The sounds they made had her ears ringing.
“They’re hungry and looking for food,” Lukin said and held her tighter. They were far from the shore of this horrid scene, but still he kept her safe, held onto her, and she knew he wouldn’t let anything hurt her.
“Surely making those god-awful sounds will have its food going in the other direction?” she prompted and stared at the ocean of monsters.
“Yes, but they are desperate now and calling others like them. Soon, there will be hundreds of the beasts to scour the ocean and hunt down prey.”
A chill ran up her spine despite the heat. God, this place had unspeakable beings living on it. Compared to them, she was a weakling, a fragile human. And to think—the Hades males were the predators on this planet, even to those fearsome beasts crashing above the surface of the fire water. “It’s certainly a sight, that’s for sure, but it scares the hell out of me.”
Lukin turned her around so she was facing him and cupped her cheek. “Do I scare you as much as these creatures and my world do?”
She didn’t respond for a moment and then licked her dry lips and glanced down at his mouth. This low noise left him, like he could sense how much that was, in fact, the opposite of how she felt for him and his brothers.
“No, you don’t frighten me,” she said softly. He started stroking her cheeks with his thumbs, his hands so big and strong, yet cupping her face gently. He stared right into her eyes, and despite the things going on around them, the danger that presented itself, Lukin started to lean forward. She wanted this, wanted his lips on hers, his kiss taking everything else away, and to get lost in nothing that wasn’t right here and now.
His mouth was on hers seconds later, and he speared his hand in her hair, keeping her stationed for his ministrations. Minka could just focus on the two of them, and nothing else mattered, but as he swept his tongue along hers, the sound of scraping behind her had Lukin thrusting her behind him instantly, the arousal leaving her right away.
Minka looked around his massive arm and saw this winged creature crawling up the side of the mountain, right toward them. The flames provided her with enough light that she could see one of its wings was sliced in half, barely hanging on. This black substance, which she assumed was blood, dripped out of a gaping wound in its bony, spike-like head.
It stopped a few feet from them, and a hissing, screeching noise came from it. It was loud and ear-piercing, and Minka forced herself not to cry out from the sound.
Lukin grabbed a blade that he had tucked in his boot and pushed her back another inch. “You stay back. Do not move to draw attention to yourself, and everything will be okay,” he said but didn’t look at her. “It’s injured, confused, and on any other occasion wouldn’t dare confront a warrior. It’s unstable, and I don’t know how it will react.”
The creature hissed, and more goo came out of its mouth to land on the rock beneath it. She didn’t move, didn’t even breathe for that matter, but when the creature lunged forward, she stumbled over a rock. She crashed down, and stars danced in front of her vision as her head slammed back against the hard ground.
She opened her eyes but remembered Lukin told her to stay still. Everything inside her screamed to move and ease the pain, but she tried to breathe through it all. The rock that was piercing her flesh wasn’t nearly as painful as her head that throbbed, but she forced herself to stay still. The sight before her was as fantastical as it was frightening.
Lukin was slashing out with his blade, cutting the beast like it was nothing more than a nuisance. With the light flickering over his massive body and the blood from the beast splashing on his nude chest, even if Minka wanted to move, she wouldn’t have been able to. Watching him fight, cut into the animal’s scaly and oily flesh, and hearing the roars come from Lukin, had this power moving through her.
It was strange to be injured and to have this danger right in front of her, but to also feel drawn to it all. Bracing her hands on the rock, she felt a razor-sharp piece dig into her skin. The pain was indescribable, and she hissed out softly. But the beast heard the sound regardless and lunged past Lukin to get to her. Right when it was inches from her, Lukin brought his blade to its spindly neck, decapitating it.
Blood sprayed on her chest and face, and she stared at the lifeless body and ghastly head just inches from her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and she tried to calm herself, or at least not cry from her emotions.