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“I do not want to talk, Rythos,” she groaned, tugging me towards her. “It hurts too much.” Suddenly, she stopped guarding the bond, and pure, desperate want flooded me.

My tongue pressed so hard against my teeth I tasted blood. The urge to tear the lace from her curves with my teeth and claim what was mine was unbearable.

“I know exactly what you want, love.” I towered over her lithe body, vision darkening and jaw clenching. Fuck, she was perfect, so delicate for something so vicious.

The last thread of my restraint snapped.

My lips pressed to hers, hand slipping from her neck to tangle in her soft waves. My other hand found her waist, digging into her supple skin. She was flush against me, making my cock pulse with an eager heaviness.

I leant down, gripping the curve of her ass and lifting her. Her legs wrapped around me, gasping against my lips. I devoured the sound, chasing another as I ground her against my hardness.

“Please forgive me,” I murmured against her lips, giving her the words she did not want and the truth I could no longer keep from her. “I will tear the realms apart to drag you from the hells. I love you.”

Her breath caught against my mouth. For one fragile, ruined second, she softened. Her lips brushed mine, impossibly gentle. Too gentle for a woman who had been told she was destined to drown the world. Too soft for the goddess they all feared. Too human for the monster she thought herself.

Then her fingers twisted in my hair, and whatever tenderness had flickered between us sharpened into something vicious.

“No talking. Fuck me,” she whispered against my mouth, voice trembling with fury and need.

Hunger tangled with something far more dangerous, sending an aching through my chest.

She ground against me, and a low sound tore from my throat as every thought shattered in my head.

If she needed me to make her feel, I would, even if my stupid heart was crumbling under her ignoring my vulnerability.

I slammed her against the wall and reached between us with one hand, ghosting my fingers over the wet heat soaking the lace between her thighs. I pressed into her and the moan that tore from her mouth broke me. I could hardly feel the pain of my darkness trying to tear me apart, only the soft skin of her beautiful pussy.

She pulled away from my mouth and I growled in protest. I tore her underwear off her body, the material dropping to the floor at my feet. My fingers slid inside her, stretching her tight walls until they fluttered around me.

“So fucking wet for me,” I praised, gliding my fingers in and out of her as she gasped for breath against me.

She tilted her head back, exposing the soft column of her neck to me. An invitation. An offer to stop the pain of the curse so I could enjoy her.

I dragged my tongue along the soft skin, long and languid and she fisted my hair with both hands.

“Bite me,” she gasped, hips grinding against my fingers.

“Demanding little thing,” I growled against her skin before sinking my canines into the soft flesh of her throat.

“This is my dream,” she whispered, vicious and breathless. “I will have whatever I desire.”

Her nails carved into my shoulders as I drank her down, her blood dark and intoxicating on my tongue.

“And right now, I want your cock,” she continued. “Not a dagger disguised as pretty words.”

But this was more than a dream, even if she refused to believe it.

Denial was a powerful weapon, one wielded to protect what little remains of a heart. Some buried part of me knew she would not want me if she understood this were real.

But the blood had left my brain the moment she said my name and throbbed painfully in my cock.

Who am I to deny my bonded what she craves?

My venom spread through her, and she tensed for a moment, fighting its clutches—always fighting—before her body became relaxed and her moans turned into the sweetest noises I had ever heard. My fingers thrust in and out of her as I circled my thumb against her clit.

“Rythos,” she moaned, the sound making my cock twitch. I needed to be inside her. Hearing her moan my name with her voice pleading and dripping in pleasure, made my blood boil. “Don’t stop,” she cried out, power weaving through her voice, splitting it into multiple lyrical layers. “I need—gods!”

She shattered beneath my touch, back arching and mouth parting as she cried out. Blinding hot pleasure that made me snarl spread through the bond.