Inhaling a trembling breath, she whispered, “It was Mammon, the Demon of Avarice. He probably killed an angel to get that sword.” She eased back a little, so she could see his face. “Anything he lusts for, he must have. It’s why he came after me, too, when he found out the truth about those symbionts Nate stole from him. I’m rare. An anomaly—”
“The coward,” he growled. “I’m going to find him, and he will wish for death by the time I’m done.”
She gave him a wobbly smile, touching his jaw again, finding it hard to believe he was here. “He’s dead.”
“What?” he demanded, looking a little pissed. “Did the others get him?”
“No, I did. Pithius and me.”
He froze. “You? How?” he rasped. “I saw a vision from Gaia. The hellhound hurt you! I thought-I thought…” His throat moved as if he couldn’t swallow.
She gently touched his rigid jaw and shook her head. “Came close to it. But it wasn’t the hound’s fault. Mammon trapped him with a spell. It’s why he attacked. I broke the spell through a brief feeding…”
Nik’s expression grew darker. She hastily explained how, with the hellhound’s eventual help, they’d both brought the demon down. “I guess with vengeance in my heart for what he did to you, and adrenaline charging through me, it powered my psychic abilities. I astral-projected and managed to take his heart. Pithius decapitated him and consumed his soul.”
Inhaling harshly, as if he’d just emerged from that fight, Nik rested his brow to hers, so damn grateful she came out of it whole.
“My beautiful, brave warrior. I saw some of it. Gaia showed me.”
“Is that where you were?” She glanced up at him. “With the ancient goddess?”
“I didn’t know at first, but yes…” He explained what had happened from the moment his soul left his body.
When he was done, tears brimmed her eyes. “So you really can’t die? I mean never?”
Her pain leaked into him, consuming him. Hell, he’d been out of it while he regenerated, held in nothingness, whereas she’d been torn apart, bleeding, and alone. Nik found it hard to swallow, his throat thick with emotions. He nodded.
“If only I’d known, then these passing months wouldn’t have been so hard,” she whispered, looping a swathe of his hair around her fingers.
“I’m so sorry, moró.” He kissed her brow, her jaw. “I was trapped in a healing stasis for a month.”
“It’s been five here,” she whispered. “And sheer hell. You-you broke our mate bond.”
Fuck. He could say sorry repeatedly, but it wouldn’t change anything. “I couldn’t let you die, Shadow, I just couldn’t.” He kissed her damp eyelid, then the other. “I only knew somehow, in some way, I would find my path back to you.” He trailed his mouth down her cheeks. “I’m here now …” He kissed the tip of her nose. “For always,” he said softly.
“Make me warm again, Nik,” she whispered, shutting her eyes. “Everything inside me is so cold. I need to know this is real, not another dream to haunt me…” She slipped her hands under his shirt, stroking her palms over his abs and up his chest.
And her symbionts latched on like leeches psychically, sucking hungrily.
She reared back, eyes widening. “Nik, you-you—”
He blinked then shook his head, a grin starting. “Now I understand why Lady Gaia tossed me out into the alley earlier. It seems the ancient goddess understood more than she let on. It appears I can feed your needs again. No one will be with you this way ever…”
Fuck, a groan escaped him, one full of need for her, made worse as the symbionts drew deeper from him. Shadow was his very heart, and he wanted her warmth—their soul-bond back. Even unaware in the healing cavern, he felt this hole—this emptiness within before Gaia gave him back his memories. And he prayed he hadn’t fucked up their mystical bond by snapping it in the first place.
He brushed back her hair and cupped her face, bringing his mouth to hers and gently kissing her, savoring her. And when she kissed him back, passionate now, as if desperate to believe this wasn’t a dream, his heart ached.
Nik scooped her in his arms and crossed to the bed, setting her down.
As he drew off his shirt, her gaze tracked his every movement. He lowered his hand to his jeans and undid his button. She rose on her knees, brushed his hands away, and slid his zipper down. She reached for him, but he grasped her hands. “No. I might lose my mind if you touch me now, love.”
He fumbled off his sneakers and jeans, then he drew off her t-shirt and underwear, revealing her too-slender form. Remorse fisted his gut. But meeting her bright eyes, seeing the hope there, edged with wariness as if he would suddenly disappear, Nik wanted that fear gone, wanted her to see him. Here. With her. Neither of them living in agony ever again.
He rested his hands at her sides and trailed open-mouthed kisses down her sternum over the symbionts. Gently, he pushed her to the mattress and moved between her parted thighs. Her warm body aligned against his, and he shuddered. Theós, he might have been out of it, regenerating, but that emptiness inside him was because she wasn’t a part of him. Even unaware, he missed her so damn much.
His eyes burning, he kissed her deeply before sliding down her body. He trailed kissed over every inch of her, her breasts, her nipples, sucking and licking. Her hands fluttered over his back. He shifted and dragged his tongue over her tummy, then he sucked on her hip bone.
He pulled her legs over his shoulders, opening her to his gaze. Color flooded her pale cheeks.
Her chest rising and falling, she rested on her elbows, eyes trained on him.
Nik ran his tongue up with long sweeping strokes, between her folds, letting his piercing drag over her clit every time, and she writhed beneath his mouth.
“Nik, please…” she whimpered, grabbing his head, legs moving restlessly over his shoulders.
He slid a finger, then two into her, and as he thrust, he swept his thumb over her clit. She gripped his hair and arched into his mouth. His lips tightened on her swollen nub, and he tugged.
“Oh god, Nik!” she cried out, her body almost coming off the bed, her orgasm crashing through her.
As she lay there panting for air, Nik slid an arm around her waist and moved her further up the bed. He rested on his forearms, keeping his weight off her. “Okay?” he asked.
She gave him a trembling smile. “Yes. Now that you’re here.”
“Me, too, agápi, me, too,” he whispered, trailing his mouth along her jaw, treasuring this moment.
“I need you inside me.” She slipped her hand between their bodies, her slender fingers wrapping around his throbbing cock. His body coiled tighter, and with her thumb stroking the barbell piercing on his throbbing dick. Hell. Teeth clenched, Nik moved her hand and pushed into her, breaching her tightness. She stiffened.
He stilled.
“I’m fine,” she whispered, her eyes pinned on him as if afraid he’d vanish as soon as she shut them. “It’s all so new again.”
“I’m here, my heart, feel me…” Arms braced on the bed, muscles straining, he pushed into her in a slow, deep glide until he bottomed out, feeling her body as it clenched around him. As he retreated, then slid into her again, those shadows in her beautiful eyes lightened.