The words sent a shudder through her unexpectedly. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tried not to sob at the warring feelings battling for supremacy inside of her.
When a second finger joined the first, she couldn’t take it anymore, and the choked, mewling sound of need escaped her. Not just forsex.But forhim.
“Sshh…” He paused, moving to lie atop her. For a moment, the whole world was him—the smell of him, the sound of him, the feel of his body on hers as he kissed her cheek. He wiped away her tears and kissed the corner of her lips, slowly, tenderly. “Let it go. Feel it all. Everything. Tonight, we break it all down…and see what’s left when we’re done.”
Feel it all.
Break it all down.
She nodded, weakly, shutting her eyes.
He kissed her cheek again. His words were soft but insistent. Somehow tender but unyielding in the same moment. “Say the wordstopand this all ends in an instant. Tell mewait,orno,orI can’t,and I’ll only push you harder. Butstop,and you are free. Do you understand?”
With another weak nod, she kept her eyes shut.
“I need to hear you say it, little murderer…I need to hear you say ‘I understand.’ Can you do that for me?” It felt like he was trying to coax her off a ledge. And perhaps, in the strangest of ways, he was.
Let it go. Feel it all. Everything. Tonight, we break it all down.
That was what she needed.
In a nearly broken whisper, she answered, “I understand.”
He smiled against her skin. “Then, let’s begin…”
Perfect little creature.Hisperfect little creature. Nadi was trembling beneath him—in rage, in fear, in desire. Raziel understood. Tonight would change things forever between them, one way or another. Because he couldn’t stand a single second more of this lie they’d built between them.
No. He needed to know if there was anything in her—anything atall—that felt any kind of compassion for the detestable monster she had sworn to destroy.
Even if he suspected that in his process of extracting what she was hiding and showing it to the light, he would damage it forever. It might die, bleeding out all over the floor.
The story of his life.
But he couldn’t go on, not knowing where they stood. And neither could she.
She probably expected him to simply take her like she was now, bent on the altar and at his mercy. Simply wreak havoc on her until he met his end. But that wasn’t thepoint.
Straightening up, he stroked his hands over her body. What a lithe creature she was. Curves in all the right places. But muscular—clearly apredator,like him.
Her skin was such a beautiful shade of pale sea green, it almost seemed to glow in the moonlight. Resting her cheek on the table, she kept her head tucked close to her shoulder, as if trying to hide in the dark veil of her blue-black hair.
Like he’d allow that. Unclasping his belt, he pulled it from around his waist. She went tense, probably expecting him to hit her with it. He chuckled.
Feeding the end of his belt through the buckle, he slipped the loop over her neck and pulled her hair out from underneath it.
Before she could yank her head out of the trap, he cinched it tight, holding the rest of the leather strap in his hand like a makeshift leash. “I’ve always wondered what it would be like to have a pet fae…”
“Youcock-suckingson of abitch!” Her hands went to her throat, grabbing at the leather strap.
Good. He wanted her mad. He wanted her tofight.He wanted her to work it all out. Yanking on the belt, he pulled her neck back, forcing her to arch her spine and restricting herair supply. She gagged, her words breaking off in a gasp as she struggled for breath. One of her hands had to press down on the stone altar to support her weight and keep it off her throat, the other threading fingers under the strap to try to make space for air.
In the same moment, he drove two fingers back into her waiting heat, growling in pleasure at how eager she was for him. “By the moons, Nadi…”
He plundered her depths at a hard, relentless tempo, keeping the pressure on her throat with the leash until he felt her body tighten around him. She was on the verge of release. Grinning wickedly, he let up the pressure. She collapsed onto her elbow, gasping for air. He stilled his hand inside of her, but didn’t remove it.
He watched as she lowered her head, her face veiled by her dark hair. Coughing, she swore at him in fae between breaths. He didn’t need a translator to know that whatever she was saying, breathless and furious, was likely colorful, detailed, and violent.
Chuckling, he leaned down and kissed her shoulder. “I am not going to fuck you tonight unless youask.”
