“It’s not that simple.”
Aeëtes felt his temper rising again as he peered through the thin veil of excuses that she kept between them. “I don’t believe you. I saw those women in Heraklion, the ones in your temple. They love you, and they would want you to be happy. Why do you think that you have to suffer to be loved? For fuck’s sake, Hecate!” He let go of her and stepped away, huffing out a breath as he ran his hand violently through his hair, snagging his fingers on the leather cord.
He turned to face her, his eyes dark. “What’s the point of keeping yourself from this? You only get one life. I don’t care how long it is. Why won’t you allow yourselfsomething?”
“And that something is you?” she snapped back, her expression tensing as she was able to grapple with some of her indifference now that he wasn’t touching her.
“It damn well could be! Even if it isn’t me, do you see how you’re only hurting yourself?”
“How privileged of you,” Hecate sneered, standing up to her full height—still much shorter than Aeëtes but managing to look down on him all the same. “What a privileged take to have, to say that! Have you ever had your heart ripped out? To the point where you would do anything to stop the pain?” Hecate took a step towards him, spitting mad and sparks of red power dancing over her skin. “To the point that you would take a hot blade and cauterize yourself, if only to stop the bleeding?”
“You are my pain!” Aeëtes shattered, screaming back in response. His eyes were now wild, his hair mussed from his fidgeting. As he turned his body to her, he looked like a bull about to charge. “You are my wound and my cauterizing blade. The look in your eyes is my hurt and the smile on your face is my fix. Do you notget that?”
Hecate froze. They were only separated by only a few feet. Their expressions shifted between shock and untamed aggression and attraction, the chill of the early morning utterly wiped out by the full force of their passions. Chests were heaving as they looked at each other, shocked and disbelieving. Hecate spoke first, trying and failing to sound calm.
“You are not thinking clearly—”
“Fuck this,” Aeëtes snapped, throwing his entire body at Hecate and cutting her off with a kiss. He moved with shocking dexterity for a man of his size, wrapping the goddess up in his arms and cradling her to his chest, as if her body was as fragile as her heart. He wrapped an arm around her waist and cupped her cheek in his hand, almost cushioning her against the intensity of the embrace.
There was nothing gentle about it as he took her mouth, all teeth and tongue and desperation. Hecate responded on instinct and immediately tangled her hands in his hair, not freezing for even a moment in surprise. The desire was building around them to a fever pitch. She gasped against the feel and heat of him, and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, as if he could coax her body to make peace with her mind. His hands slid down to her thighs, nearly bending him over as he tried to accommodate their height difference, lifting her up. Hecate wrapped her legs around his waist. The blood in her veins turned to liquid desire as she felt him, hard and ready beneath her.
Aeëtes walked them back into Hecate’s cabin, deftly holding onto her without breaking the kiss while slamming the door shut behind them. Hecate pulled away from him with a gasp, both of them fighting their need for air and their need for each other. Aeëtes laid her down on the bed, Hecate letting out a soft moan into his mouth as she felt his weight settle down on top of her. There was something in her that soared, that was set free when she was pinned underneath him.
“Fuck, Hecate,” Aeëtes murmured against her skin, both of them already short of breath as he broke away and placed kisses up her jaw. She was suddenly moving on her own accord, desire churning in her stomach, her hips rolling up to meet his.
“Please,” she turned her head and bared her neck to him, and something utterly primal in Aeëtes growled at the ancient sign of submission. Her eyes fluttered closed as he nipped and bit at her neck, adding the right amount of pain to accompany the traitorous ecstasy coursing through her veins. A wave of power rolled over her, coating both her and Aeëtes in the tangible expression of her intoxication. Aeëtes drowned in it, tossing his head back and moaning wantonly in her ear. He lost some of his control and sank more of his weight on top of Hecate, but she only melted in response, as if she could surrender her doubts to his possession.
Aeëtes suddenly hauled himself off her and up onto his knees, straddling her waist, and Hecate let out a cry at the loss.
“What the hell?” she hissed at him, pushing sweaty hair off her forehead. “If you don’t—”
“Tell me you want this,” he growled, his voice turning into something gravelly and possessive. His hands dropped to her rib cage and held her there, his thumbs rubbing circles that had Hecate arching to get him to touch her. Every part of her felt like she was on fire, something otherworldly and intoxicating consuming her from the inside out.
“Aeëtes,please,”Hecate only whined, grinding up against him. Aeëtes let out a sound that was somewhere in between a growl and a moan as he felt her heat through their clothes. He shook his head and tried to focus on anything other than how painfully hard he was, looking back down and staring at Hecate with an intensity that made her core turn molten.
“I need to hear you say it,” Aeëtes gasped the words, his voice sounding like he was physically strained. He leaned back over her, his hands nearly covering her entire torso. Hecate bit her lip and felt another rush of arousal run through her as his hands moved and he cupped her breasts, running his thumbs over her nipples. He studied her, all curves and dips, with her long, auburn hair spread out around her like a halo. His hands nearly twitched with the decision of where to touch, what to grab, every bit of her looking like a perfect handful. Everything about her was refined, even when she looked debauched with want, and he felt like an animal on top of her—but he needed to hear it. He needed to hear the words come out of her mouth, that she wanted this, wanted him.
“Say it,” he was pleading with her now, and he didn’t care. “Or this all stops. I can’t do it.”
Hecate paused, swallowing thickly as she nodded once, then twice. Aeëtes shook his head slowly, pain creeping into the edges of his expression.
It’s not enough.He wanted to cry, his heart—that eternally sunny place in his chest—was faltering. Aeëtes closed his eyes, ready to get out of the bed and leave when she began whispering.
“I don’t just want it, Aeëtes.” There was desperation in her voice, but he nearly ran out of the room before she could finish. “I need it. I needyou.This will ruin me…but I have no intention of being saved.”
“Oh, gods,” Aeëtes cried, and in a flash, he was back on top of her, ripping at the folds of her himation until it came undone in his hands. He threw it off the bed and bent over her, his weight pressing Hecate into the mattress as she moaned in sweet surrender. “Tell me how you want it,” he purred against her skin, his stubble leaving a gentle burn on her chest as he kissed across it. When Hecate didn’t answer, he gave her breast a soft bite, and her hips immediately rocked up into him as she let out a groan.
Aeëtes chuckled against her overheated skin. “Like that then, I suppose, little witch?” All it took was her admission, and she had chased away his demons, his playful mood rebounding as it fought its way through the fog of lust they languished in. Hecate was nearly wild with it, every part of her body touching and rubbing up against some part of Aeëtes, her senses overloaded with heat, sweat, andman.
His hair had fallen down around his shoulders, and she relished in the feeling of his skin against hers. Where she was smooth, he was rough, and his beard, his chest hair, his calloused fingers caused delicious friction. It was as though every part of him was designed to tease and stimulate her, and she was going mad with it.
“I need you inside me,” she gasped as he moved up and sucked on a sweet spot behind her ear, making her whole body twitch. “And I need you naked.”
Aeëtes chuckled softly, the vibrations of it sending chills down her side.
“Anything the goddess demands.”
Aeëtes sat up and tugged off his chiton, and Hecate bit her tongue to not moan at the sight of him. He was a wall of muscle, not overly defined but every part of him solid, dark hair dusting over nearly every inch of olive skin. She felt a wave of arousal rush through her again at the sight of his cock—erect and thick to the point where she knew she’d feel him for days.
