“Stop,” he orders. “Hades stole you away from me, and in no world is that your fault. You’re brilliant and strong and caring and aware, but you’re not a mind reader. Neither am I.”
I draw in a long breath, ordering myself to pull in all the comfort he intends with that. But my spirit is still dark and my feet are still stuck. “So what do we do now?”
Maximus pulls himself a little higher. Though his shift seems only a few inches, his presence in our beautiful bubble seems to double. His stare is more intense. His muscles broader. And his voice, deep and sure, is that of a true god.
“Now, we make the most of the moment. The chance we’ve been given to become stronger.”
He bores his gaze deeper into mine, his blues already filled with supernatural certainty. The answers to my earlier questions… He already has them. And he knows that I do too.
“Come to me, Kara. Let me feel you.”
And just like that, the reticence of my heart is lifted. The doubts in my mind are gone. And the shackles on my ankles, invisible but heavy, are snapped open.
And I’m all but flying to him.
Reaching for him.
Falling across him on the couch and rejoicing in the glorious heat of his body. The mighty cocoon of his embrace. And yes, at last, at last, the exquisite explosion of his consuming kiss.
I’m lost again—but now, in all the best ways. I’m helpless in the wilderness of his beautiful mouth. Basking in the torrid waterfall of his tongue as we crash into each other while craving more.
More. I need so much more.
And I take it.
I absorb his velvety moan, letting it power my muscles. His hands, now clamping at my waist, jolt my whole midsection with awakening and arousal. I spread my thighs and lower my pelvis to ride the ridge beneath his pants. I’m already so soft and wet and ready for him.
The second Maximus feels that too, his head falls against the top of the brocade cushion. Our mouths fall open together, his to gulp more air and mine to bite the underside of his jaw. Through the wonderful curls of his beard, I taste his unique salt and sweat. It’s the headiest aphrodisiac of my existence.
Second only to his growl, full of adoration and destitution. It’s a call to every intrinsic instinct in my being. My human’s heart is a sensual celebration. My demon’s soul is an illicit inferno. I’m full of desperate fire. Beyond possessed.
“Maximus,” I plead, beyond dizzy with that lust. It’s so hot now. So layered. That can only mean one thing. He’s with me, in every sense of the word. His heartbeat at this speed. His desire at this demand. But it’s still not enough. Not nearly. Only one force will fill that need now. Will complete me now.
“Need you,” I pant out.
“I know, my love.” His voice is steamy and hoarse in my ear. “Help me.”
We fumble together at his clasps and buttons before our fingers mesh to lower his zipper—and then the barrier beneath. Then he’s springing free for me, so huge and swollen and erect. He’s groaning and straining his hips, seeking me with such urgency, I forget to move or blink or breathe.
“Find me,” he husks out. “Come home to me. Kara…”
As he fills me, his name is nothing but stretched air in my throat. I’m still gasping it as he moves with me, blooming inside me, giving me the heat I need to know. No place else will ever be my shelter like this. My strength. The beacon of my spirit. The center of my storm.
I tell him all of that and more with the force of my eyes and the thrusts of my body. He answers with a grip at my nape with one hand while driving our primal rhythm with the other. In the flower of light that spreads in the middle of my chest, I feel every nuance of his response. Every drop of his desire. Every flicker of his reverence. Every inch of all the beautiful ropes that bind us.
It all grows, expanding like sunlight behind billowing clouds, until I can’t hold back the brightness anymore. There’s too much pressure in my body. There’s too much demand in his. But I try to delay it. I try so hard, even compelling broken words to my lips.
“I…love you.”
Maximus lifts the hints of a smile. “As I…love you.”
“Forever.”
“Forever, my sweet demon.”
His declaration is the ultimate flint to my kindling, igniting my body in a blaze of completion. I drop my head back and squeeze his fingers as a scream of rapture begins in my pussy and spirals out of my throat. The moment is all the better when Maximus emits a bellow that joins the hot, violent shudders of his body.
The best aphrodisiac of my life has officially been followed by the most magical orgasm.
Until I realize that the light in my mind isn’t the breaking sun.
It’s a break-in. A spy as obscene as he is uninvited. The intruder who’s now leaning against the wall several paces away, gazing upon us, tainting every inch of our entwined bodies in the filth of his lingering, lascivious scrutiny.
Hades.
“N-N-No,” I stammer. “Oh please, no!”
Maximus blinks sleepily before following my gaze.
Hades slides out half a smile. Once the other side catches up, he murmurs just one word.
“Fascinating.”
Four syllables.
Four seconds that change my world from paradise to perdition. From a dream back to damnation. From the heights of my most blinding joy to the abyss of my most dreaded agony.
I push up and away from Maximus in a frantic rush. But the moment I do, he vanishes. And just like that, the agony doubles. And Hades’s delight doubles. I’m sure of it. Because at last he’s broken me open. He’s found the biggest crack in my soul’s fortress and broken it big enough to crawl all the way inside.
He’s kept his terrifying promise, down to its last disgusting degree.
Chapter Eleven
Maximus
I swear my head has only hit the lounger’s cushion for a few minutes before I’m jerking it back up, called by a million alert zings through my blood. I blink a bunch of times, but my vision is still shrouded at the edges.
As the fog of my brief sleep dissipates, memories of my vivid dream become clearer.
The more I think of it, the more real it feels. No more masquerades as a water ripple or a river tide.
This vision felt…different.
Kara was flesh and substance, movement and matter. Tangible, naked curves and potent, open need…
Need I crave to fulfill again and again.
All of it. All of her.
We were talking about the missing persimmons from that day not so long ago…the morning that was so perfect until we had to go to Arden’s place. But even that ended pretty wonderfully because we were together. Inseparable. In complete, starry-eyed love.
Remembering all of it… all of her… fills me with intoxicating energy and an equally deep need to get back to that wonderful place. Even back to the dream with her nudity all over me and her tongue inside me.
Then, so blessedly and perfectly, being inside her too.
Nothing will ever compare to the heaven of her body. The joy of her passion. Her love is my sustenance. She’s the rain in my desert. The summit of my climb. The order in my confusion.
Except when that bewilderment suddenly floods my consciousness. And then hits even harder, as I remember more of the disturbing ending to the dream. Kara’s frightened eyes. The tremble in her body. Her terrified rush to leave. For every good reason.