I grind shamelessly on his hand, chasing the need that started building the day he first came into my presence. When he adds his thumb, setting to work on flicking my clit, I grip his shoulder, sure that I will lose myself in seconds and come on his torturous fingers.
He rakes his teeth across my nipple, then drags them up to my throat again, hovering over my pulse, the scrape of his fangsright there.
For a weighted moment, I think I’m going to get what I want, that he will finally penetrate my flesh and suck again, filling me with the same euphoria that trickled through me the two times I’ve shared blood with him.
Instead, he lets out a growl that shatters the quiet, and he’s ripped away from me, as though a mighty hand reached down and snatched him from our bed.
He crouches in the corner, shrouded in shadow. His breathing has changed, from the ragged-edged breaths of a human caught in the throes of passion to the deep, raspy inhales dragging through the chest of a beast.
I shoot to my feet, all but naked, panting from a strange mix of desire and fear. Neri didn’t fully shift, but he’s close.
“I need out.” His voice is a desperate, guttural plea. I move closer, hoping to calm him, my hand outstretched, but he snaps. “Getback,Nephele.Listen to me.”
I only keep moving, taking small steps as his chest swells and falls with heaving breaths. “How many times must I tell you I don’t fear you?” I say. “Not even like this.”
Another low-rolling growl resonates through the room. He’s on me in an instant, flashing across the room, hand around my throat, pinning me to the bed before the chill crawling up my spine can reach the nape of my neck.
I gasp, taking in the light of his eyes, irises like liquid fire.
With fangs bared and glinting, he leans close on a whisper. “And how many times must I tell you that you should?”
“You told meonce,” I remind him, willing my heart to slow, trying to remain calm in hopes that it will help him. “Before tonight—before yourbeast—you said you didn’t want my fear. You said you wanted my surrender.” I let all the tension in my body go, even with his hand wrapped firmly around my neck. “And you can have it. As Neri. Your beast, however, gets every bit of mettle I possess until it learns how to fucking behave.”
The fire in his eyes doesn’t dim as he says, “Then say my name. You never say my name. If you’re willing to surrender, say it.”
I can hear the beast in him speaking. See it challenging the god within. And challenging me, the opposition keeping Neri fighting. It’s like what happened with the aether. Maybe the gods’ quintessence never stopped recognizing Neri at all. Maybe he lost the godly power to control it.Andto control his beast.
Godly power that is ever so slowly shifting to me.
My mind whirls. How different Neri has been than I ever imagined. So many moments when I’ve seen selflessness in him, for me. When I’ve seen glimpses of humanity. I’m gaining traits of Neri’s godliness, while he’s gaining traits of my humanity. It’s why Thamaos can control wraiths. Because he’s taking on some of Elias’s power.
But what does that mean for the prince?
True fear burns through my blood. The curse is a trade of power. With a god’s essence, I have no need for food, but as awolf, I crave blood. Neri may not even realize what he needs yet, his mind changing to become more human before his body catches up, his godly power slowly fading. And these last several days? They’re likely only the beginning, for all four of us.
I grit my aching teeth. What will I become before this is all said and done?
Holding my gaze, Neri drags his mouth over my breast, teasing my nipple with a fang, his beast caring not about my thoughts. “Say. My. Name.”
I meet his gaze, unsure of what to do. I only know I can’t let the beast fully take over again, or Neri might not win this time. He just isn’t strong enough to fight the wolf anymore. What’s worse, I know what he needs—the blood of a god,his blood, because the power he requires now flows in my veins. And yet I can’t make him take it.
Or maybe I can.
I lift my head against his grip, looking him square in the eyes, and offer a dare. “You want me to say your name?Make me.”
Neri’s beast roars and throws his head back, just before he sinks his fangs into my throat.
26
NERI
Nephele’s blood floods my throat, red bliss captured in my mouth.
I clasp her wrists above her head and sink my fangs deeper at the urging of my wolf.
Her taste is divinity, her scent my master, both creating within me a hunger I have never known.
She doesn’t protest as I drink. Instead, her little body writhes beneath mine, stroking me with want, the curves of her naked shape pressing into me, her pulse hammering in my ears with every powerful push of her heart.
