I spun around, only to crash into the black leather and metal armor of my mate. He stood before me, the remnants of shadows floating off his skin as he stared down his nose at me while I touched my palms to his chest to catch my balance.
Caldris’s eyes were fathomless, void of all light as he stared down at me. He raised a single hand to capture one of mine, his thumb trailing over the black circle on the back of my hand. His voice was barely a whisper when he finally spoke. “Why do you continue to run from me, my star?” I pulled on my hand, trying to get him to release me as those dark eyes gleamed.
“You’re scaring me,” I said, taking a step back. He released my hand, following the movement as I took another step.
“There’s no need to be afraid,” he murmured, his voice soft in spite of the tension gripping his body as he followed me, mirroring my movements as a predator toys with his prey.
“What happened to you?” I asked, stopping my steps altogether.
He lifted his hand from his side, touching a talon to my cheek. After trailing it over the skin there, sliding it over my lips and chin, he pressed the tip into the front of my throat. The threat hung between us, unspoken as he stared at the point of contact in confusion. “I hate that you don’t want me.”
“That’s not what happened. We were in a good place this morning, and then you saw the body,” I said, a shocked gasp leaving my throat as his hand wrapped around the front of my neck. He used that hand to guide me back, sweeping my legs out from under me and maneuvering me carefully to the ground.
I was weightless for a few moments, falling to my back in the snow as he leaned over me, pressing his weight into the hand he held at my throat. “Caldris,” I groaned, reaching up to grab his wrist. Aramis had been so certain my God wouldn’t hurt me, so certain I’d be safe.
“The body,” he said, voice dropping low as he leaned further over me. His face filled my vision, drowning out everything beyond him as I fought back the urge to struggle. His hand on my throat hadn’t restricted my breathing yet and I wanted to keep it that way. “If they can do that to a Fae female, what do you think they can do to you?” His chest rumbled with a growl, sounding like one of the wolves, making his entire body tremble with the force of it. “You who are so fragile, my vicious little mate.”
He flicked his nail against my skin, slicing through the surface to prove his point. The wound burned as cold air kissed it, my shocked gasp hovering between us as he lowered his head and licked the bead of blood from my skin. His tongue lingered against me, the slow drag of it over my flesh making me shiver despite my terror.
He lifted his free hand so I could watch as he pressed his nail into his own skin, puncturing his finger until a single dot of blood welled to the surface. He squeezed my throat, forcing me to open my mouth as I gasped for breath. Pressing that finger onto my tongue, he forced his blood into me and watched as the tiny scratch on my throat healed in response.
“What do you want from me?” I said, my voice harsh as he relaxed his hold.
He released my throat finally, pulling at the laces of my tunic where my cloak hung open beneath me on the snow. “You. Bound to me in every way,” he said, trailing a nail over my chest as he yanked the fabric down to reveal my breasts. I didn’t stop him, letting him take what he wanted.
It wasn’t so much out of fear that I allowed it, out of knowing it was what he needed. He needed me to not fight, to not shun his nature and the bond between us. I lifted a hand to touch his face, cupping it gently as he cut my skin with his nail. A tiny rivulet of red slid from my collarbone to my nipple, lighting my skin on fire as he lowered his mouth to it and trailed the tip of his tongue down to follow in its wake.
It healed immediately, the blood he’d given me serving its purpose of undoing any damage he inflicted. His mouth wrapped around my nipple as I slid a hand into his hair, using it to pull him tighter against me.
Encouraging him, I show him that I accepted him and his nature. I couldn’t promise him forever yet, but I could give him this moment and bring him back from the brink in the way he’d done for me the night before.
He groaned, pulling himself away as he fought with the instinct consuming him, refusing to be the monster who took me when I didn’t want him. He wouldn’t be the man from my nightmares, even if there wasn’t a trace of humanity inside of him at present.
I cupped his face in my hands, moving forward to touch my lips to his. He sank into the kiss, his teeth crashing against mine with the ferocity with which he returned it. His tongue plunged into my mouth, dominating me in the way I knew he would with his cock within a few moments. “You’ll take my blood every day,” he demanded, slashing his nail across his palm.
He held it over my mouth, letting the blood drip down onto my lips as he waited for my response. It was just one more concession, another part of me that I would give to him, but he’d already received what mattered the most. My mind was his, my heart belonged to him, and my body was liquid in his arms. “Okay,” I agreed, watching his gaze lightened a fraction when I gave him that.
Caldris pressed his palm to my lips, letting his blood flow onto my tongue. The sweet taste of him seemed even stronger with the connection flaring brightly between us, cool and crisp in spite of the warmth of the viscous fluid as it spread over my tongue and slid down my throat. He stared down at me, his eyes glinting with satisfaction as a little bit of the haze faded away from them.
As his lust for blood settled, his hand remained at my mouth so that I continued to drink from him. I dropped my hands to the laces of his trousers, pulling them open slowly as he studied me. It felt like toying with a cornered animal, waiting for it to strike. I was placating him, giving him what he wanted in the hopes of avoiding the worst of his wrath, but it would be a lie to say I didn’t want this part of him too. That I didn’t want the swollen shaft I pulled free from his trousers as his feral gaze watched me.
“There you are, min asteren,” he said, using his other hand to cup my cheek in his massive palm. I wrapped trembling fingers around him, unable to banish the lingering fear that wouldn’t seem to leave me.
The wound on his hand healed far too quickly, the taste of him addictive as I licked his skin and sought out more. He chuckled, dropping his hands to my pants and tearing them open with frenzied fingers as I stroked him. He yanked them down my thighs, leaving them bunched at my knees as he flipped me to my stomach and pulled my hips up.
Driving inside with a single thrust, he shoved my body down into the snow beneath me. My face stung from the ice pressing back against me, and from the frozen blades of grass beneath the snow as they dragged over my cheek.
“Gods!” I yelled, pushing up to my hands. He didn’t relent, pulling back and thrusting into me all over again with hard, fast drives. This would be no smooth seduction, but the quick, manic fuck of a Fae male driven by his instinct.
To claim. To take.
“What have I told you, my star? I am your God.” The words caused a shock to roll through me as he leaned over my back and wrapped an arm around the front of my body, pulling me up until I knelt in the snow. His chest pressed into my back as he drove up and into me relentlessly, he wrapped his palm against the front of my throat. The reminder of who he really was, especially when he was buried inside me, shouldn’t have made my body clench around him. I’d been drawn to him from the first moment until this one, my soul recognizing what my mind couldn’t comprehend.