He could see the reality of what this was, and all the hundreds of ways he’d screwed this up.
Carmine looked at my hair, or lack thereof. Then his eyes started to smolder. “Syera?—”
What the fuck. He liked it?
Damn the joke that was my existence.
His focus snapped to me. “I know what you really feel, and I have experienced somewhat of how immortality can alter our boundaries. I hold hope for what we can be.”
“You shouldn’t.”
I felt safe in uttering the truth. Our power was whipping up a storm.
Carmine tightened his grip. “I will have you, Syera.”
Then he kissed me, the final stage in the ritual. If I’d intended the kiss to be chaste and short-lived, then I was soon proved wrong. I’d drawn up sixteen-year-old me to make her pour her teen heart out. And now she was taking her cut.
Our power erupted, and I moaned into his mouth.
Or did he moan?
I twisted to grip his face in both hands, and he slashed the front of my skirt off, then pressed against me.More.We had the same thought. As I hooked my legs around his waist, Carmine gripped my ass to hold me there.
We returned to our kiss, deepening the firmness and exploration of our lips with every breath. I whimpered into his mouth, and he whispered my name fervently in return.
“I will give you everything,” he said.
Except my family back.The thought was a bucket of icy water over my head.
I drew back and stared at him. Carmine noticed my absence, but a haze was like a layer over his eyes.
And then the storm of our power changed.
I yelped as our power prickled against my skin. Carmine gripped my upper arms. “What are you doing?”
“Nothing,” I cried out, and then cried out again in pain, pushing away from him. He staggered back, and his hand clawed against an invisible force.
My head was snapped back by a punchof our power.
Our power was attacking us.
I screamed against a wave of searing agony. Then again and again.
Carmine’s arms were around me, and they did nothing. But I could do nothing to stop his embrace. And as the pain continued, his greater power steadily weakened me until I was limp against him.
This was happening because I’d lied. That information was as clear to me as it was useless. I was about to die, and probably not take Carmine with me, because I hadn’treallyintended anything from him except his life. Which he was ironically about to take from me whether he intended to or not.
“Syera,” he roared, but the sound was lost over the anarchy of our mating unleashed. Our furious mating that would not allow for deception or revenge.
I’d pissed off the ancient-born magic that allowed demons and other supernaturals to mate, and now that magic was extinguishing me like a candle.
I was only a glowing ember now.
The ancient magic licked its thumb and finger and moved forward to end my glow with a sizzle of smoke.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” Carmine shouted in my ear.
I could hear him, and his voice was like music in my near-death. The feel of his arms was a blanket and a reassurance against any evil that wished me ill.
