I flex my hips, enjoying the friction until I remember Aurora just went through something life-altering.
Shit. The moment I open my eyes, I’m met with the goddess herself. Her magnificent antlers glisten amid her hellfire, and copper flames flicker behind her eyes. When she smiles, I noticeher canine teeth have grown, giving her a set of mouth-watering fangs.
She’s pretending to be prey.
But the shadows can feel it. Hell, I can feel it.
She’s the predator now, something dangerous, luring us in.
Her cheek is soft and warm beneath my palm, and she melts into the touch, like a starved beast desperate for affection. But something lingers beneath the surface. Something deep. Something dark.Something other.
I don’t know if she’s fully herself, and for the first time in my existence, I don’t know if I should be afraid.
But that thought quickly dissolves when she wraps her hand around my cock and starts stroking.
A ripple shudders through my shadows.
They feel it. They know.
“Are you well, Aurora?” The smirk dies on my lips when I look down and see her hand wrapped around me.
“My sweet, devoted Grim …”
Her voice overlaps, echoing with a surreal, layered cadence that makes my skin prickle. Almost every species of underborne and erevald comes screaming into this world with their magic already intact.
Aurora had to pry hers from the cosmos itself. Her uncanny voice could mean anything.
What I can say for certain is she’s not quite herself at the moment.
“Please, give me the pleasure I seek,” the voicesandAurora plead while they continue their maddening strokes.
“Darling, are you sure? It’s been a long night already. I want to please you—fuck, in every way I know how. But I must also consider your health and safety.”
I would give her anything, but not when she’s like this.
I don’t know when consent started to matter to me. Maybe it always should’ve.
But the thought of her flinching from my touch? I’d rather rip my heart out through my throat.
“You dare deny me?” The goddess growls, then flashes me a violent grin.
Hellfire rages around her, a jealous god lashing at her skin.
The shadows recoil, then surge forward. They press closer, watching her. One curls around her ankle while another slithers up the curve of her thigh. It’s hesitant … curious.
I exhale slowly, warning them back.
“Aurora. I do not deny you.”
My voice is rough, fraying at the edges.
“But I do seek consent. You’re not yourself. Not yet. And I won’t give you what you seek unless every part of you begs for it.”
Aurora sighs, relaxing her body into mine, but the shadows don’t ease. If anything, they grow bolder.
“All is well, Ezra. I’m here, but so isshe.”
Her voice is calm, but my chest tightens. She’s here … but not alone. And I don’t know how to hold just half of her. I want the whole fucking thing. Her chaos and her control. Her blood and her fire.
