I closed my eyes, lowering my arm, frowning as he mirrored me. “If you’d never married, or been in love, and I wasn’t your enemy, could you want me?”
His mouth tightened into a hard line, and my brow creased at the pain that flashed across Knox’s face. I closed my eyes and felt sleep trying to pull me into a much-needed respite. My chest rose and fell as I sensed his nearness, inhaling the smell of his body.
“I do want you, woman.”
“Yeah, to use me as a weapon against those who seek to oppress you and your people? I am neither wanted nor craved by you. I am simply a means to an end. I don’t think anyone has ever wanted me, not simply just for me.” My eyes peeked open a sliver, and I found him frowning at me. “Don’t misunderstand, Knox. My family loves me very much, but I am the strongest player in their game. I know that, to them, I am also a weapon. It would be nice if just one person wanted me because I was worth wanting. Maybe someday, right? When this war is won by you or by me, and you no longer care where I am, I will find a man who craves me for who I am as a person, instead of the power within me. That would be the dream, wouldn’t it? To be worthy of one being who just wants me and likes who I am,” I swallowed thickly.
“I want you right now, Aria. I dream of the time you spent in my basement. The day you discarded your human skin and let go of those emotions and inhibitions. You shed your morals like snakes shed their skin, revealing the beast within you. I’ve seen you at your rawest, most vulnerable, yet truest self. You fought me, and I fucked you harder for assuming you had what it took to take me on. You liked it and begged me for more. You lost control, and I didn’t. You became this beautiful little monster who raged, pleaded, and lifted that sexy ass into the air, urging me forward to take what you so willingly offered. You are a savage. You wouldn’t settle for someone just wanting you. You’d want them to crave you with intensity, and fight you when that anger rips through you with savagery. Admit it, that’s why you didn’t feel shit with Dimitri’s kiss. He lacked everything you crave from me. He isn’t man enough for you, and the moment you fought him, he’d bow to you, and that isn’t what you want from a man. You want someone strong enough to bend you over and pull that hair while destroying your sensibility with every thrust into that tight cunt. You need someone that will dominate you in bed because it’s the only way your creature will allow it to happen. Just as mine demands you yield, yours demands to be earned and subdued. It’s why she fought me before letting me fuck her.
“You’re just like me, Aria, whether or not you like it. We are monsters clothed in a package that eases other’s fears because if they ever looked upon us in our truest form, we’d feast on their bones. You and me, we’re not created for dreams. We’re created for nightmares, and we’re okay with that. We’re smart enough to know that dreams are sweet whispers of promises that never happen or come true. Nightmares are what people fear most, praying they never unfold into reality. You never forget a nightmare because they haunt you forever.”
I swallowed, placing my palm flat onto the floor as a portal opened beneath me. His eyes narrowed to slants. I lifted my head, smirking at him.
“That’s where you are wrong. I am someone’s dream, and you’re my nightmare, Knox.”
Passing through the portal, I landed in a field of soft flowers, peering around the space before I moved through the long grass toward the woods. I was exhausted, but that man was frustrating and tiring me out on purpose.
His eyes mocked me, forcing me to hear what his lips didn’t speak. He’d taken me right back to that basement, forcing me to relive every sinful act we’d done, right down to the ones that had been painful, and yet I’d roared his name, urging him on. Some shit remained in the dark, and him getting his jollies over his time with my creature was one of those things.
Rubbing my eyes, I studied the terrain, forcing my gaze toward the keep I couldn’t breach because of their wards, barriers, and protection crystals. Frowning, I gazed around the field until I found a cliffside, knowing if nothing else, I could catch enough sleep inside before the sun rose.
Chapter Eight
Hands grabbed me, yanking me up from the cave floor where I’d found respite from Knox and his men to indulge in sleep. Ocean blue eyes locked with mine. The smile curving Knox’s lip was sexy and bespoke of victory.
He wore nothing more than a pair of loose hanging jeans that clung from his hips. The raven on his hipbone drew my gaze, holding my attention as it shifted, lifting its head, peering at me before opening its beak.
Knox pulled me against his heated flesh, running his hands down my sides. The scent that hit me was overwhelming, turning my mind to mush. His subtle deep purring had my body on high alert. My entire female anatomy dancing and purring in harmony with his as his warm mouth brushed against my shoulder before sinking his fangs into my flesh. Instinct took over, and my body betrayed me as my ass lifted for him.
I didn’t care that he’d caught me, or how he’d found me. I needed him to soothe the ache within me. I needed Knox to end the animalistic craving continually pulsing from deep in my soul. I rattled the moment he removed his mouth, noting how his eyes slid down my face, settling on my lips.
“You look like you’re starving,” he murmured huskily.
“I am. I’m absolutely starving. Feed me, Knox. Feed me all of you,” my voice coming out breathy and full of lust sounded as if it belonged to someone else.
The rocky cave floor turned cool and smooth. I looked down to see that I was standing on marbled tiles. Gasping, I lifted my head and surveyed my surroundings. The cave was gone, and in its place was Knox’s library. I loved this library.
Slowly, I tried to step away from him, but he didn’t allow it. Knox grabbed the bottom of my top, removed it, lowering his head to flick my nipple with his tongue. His sharp fangs nicked the raised peak, and I moaned, calling out in pleasure as dark laughter vibrated through him.
His hand slid to my throat, moving my head to the side as his teeth skimmed the flesh. Knox’s loud purr echoed through the room as he kicked my feet apart, running the tip of his finger against my opening. My eyes slid down, finding myself completely bared to his touch. This man undid me, stripping me naked as he made my soul come alive.
He was a fire in my veins that burned without warning, driving my mind to a sizzling inferno that raged out of control. His mouth found mine, kissing me until breathing became irrelevant, and my need for him grew. My heartbeat echoed in my ears, mirroring thunder’s sound in an electrical storm with no pulse between strikes.
He pushed me back onto the couch and turned me onto my stomach before licking against my core from behind like a starving beast devouring his kill. I felt him against my pelvic bone, lapping hungrily as he sent my body rushing into orgasm.
The sound Knox made against my sex was a raw, angry noise echoing through his chest and down his body, dancing over my opening as a purr exploded from my throat. A low purr escaped from deep in his chest, pleased to feed me white-hot pleasure, causing me to vibrate and pulse. I came until my body lurched forward to rest on the bed.
My head lifted, and I rose to my elbows, looking down at the bed. Hearing a moan to my left, I slid my attention to the couch, shocked to see another version of me and Knox, his face buried between my legs, lavishing me. I cried out his name like he was my salvation. I watched in confusion, then felt something push against my opening and stiffened.