In an instant I would, God help me.
I glare at him, my jaw tightening.
Thanatos sees my answer written on my face. I know he does.
“Stop pretending we are normal,” he says. “We are not. There is no one like us. I cannot kill you and you cannot kill me. We’ve tried that. It hasn’t worked. So let’s try something else.”
With that, he closes the last of the space between us and kisses me savagely.
Chapter 46
Hallettsville, Texas
July, Year 27 of the Horsemen
I said I didn’t want him to touch me, but I’m a liar. This is the only truth I know in the mess of our relationship.
I fall into the kiss, my arms snaking under the horseman’s, my fingers brushing against the base of his wings.
He groans at the touch, pulling me tighter against him.
Stop pretending we’re normal. We are not.
I think I needed that reassurance. I needed to be dug up from all of the assumptions of right and wrong that I’ve held my entire life.
While my lips glide against his, he bends. One of his arms slips under my knees, and never breaking off the kiss, he lifts me into his arms. He begins to move, and distantly I’m aware that he’s heading for the house.
I’m only pulled from the kiss when Thanatos makes it to the front door. He lifts a leg and— Crack, he kicks the door in, the wood ripping from the hinges.
I jolt at the sound, tearing my lips away. With a firm hand, Death turns my head towards him and reclaims my mouth.
Thanatos crosses the threshold, his footfalls echoing through the house as he resumes striding forward, still holding me close. I’m distracted by the kiss, but not so distracted that I fail to notice when we enter a bedroom, a massive bed on display. My stomach tumbles at the sight, even as my pulse pounds.
I’ve been so focused on seducing Death, that I never really gave much thought to him seducing me. But it’s clear enough that’s where things are headed.
He sets me on the bed, backing up only to watch me as he begins to remove his silver armor bit by bit.
“What are you doing?” I ask breathlessly, pushing myself up on my forearms.
His eyes gleam. “Claiming what I should’ve long ago.”
Arm guards, off, breastplate, off, greaves, off. He removes it all, and then he reaches for his clothing.
“You can always tell me to stop,” he says, echoing my earlier words. It draws a smile out of me, even as my nerves buzz.
He pulls off his shirt, casting it aside.
My breath catches as I take in all of his glowing tattoos. They cover his skin like leopard spots.
With his armor on, Death looks like an angel of God; without it, he looks like something more. More than angelic, more than otherworldly. It’s hard to believe he can even somewhat pass for human most of the time; it’s so obvious to me right now that he’s something else entirely.
His hand moves to his boots, and he pulls them off one by one.
I almost think that he’s going to stop there.
He doesn’t.
His pants—and whatever lies beneath—come off, and he is completely, gloriously naked.
Thanatos returns to where I lay on the bed, still fully clothed. He places a fist on either side of my head, bracketing me in.
All I can see are miles of rippling muscle and tattoos, and I can’t think straight. My hands twist in the blanket beneath me. I feel like everything between us has been flipped on its head, and all that power and control I collected last night has been siphoned away.
He leans in close. “I have given you so much pain, kismet. Let me give you pleasure to match.”
As the two of us stare at each other, his hands move to the collar of my shirt and— Riiip.
I suck in a breath as he tears the fabric apart, exposing my bare skin beneath. My heartbeat is quickening. Pain and pleasure will always go hand in hand with Death. I have too many memories of fighting him for it to be otherwise.
I begin to sit up, an action the horseman takes advantage of. He leans in and kisses me roughly. Despite myself, I laugh a little at how exploitive the horseman is.
He groans against my mouth, nipping at my lower lip. “If I could, I would devour that laughter of yours. There is nothing sweeter.”
My smile fades away. Every time Thanatos says something like that, an unnerving warmth blossoms under my sternum.
To distract myself from it, I break off the kiss and undo my bra, sliding the undergarment off. I lounge back against the bed, though there’s nothing relaxing about this. I’m taut with tension.
Death has a wild look about him, and his eyes are transfixed on my breasts. Reaching out, he cups one.