At any moment, an assembly of special agents or a media crew could wander up to the crime scene. But no—that’s not a real worry. That would bring a host of uncomfortable questions, but I’ve faced far worse.
This is an eerie sensation I can’t place, like the feeling I got when I first saw the creepy trees in the marsh.
The trees have eyes…
The proverb heightens my senses until the wine slides into my veins. My head sways with the heady rush of alcohol and steady drumming. And when Kallum returns carrying the circlet of bones, an intense perception of being outside myself comes over me.
I’ve felt this before. Similar to the start of a panic attack, but without the comfort of knowing it will soon pass.
“Wait—” I hold up my hand, then cover my breasts with my arms. “I need a minute.”
I take three centering breaths, then scan the dark field. I can’t discern any shapes past the hazy glow of the fire. The blackness engulfs the distant backdrop, making my heart rate climb.
He cups my face, pulling my gaze up to meet his. His breath steals across my lips in a tantalizing stroke that holds the threat of the unknown at bay.
“I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” he whispers over my mouth.
I swallow the forming ache. “You are the bad thing.”
A crooked smile hitches the seam of his mouth. “And you are the loveliest bad thing.” He drops a tender kiss to the corner of my mouth.
The wild beat overtaking my soul flays my defenses like the knife strapped to his leg.
With the pale crescent moon above as his guide, Kallum adorns my head with the crown of bones. He brushes my lock of white forward, his fingers sensually grazing my cheek. The weight of the bones and antlers bears down on me, the ivy tangles my hair.
Kallum wanted a pagan goddess for his offering, and that’s what I’ve become.
“Antlers are worn by the initiate to make you more than human,” he says, the steel blade flashing in the firelight as he brings it between us. “The higher you are to the sky, the more godlike you become.”
I can’t focus on what he’s saying over my attention fixed on the knife in his hand.
“This whole scene is a sacrifice,” he continues. “The deer is a sacred offering to Dionysus.” He glances at the gnarled, barren trees looming overhead. “Trees are hallowed and given in offering. We’re amidst a sacrificial monument.”
“Just as I’m an offering,” I say, covering my breasts again.
He wets his lips, his savage appetite evident as he grasps my wrists and shoves my arms down by my hips. “Our bodies are sacrificed through debauchery and gifted in praise, every carnal pleasure an offering.”
Flicking his thumb over the blade, he moves to stand behind me. A ripple of unease coasts my flesh, but there’s also the flaring heat tripping my pulse as his hand brushes my lower back.
“Do I have to keep talking like a tour guide?” His voice dips to a seductive baritone that melts into my skin. “Or can we get right to the good part?”
His hand slips around my waist, and I try to relax against him. Give myself over to the feel of his strong body encasing me, his warm flesh caressing my skin with maddening friction—but I can’t escape the image of the knife in his hand.
“When this is over,” I say, “whatever you feel I owe you…we’re done.” My bold words falter as he sweeps my hair aside to expose my shoulder.
The pads of his fingers gingerly trace the bite he stamped there, the sensitized skin hot beneath his explorative touch. “Before this is over,” he says, dropping a light kiss to the bruised imprint of his teeth, “you’re going to beg me to fuck you right out of your mind.”
He flattens his hand along the valley between my breasts and drags my body seamless to his. My body follows his lead as he rocks us in a furious motion to the fever pitch of the drums, coaxing me to dissolve under the swelling tide.
The abrasive rub of his jeans along the delicate skin of my backside is a torturous mix of pleasure and frustration, the hard ridge of his erection grinding into my flesh, straining to be unleashed.
The fire pops and sizzles in the open night air. The smoldering reeds send fiery flakes of ash up in a smoke signal like a warning. I’m swept into his arms in his dance of chaos and frenetic movement, and I realize that, as I’m lured further into the seduction, I was primed for this moment.
Kallum challenged me at the party to give in to my base desires, to let go of my inhibitions and submit to the frenzy.
His frenzy.
His mouth grazes my shoulder in sinful pursuit to reach my neck, where his tongue delves out to taste, teeth scraping in cruel teases as he advances toward my ear. The heavy pant of his breath caresses the shell of my ear, the sound erotic, the sensual feel lulling my eyes closed.
“Everything is connected,” he says, persuading my hips to roll obscenely with his. “We’re designed to feed and fuck and reproduce. Over and over. The eternal recurrence. But nothing in this universe is more connected than you are to me, Halen.”
My heart rate soars, a heavy woosh fills my ears. Kallum releases me and walks around to stand in front. I still my body, waiting.
He guides me to my knees, the sodden earth cold against my skin. As he looks down at me, he inhales a deep breath, the skull on his chest rising in the firelight. “Touch yourself,” he commands.
My mouth parts as anxiety bites my nerves.
Kallum glides his tongue over the seam of his lips as he openly eyes my naked body. “Either you’re going to fuck yourself right now, Halen, or I’m going to fuck you.”
He’s aggressive, vulgar—and my body should not be responding to his filthy words, but the heat pooling between my thighs flushes my face.
As I tentatively slip my hand down my belly, Kallum takes a step back to absorb the full view. At the feel of my fingertips descending over my clit, my hips involuntarily rock. Breathing staggered, I keep my gaze aimed on Kallum as I give him exactly what he wants.
He harbors no shame as he brazenly drops the hand holding the knife to his side and proceeds to use his free hand to rub his cock over his jeans. The sight is lewd and it sends a blistering shot of arousal straight to my core.
Undulating my hips faster, I arch my back, my fingers seeking the needy spot between my slick lips. The night cloaks us, enabling these depraved yearnings, and I can’t deny how badly I crave his touch—how, when he lowers the zipper of his jeans to free himself, the sight of his thick, hard cock makes me whimper.
I bite down on my lip to stifle the sound, unable to take my gaze off Kallum as he fists the base of his shaft and strokes himself to the tip. My knees dig into the mud as I spread my thighs wider, driving the throbbing ache deeper.
With a feral hunger, Kallum bears his teeth and drops to his knees right before me, making my heart batter my chest. He reaches for the bottle and, tunneling a hand into my hair beneath the crown of bones, he forces my back to arch farther as he spills the wine over my breasts.
He dips lower and licks a blazing trail over my chest, down around my erect nipple, his teeth grazing the sensitive bud. My whole body ignites. Untamed need curls in my belly as I finger myself, his fire singeing my skin everywhere he touches.
“God, you’re so fucking beautiful, perfect.” His praise envelops me in a heated current, dissolving all restraint as I become pliant to his will. “You make me fucking crazy.”
Bowing my back farther, he tenderly guides a hand down my chest, discovering every aching zone of my body calling out to him. He dips me back, brings me forward, rocking us in a dizzying motion as the pulsing, demanding ache swells with need to be sated.
The feel of his cock grinding against my stomach is torturous, and I’m so wet and swollen my fingers slip and struggle to give my body what it needs.
