He rolled his eyes. “Lilith, I took off my shirt in front of you for the first time. I’d rather not be called cute.”
“But youarecute. You’realsoinsanely sexy.” I sat up enough to slide my hand behind his neck and tugged him on top of me.
“Much better.” He moved his body over mine and pressed his lips against mine. Little whimpers left me as he nudged my lips open with his tongue. The sweet metallic taste of B positive blood lingered on him, and I moaned.
“That’s my favorite,” I mumbled, pushing my fingers through his hair.
His index finger and thumb gripped my chin as he angled my head back to deepen the kiss further. I melted, grabbing handfuls of his hair. His kisses were tender and sweet. I fucking craved them.
Breaking the kiss, I tilted his head back a little and inhaled through my mouth. Warmth trickled down my throat, and an elemental substance exploded inside my body, shooting toward my extremities. My nerves buzzed as if they were being resurrected, and I snapped my mouth shut as my eyes popped open.
Kai’s face paled, which was concerning since he was a vampire and almost ashen looking anyway.
“Kai?”
He rolled off me and sighed, stifling a yawn. “I’m brilliant. Just knackered all of a sudden.”
The pain behind my eyes intensified, and I winced. “Fuck! This pain won’t stop.”
Kai’s heavy lidded eyes met mine. “Come here.” He wrapped his arms around me as I laid my head on his bare chest. His fingers worked through my hair, and the pain eased.
“Are you doing that?”
“Pain intensifies with emotions. I’m just calming you down. Try to get some sleep,” he mumbled, his breathing making his chest rise and fall, lulling me into a dreamless sleep before I could reply.
EIGHTEEN
The bitter night air whipped my hair around in a blaze of red as I stumbled out of the forest and into the clearing to where the swimming hole held the gate of Hell. Moonbeams darted from the dark sky, reflecting off the water and bringing a crisp light to the surroundings.
Aziel...or better yet, Jax...pranced beside me in cat form, rubbing against my legs as I walked closer toward the body of water. It was quiet, which was typical for winter in Alaska, but something felt off.Eerie.The only sound was Jax’s paws scampering alongside my footsteps. The closer I got to the swimming hole, the more persistent the throbbing in my skull intensified.
“Meow?” Aziel’s head tilted as he trotted in front of me and sat down, pawing the ground beside him.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” I muttered, sinking myself down to my knees. “We’ll just hang out by the fucking gate of—”
A blinding white light flashed in my head, and I dropped my head into my hands. The splitting pain cracked, echoing in my ears. “Ah!”
“Meow,” Aziel climbed into my lap, and the pain eased up.
Aziel had told me not to fight the pain, but I’d like to see him try to allow his skull to shatter and the pieces of bone to be lodged in his brain—because that’s exactly how it felt.
I straightened up and started petting his head as I scanned our surroundings. I couldn’t let my guard down, pain or not.
A few more minutes of complete silence, and it felt like I’d counted a thousand ripples in the water.How long had I been sitting here like a target, dammit?
I glanced down at Aziel and sighed. “When Kai brought me to my room last night, something happened.”
If Viktor was watching, he’d just think I was a freak that talked to her cat—which even before I knew Jax was actually Aziel, I did.
Aziel flicked his tail in annoyance.
“Oh, that’s not what I mean.” I continued petting him. “We were kissing, and the strangest thing happened.”
His head tilted.
“This may sound crazy, but something came out of him and into me. From his fucking mouth. And then, we both sort of fell asleep. Almost like I’d drained some of his energy…”
My vision pulsed, and I squeezed my eyes shut in a wince, spots dancing behind my lids.
