and the bottom half serpentine, their long tails coiled around themselves in ancient patterns. I trace the design in wonder. I’d seen artwork like this before, in old temples of faraway lands. I wonder what other tattoos he’d chosen to put on his body.
I place his hand down and examine his neck and visible chest. The brown skin is unmarked up here, except for the celestial glow of our mating mark, dimmed under a thin veil of his shadows. I touch his skin here, shooing the veil away so I can see our mark properly. “The Wild Goddess was having a joke, wasn’t she?” I say, sitting back and staring at it in full view for the first time. “She had a dark fucking sense of humour when she gave you to me.” I lean forward and touch the edge of his mask. “Now I finally get to see your face.”
But a hand snaps out, lashing around my wrist.“Naughty, naked little snakelet.” Ghoul lunges for me, and before I know it, I’m flat on my back with him above me, holding me in place with strong hands. “You’ve never bitten anyone before,” he says with a note of surprise.
“Fast metaboliser aren’t you?” I grit out. “I thought I’d at least have half an hour.”
The alabaster mask hovers over me for a second longer before he leans down and a fang brushes against my pulse. I suck in a breath, ready for the sting of the bite. “If I were anyone else, my venomous little vixen, I’m quite sure I’d be dead.” He holds himself aloft, his body barely touching my skin, and I find myself craving his weight on me, his muscle flush against my hips. Warm lips flutter at the skin under my ear. “You should try to bite your other mates, see if the effect is the same.”
“You’d love that, wouldn’t you? To see them hurt.”
“Oh yes, snakelet. Dead, maimed, bloody—I’d love to see all of it.” I scoff, disgusted by his words. He rears back to look at me, the red lasers flaring. His deep timbre rings with accusation.“You love them.”
“Of course I do!” Ghoul leaps off me as I gape at him, clambering to my own feet to confront him properly. “They’re mymates,remember? Your bond brothe?—”
He’s before me in an instant, a hand covering my mouth. “Donotremind me.”
I narrow my eyes at him, and he slides his hand away, exhaling through his nose. My brow cocks. “Oh, is that it? You want me all to yourself?” He shakes his head, and a new sort of tense energy settles over him, making the shadows twitch as if ready to battle. “You sent me a memory last night,” I say quietly. “I want to see another. I want to know what happened after my father brought you here.”
There is no emotion in his voice when he says, “You are not ready to see more.”
“I promise you I am.” He gazes at me. The heaviness in the air between us thickens like congealed venom. “I can take it.”
Backwards, he begins to walk away from me. “Do not come crying to me, snakelet,” he hisses. “Do not look at me withthoseeyes. I will only have you, pupils slitted and defiant with rage. I will have nothing else. Do you understand?”
The regina in me understands what the human will not. That my darkest mate needs me hot. He needs me wild. He needs me dripping with venom. So, even as my heart squeezes so hard, I bare my fangs at him, feeling my pupils changing. “Do you not know who I am?”
There’s a wavering moment between us, full of something more than electricity. Something that turns hardened beasts to ashes. “I know where you came from,” he says. “I know who made you.”
“I made myfuckingself,” I spit. “Bone by bone, wound by wound, I grew myself into what I needed to become.”
Ghoul raises his chin. “The end is coming, snakelet. And it does not include the things you want. Know that.Feelthat.”
My face gives an involuntary grimace, but I set my jaw. “We’ll see about that, General Ghoul. We’ll see abouteverything.”
His lips curve into a cruel smile, fangs extending past his bottom lip as he walks away, the shadows engulfing him as he disappears completely. “Sssso we will.”
Chapter 49
Scythe
Xander and I fly out on a much delayed visit. We have a lot of business to attend to, but my regina’s needs always come first. The Wild Mother gave her a rough fate in this life, and it does not seem to be easing for her. She remains troubled and unsettled despite our combined efforts to soothe her. Even now, my shark gnashes his angry teeth at me, not wanting to leave the nest. But a darker time approaches, and we must all be ready.
It should be strange to be on Xander’s dragon-back again after so long being estranged from him, but it’s not. It’s like being home again. It’s like being embraced by a brother. I may never truly forgive him for what he did, but I understand him in a way no one else, except Aurelia, ever will. Our hearts are dark, and our spirits strong. Those two things are a recipe for difficult mates, and all we can do now is try to make it up to Aurelia for our past sins.
Xander and I check on Connor and Katerina’s ex-captives in the new safe house, a wide double-story duplex with plenty of rooms for privacy and nest-building. Connor looks better than the last time I saw him, and he appears to have found his calling in managing the care of the many occupants of the large house.He’s been coordinating the doctors and social workers, making sure the younger animalia are showering, and ensuring the food gets distributed evenly. I made a note for Xander to ensure Connor and his grandfather get the appropriate funds to make sure they are both looked after. Connor deserves it, after what he did for us and we make sure he knows it.
The lioness asks about Aurelia and his other anima friends, expressing his worry for all of them. I reassure him they are all tired, but healing from their injuries, emotional or otherwise.
