“Your opponent will always be bigger, so find an advantage.” He’s no longer yelling, and I swear he removed just a little of the pressure he was using to hold me down. That’s when I see my only hope. His wrist is near enough to my face, and I only have one shot at this. It might get me killed, but I doubt I have much time left anyway, considering he’s smothering me. I snap my head forward as much as I can, sink my teeth into his wrist, and bite down.
Belatedly, I hear a sound that should terrify me—it’s a guttural growl that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, or maybe it’s the electric current running through me causing that reaction.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, I realize I should release his wrist, but I can’t make my jaw unlock, and that’s before the taste of his blood hits my tongue. I let out an indecent moan and claw at the sand in a bid to get even closer to him. The first swallow has stars erupting in my vision, and the second eases something inside me I didn’t know was raw. The third ignites a fire that sears every nerve ending in my body. I don’t get a fourth.
I hear the snarl again, the one that should frighten me, but it’s farther away this time, and I actually long to feel it against the back of my neck. It’s then I realize the weight crushing me isgone, leaving me with an emptiness that hurts beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.
“Damn it!” is thundered so loudly, it rattles the entire space around me. I do nothing. If I were in charge of my body in this moment, surely I would be dead. I can’t feel my limbs, let alone process what’s happening.
I feel my body shift, but not because I moved. “Open your eyes,” Ziv pleads with an air of desperation. I feel bad. He thinks he killed me, but it’s really my fault. I can’t go around biting people, especially gods, because they have some kind of fire in their blood that’s addicting—damn, he smells even better now—and will turn you into mush. My brain is probably leaking out of my ear right now.
“Briar!” My teeth snap together when he shakes me. “Fucking hell, you bit me, little flower, or maybe I should call you my little thorn,” he coos softly, and I feel his breath across my face. If I were able to form words, I might apologize, but I doubt it. He tasted divine, and I can’t even bring myself to regret it.
“I would have warned you if I knew, but you surprised me.” He almost sounds proud. That’s better than sounding guilty, like he did at first. “I wanted to give you time to come to terms with this, but we no longer have a choice. If I don’t return the bond, you could die, and I won’t risk it.”
I feel my head fall back, then something soft trails up my throat, the heat in my veins centered under the spot on my neck.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I laid eyes on you.” Are those his lips brushing against my skin?
A scream splits the air, and I realize it’s coming from me. The pain that caused the involuntary reaction is already becoming a distant memory, replaced with euphoric pleasure I feel all the way down to my toes. The blissful sensation loops back through me, doubling until I reach a precipice I know there’s no coming back from.
Ziv’s tongue sweeps over my throat, and I have a full body orgasm. There’s no other way to describe the heavenly experience.
As the feelings of ecstasy fade much too quickly, it’s replaced with awareness. That was, in fact, Ziv’s tongue. I know because he’s still kissing and licking my throat, and I have no desire to stop him. He also bit me. It’s not as if I could be mad, since I bit him first, plus it felt like I literally tasted heaven, but it feels like I’m missing something big. It’s just on the other side of my thoughts, but I can’t focus on it because he’s still distracting me.
“Briar?” My name sounds different coming from his lips now, or maybe it’s because it’s still muffled against my skin.
“Mm-hmm,” I hum, surprising myself that I’m capable of that much.
“You bit me first,” he reminds me.
“You told me to survive. It was the only thing that came to mind.” My voice sounds raspy, like I’ve been shouting for a long time.
Ziv makes a sound that could be a chuckle, but I’m not sure he’s able to make a noise like that, so I can’t be sure I heard it correctly. “Not only did you survive, you also managed to initiate our bond.”
“Our bond?” I question dumbly.
“Don’t tell me you can’t feel it, little flower.” He manages to sound both sweet and chastising, which shouldn’t be possible. I tilt my head back so he can kiss higher up my neck.
“I feel something,” I admit.
“I can’t say I’m upset. Now that your life is tied to mine, you will be much less…fragile, but I just want you to know I didn’t plan on rushing it, even though it nearly killed me every time I had to walk away from you, leaving you unprotected.”
“My life is tied to yours?” This should be concerning, but his kisses are like drugs. I can’t help the way he’s affecting me. He is a god, after all.
“Body and soul.” Ziv runs his hand down the center of my body, stopping when his palm is low on my belly, far below my belly button. Normally, I avoid anyone touching me there, or most places really, but there’s no part of me that wants him to take his hands off me.
There’s a loud explosion, but I still can’t be bothered about anything other than Ziv’s grip and how it’s tightening around me. I feel drunk. It must be a side effect of his blood, or at least that’s what I’m telling myself anyway.
“You didn’t think it was important to tell me she is your mate?” The cold voice cuts through my happy, fuzzy thoughts.
“Apparently not.” Ziv’s reply is glib. I miss his lips on my throat immensely, but their absence helps me clear my head. Did she say mate?
“She is a student,” the cold, feminine voice rebukes.
“And that matters to whom?” Ziv bends and releases his hold on the backs of my legs, prompting me to stand. I don’t even remember getting off the sand, let alone being held against his chest. My legs feel weak, but not as bad as they did before I collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. Oh my gods, was he really kissing my neck?
The headmistress comes into focus, and a sense of dread slowly begins to build. She seems pissed, and I think it will be much easier for her to take out that frustration on me than it would be on Ziv, not to mention there’s this strange need to protect him that makes me move so I stand in front of him. It’s pointless, he’s easily two heads taller than me, but the sentiment is there, even if I don’t understand it.
