Noa’s legs clenched together as he slowly descended the staircase, his head ticking as man and monster fought for dominance.
Not long now.
The wind blew outside, sneaking down to the hearth, whistling as it escaped into the room. Diel’s collar crackled, anticipation clogging the hot air. Noa’s gaze traveled over every inch of him. He was magnificent. Broad and toned and filled with the hedonistic promise of death. Nothing excited Noa more than life and death hanging in the balance.
The unknown.
“You showed,” Noa finally said. The logs on the fire hissed and spat as they burned behind her.
Diel smiled, and Noa felt her stomach flip. He really was such a handsome, impressive killing machine. His head jerked. “I wanted to see you.” His voice was deep and graveled, and Noa knew she was speaking to the monster at that moment.
She took a single step forward. The veins in Diel’s muscles protruded, and his neck tightened with strain. Then his smile fell, and Noa knew it was the man. “Stop stalling,” he said. Noa felt just as excited to face him as she had the monster. The lovely monster was tamed; it was the man who needed to be unleashed.
Diel curled his hands into fists, but his face adopted a mocking expression. “Killer,” he said. Noa took a pause. “Killer, killer, killer,” he repeated, trying to get a rise from her.
But the taunt fell off Noa like hot blood off a freshly sharpened knife. “You think that offends me?” She took a step backward as Diel moved forward. He stopped in the center of the folly. An ancient iron chandelier hung from the domed ceiling above them, the wind from the chimney rocking its considerable weight back and forth—a countdown to their oncoming collision.
Noa began to circle Diel’s wide, cut body. There wasn’t an inch of his torso that wasn’t scarred or viciously marked, yet to her his ruined skin was as beautiful as a burnt-orange sunset.
Noa felt the darker side of her soul clawing to the forefront. She didn’t fight it. She knew which part of her was needed tonight. That part of her needed to be unconstrained in this folly, just as much as the caged monster Diel had fought back since childhood needed to have his jail bulldozed down. By the end of this night, there would be no cages for either of them. Gemini souls finally being embraced and given the respect that they deserved.
“I am a killer. It’s who I am.” Noa whispered those words to the back of Diel’s neck. She saw his skin bump where her breath had touched him. When she rounded his front, she moved back several steps. “As are you.” She shrugged. “I’m not ashamed.” Her stomach dropped as she said those words. There was a part of her that still carried guilt, such heavy guilt. But she pushed it aside. That guilt didn’t belong in this folly tonight.
In a flash, and with the crackling of the collar and a jerk of the neck, Diel’s monster rose to the surface. “I like that you kill,” he growled, pride in his tone. Noa saw his jeans begin to tent and his breathing increase in speed. “I like that you tear those fuckers down. They hurt you. They hurt us.”
Noa smiled at him, feeling the warmth of that protection, the mutual attraction that grew between them. The darkness inside her preened under his myopic attention. “My pretty monster,” she said, voice soft and true. She lifted her hand and stroked his stubbled cheek. He closed his eyes as if he had never experienced affection before. Noa realized he probably never had.
Diel’s skin was hot under her palm, yet it sent icicles down her spine. “I’m going to need you to let Diel come to the surface.” He shook his head, his hands balling into fists once more. “You’ll be free soon enough,” she promised and met his eyes. “We’ll be together soon. No more being pushed aside.”
“He’s going to try and destroy you,” the monster said, keeping Diel pushed down inside their shared body.
“I’m going to save him.” She held her head high. “I’m going to save you both.” Diel’s dark eyebrows fell in confusion. “Trust me, pretty monster,” she soothed. “Trust me.”
He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, Diel the man was staring at her once more.
Noa stepped back, then widened her stance. Crooking her finger at him, she said, “Let’s begin, shall we?” She grinned, showing her teeth. “Show me what you’ve got.”
They charged. Noa didn’t know who moved first. One second they were on opposing sides of the room; the next they were two bodies slamming together, the force as blinding as a stellar collision.
Noa’s breathing was heavy, echoing in her ears, and she twisted around as he reached out to take her in his iron hold. Noa kicked out a leg, knocking Diel back. He turned, fury in his expression, and charged at her again. Noa ducked, her hair a swirling riot of pale pink falling around her body as she did. But before she could twist away, Diel grabbed her by the arm and wrenched her to his solid chest. He wrapped his hand around her neck. Lifting her off the floor, he cut off her breathing, then slammed her into the wall of the folly like he had done in the priest’s home when they first met. His face was in her face, his minty breath ghosting across her cheeks.