She groaned against my mouth, and her tongue tangled in mine. My brain screamed for me to pull away, but my hands slipped up beneath her robe.
She uttered an impatient sound, ripped it fully open, and let the soft fabric drift down her bare shoulders. Her Satyr body was soft and luscious and perfect.
Within me, the fiend rose, took its first bite of the rich fare offered to it, and grabbed hold of what flowed between us, drank deep… and reached for more…
Panic shot through me. A Satyr should be immune to my power, but Riley wasn’t really a Satyr. And she was weak, too weak for this.
“Riley. Wait, we have to stop—” I put my hands on her upper arms. I needed to push her away.
“No. We don’t.” She shoved straight into my arms, daring me to be forceful—but as she climbed onto my lap, I couldn’t do it. Her scent wasn’t bouncing off mine—it was feeding into it. Combining until we created an entirely new, blended force of nature that set every inch of me aflame. I found myself pulling her closer, her damp heat rubbing against me with a desperation that I matched. My hips pushed up against her, and she dropped a hand, wrestling with the laces on my breeches.
I pulled back, but only long enough to yank the cloak over my head, and undo the laces myself. Her hand wrapped around my shaft, and I found a new meaning for the word heaven.
Her grip was at once gentle and commanding, and I was painfully hard already. Every stroke made it harder to breathe. My fingers found her breasts, and my tongue danced along her jaw to her ear, tracing the delicate lobe as she shuddered and moaned. Her nipples were already peaked, and as my fingers circled and squeezed, she pulled her hand away and mounted me.
No careful positioning or fumbling, but one sure swivel of her hips that placed me exactly where I needed to be, and then, she took me like she was staking claim, sliding me inch by inch into her liquid velvet. It was so delicious that my teeth closed on first her earlobe, and then I was nibbling along her neck, making noises I’d never uttered, thrusting with no control, like a virgin youngling.
She made me feel like that. There was a purity to her, and to this experience, that momentarily washed away the filth I’d been immersed in. I clung to her with a desperation borne of that, and with the surety that this was what I’d been made for. Not to be a weapon. But to behers.
For those precious seconds, I was whole.
Images flashed through my mind. Of her with Havoc, and with Marcus. With Cara at the academy. Riding Marcus along that road, chased by the machines. Fighting off two young men, hardly more than boys, that wanted to—before I could fully grasp that, I realized that the thing inside me had its tendrils sunk deep into her.
If she’d been pure Satyr, it wouldn’t have worked. But she wasn’t.
Shewasn’t.
It was hooked into her life essence, andfeeding. Her eyes flew open and stared into mine. I saw the exact moment when the lust was replaced by awareness, and then dawning horror.
No.
I pulled her off me. With my body rigid and aching, I rolled away from the bed, and her.
She tried to come with me. And in my panic, I did the unthinkable.
“Stay away from me.” My power rang through the words. I’d never felt so strong. The energy I’d absorbed from her was unlike any I’d sampled before.
She’d been sent to me by Fate.
What she’d given me sang through my veins, providing a glimpse of what I was truly capable of.
And it was terrifying.
My words stopped her as though she’d run straight into a wall. Her eyes widened, and the hurt in them swiftly turned to anger.
I trembled as I stepped toward her, one hand reaching out. “Lie down,” I commanded.
Her face spasmed, but her body obeyed. I hated myself, but she’d never let me do what needed to be done. It was the only way to save her.
“Hold still,” I ordered as I laid a hand on her arm. And I sent a pulse through her, pushing past her resistance. I found what I sought and pulled Riley past the Satyr.
She emerged with her eyes spitting fire at me, and twice she almost broke free. As my potential mate, she was stronger than anyone I’d yet faced, except Isobel. But I couldn’t let her defeat me. Once it was Riley lying there, I traveled along her carotid arteries—and pinched them off, just enough to put her into a deep sleep.
Even then, she fought me. That this would be the last memory she had of me hurt my heart. After all I’d seen and done, this shouldn’t have been a big deal. But forcing her to comply was worse than any of it.
It was unforgivable. I told myself that if it kept her alive, it would all be worth it.
Once her breathing stabilized, I released her and rose. She was so beautiful, lying there. She was the life I’d always wanted, and could never have.
