He stood in front of the vanity, wearing only unbuttoned breeches that hung low on his hips, grasping the rim of the sink with white-knuckled fingers. He dragged a damp towel across his bloodied chest, his teeth bared as he hissed in a pained breath. The wounds would’ve been fatal for a mortal, significant and shocking. And the fact that he seemed unaware of my presence told me exactly how weakened he was. For a moment, I could only stare at the shimmering blood coursing down the defined lines of his stomach. How was he still standing?

“Nyktos,” I whispered.

He froze at the sink, head bowed. The blood-soaked towel stopped moving across his chest. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked over at me. Knots formed in my stomach. There was a paleness there that hadn’t been before, settling into his skin. The glow behind his pupils was fainter than I’d ever seen it.

“I clearly recall telling Nektas to put you somewhere safe where you couldn’t get yourself into trouble,” he said.

“Yeah, well, he thinks he listened to you.”

“He did not.”

I swallowed as his unblinking stare latched onto me. His eyes…gods, they were so flat. “You need to feed.”

“And you, the utter last person I want to see right now, need to leave,” Nyktos spat.

My spine went rigid. “You need to feed,” I repeated. “That’s why I’m here.”

His head moved to the side, the movement odd and animalistic. Predatory. “Did you not hear me?”

“I did.” I inched closer, stopping when his lips peeled back, revealing his fangs. My heart tripped a little. “But I wouldn’t be here if you fed like…like other Primals.”

The towel slipped from his hand, drifting to the floor. He didn’t seem to notice. “And how would you know what other Primals do?”

“I…I don’t, but I imagine they’d make sure they weren’t weakened,” I said. “And are able to protect their people.”

His hand lifted from the sink, finger by finger as he straightened and turned toward me. Nothing about the way he moved was normal. It was too smooth. Too focused. “You truly have no fear of death, do you?”

“I…I always knew I would meet an early death one way or another,” I admitted.

“How?” His voice…it was more shadow than anything now, thick and icy. “How did you know you would die?”

“I figured it would either be by your hand or one of your guards if I…”

“If you actually succeeded in weakening me? If I fell in love with you?” He glided to the opening of the bathing chamber. Goosebumps broke out over my skin. “If you managed to kill me?”

I nodded.

His head straightened, moving in that eerie, fluid way. He stared at me for a long, tense moment. The hollows of his cheeks became more prominent. “You need to leave.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Leave!” he roared, and I flinched at the guttural sound as a tiny kernel of fear took root. A tremor ran through him. “If you don’t leave, I’m going to feed from you, and I’m going to fuck you while I do it,” he warned.

A disturbing rush of silky heat appeared upon hearing his words. Something I would need to evaluate deeply. “Is that a promise?” I raised a brow. “Or just more talk?”

Nyktos made a sound, a low growl I never would’ve expected to come out of his throat. The tiny hairs on the back of my neck rose as instinct urged me to back away. “Reckless,” he hissed.

“I think you know that is one of my talents.”

Eather pulsed in his eyes, bright and brief. “I may kill you. Do you understand that? I haven’t fed in…decades. I don’t trust myself right now. Do you understand, liessa?”

Something beautiful and powerful.

Queen.

I lifted my chin, letting the hair slide behind my shoulders. His now-lifeless eyes tracked those strands as I revealed my neck. “You’re not going to kill me.”

“Foolish,” he purred, his lips parting as his torn chest rose and fell rapidly.

“Maybe, but I’m still standing here.”

“So be it.”

I took a breath. That was all. One single, short breath, and Nyktos was on me, his hand buried in my hair, tugging my head back. He struck as fast as the vipers near the Cliffs of Sorrow, sinking his fangs deep into the side of my throat.

Chapter 38

The sudden dual bursts of stinging pain caused my entire body to jerk. The fire of his bite shot through me, startling in its intensity. Nyktos’ grip on my hair and shoulder was tight as he pressed into me, my back coming against a wall. I gripped his arms, my nails digging into his cool skin.

There was nowhere to go—no escape. A scream built in my throat, but there was no air to give it life. I couldn’t breathe through the fire clawing at my insides. My back bowed when he drew deep and hard against my throat, drawing my blood into him in staggering pulls.

And then it…changed.

Seconds, only seconds had passed from the moment his fangs pierced my flesh and the vise-like grip on my shoulder eased. The fire of his mouth against my throat didn’t fade as his fingers now curled around the back of my head, but it became something else—something as overwhelming and powerful as the pain. The burn of his lips moving greedily against my throat built into a sudden, throbbing ache in my blood, settling in my breasts and between my thighs. The strength of it—the pounding, heated rush was shocking. It invaded my muscles, tightening them until they curled and spun.

Nyktos groaned, pushing into me, his fingers spreading across the edges of the bodice and curling around the center tie. He shifted, thrusting a strong thigh between mine. I felt him then, long and thick against my lower stomach.

I’m going to feed from you, and I’m going to fuck you while I do it.

I shuddered as a rush of damp heat flooded me. My eyes were open, but I saw nothing as his mouth tugged on my throat. My blood was on fire, my head falling back against the wall, cushioned by his hand. I moaned, and he sucked harder. I felt the pulls of his mouth all the way to my core. My body reacted out of instinct. Instead of trying to get away from him, I slid my hand up to the soft strands of his hair and tugged him closer, holding his eager mouth to my throat, wanting to be…devoured by the intensity brewing in my body. Wanting to be devoured by him. I moved without thought, rocking against the hard length of his thigh. The tension deep inside me erupted without warning, the pleasure lashing out in sweeping waves. I trembled and shook as I rode the powerful release.

I panted, gasping for breath and shuddering. As soon as the ripples abated, the pulsing tension built once more at my throat and under his lips as he continued feeding. It traveled through my body in a series of sharp tingles. My heart raced as the acute tension built again at my core.

He made another sound against my throat, a deep, rumbling growl that should’ve concerned me, but I was far past the point of being cautious. I pulled on his hair. His fingers dug into the thin material of my bodice. I jerked, gasping when he pulled hard on the front of the gown. The sound of tearing cloth scorched my ears, sending another bolt of arousal through me. He tore the gown from the bodice to the waist, freeing my breasts and my upper stomach. The sleeves of the ruined gown slid down my arms. A ragged cry parted my lips as the tips of my breasts brushed against the coldness of his blood-slickened chest. Letting go of his hair, I shrugged off the sleeves of the gown. The material pooled at my hips.

I wanted to feel more. I wanted to feel him. I wanted.

Nyktos lifted his head away from my throat, and suddenly I was staring up into swirling quicksilver eyes. They were so bright and so full of life. Neither of us spoke as my attention dropped to his parted, ruby-red lips. My gaze moved lower to his blood-streaked chest and flesh that had already begun to heal and seal itself closed. And lower still, to those once-jagged wounds that were now pink welts across his tightly coiled stomach muscles.