I want to tell Dove to want more, dream of everything, because I will deliver this world to her on a platter once I’m through with Oona, Osear and Oriel. I have plans that not even my little pet can imagine.
Soon, she will see the power I feel roaming under her skin.
“Come here, Pet.” I stretch out my wings and arms for her to take her space huddled against me, taking her comfort.
Instead, she crosses her arms, sending fire-fuelled eyes my way. “You have to be kidding, Fury. I’m not going to hug you like the scared girl I once was.”
I want to grasp the last vestiges of my calm, but it’s too easy to slip into the rage that consumes me—the same rage I see in her, my chosen bonded. Myonlybonded. She stirs the wrath in me. I take a step towards her, gripping my clawed fingers around her neck. Dove—or Aurora,mine—gives an audible gasp as I dig the tips of my pointed nails into her delicate human flesh, a red flush travelling up her perfect face. Her scarred neck is a lure to my rage.
“Fury—” she gasps.
My sharp tongue flicks out, finding the angry red flesh of her neck, licking up the sweet, honeyed vanilla scent seducing me. My presence aggravates her to create sizzling undertones, making my cock rock-hard for her.
I spared her the full bonding ceremony. I won’t last forever. She will beg to be under me.
Soon.The last part of our bargain will be fulfilled.
seventeen
Dove
Startlingawake,Ifinda burning heat coming from both my front and back. A prickling feeling lingers along my scar, a pressure around my neck where Fury had his phantom hands on me.
It felt so real.
It always feels so real.
Now that I’m in the warm comfort of my bonded’s arms, I find it hard to bring the rage back up to the surface. I also forgot to ask about Saff.Dammit.I hope she’s okay. I’m sure Fury would tell me if something was wrong.
With my eyes now fully open and turmoil over Fury under control, I can take stock of my body and the furnace it has been placed in. Behind me, I sense the thrum of my second heart—the one that lives inside Rivern’s chest—beating in rhythm with my own, one of his arms wrapped over my stomach, the other cushioning my head.
What I don’t expect is the beast who slumbers next to us. The light of the primary sun starts to alight his features fully to me—Gideon in wolf form. Black, luscious fur with white streaks interlaced over taut, straining muscles.
He lies curled up beside us.
I would almost call him cute if he weren’t so huge with his wide snout and incisors that stretch over his lower jaw. His breath moves silently through his wide nostrils that shift ever so slightly, in and out.
Watching my beast slumber is almost as soothing as being in Rivern’s arms. Knowing he feels comfortable enough to take his rest is all the permission I need.
A twinge radiates through my chest. Two amber eyes pop open to find my green eyes staring straight at him. His long, red tongue comes out to lick his lips, making me push further back into Rivern’s hold.
He is brute strength made physical. Seeing him this close, close enough to reach a hand out and touch, is a testament to that.
Taking a deep breath, I hold tighter to the golden-lined arm wrapped around my waist.I wish I knew what Gideon was thinking, especially after what happened back in the Silver Sands.I wanted him at that moment. Maybe I still want him.It can’t be.I’m already struggling to come to grips with Rivern, my bonded, and Fury, my forced bonded.
It was selfish of me to want more with Gideon. I wasn’t sure I was worth Rivern’s love and affection. Or worth the Goddess’s bond. Butregardless, it was thrust upon us, and we had no choice. However, I have the option to let Gideon choose more than me, rather than this craziness I am now twisted in.
Gideon’s expression turns pensive. We continue to gaze at each other, my own face a mix of confusion and worry. An audible huff moves through the wolf, waking Rivern behind me.
His hands tighten further around my waist, trying to suck my body to his.
“I guess that was my wake-up call,” he groans, nuzzling his nose into my hair, taking a deep inhale. “I could get used to waking up like this.”
A sudden shyness overtakes me at his words, my heart beating rapidly, my body going still. The only other person in this world I’ve ever shared a bed with is gone, swallowed up by the monsters of my past.Will that happen to everyone I love?By being bound to me, is Rivern doomed?
The threads of our connection zap at my anxious thoughts.
“You’re mine, and I’m yours. Through this rhythm and the next, my love.” His words find the fizzing anxiousness lingering in my veins, blanketing them in sunshine—a grounding only Rivern can grant me, an understanding that no matter the daemons I battle, they are not my truth.
