“Okay, okay.” Vivian ducked. “In the meantime, your side slice has to set me up with three of his friends. Minimum.”
“Deal.” She winked at Halo. “I’m teasing, darling, only teasing. I would never trade you...for an entire night.”
He pinched her chin and held her gaze. “Sorry, sweetheart, but you are stuck with me—forever.” A promise as much as a warning.
After today’s labor, he would turn up the heat. He would not stop until he’d won her total surrender.
* * *
Ophelia chatted with the girls. For a little while, she forgot her troubles. And she had big-time troubles.
Every minute of every day, she fell deeper into her infatuation with the Astra. Didn’t help that her body maintained a constant state of desperation for his. They had grown closer mentally and emotionally, but not physically. She hadn’t even managed to talk Halo into an innocent fingering!
No matter what wiles she applied—flirting, stripping, fondling, pouting, teasing—he had continued to resist her. Something he shouldn’t have been able to do, especially while he was hard as stone. Which he was. Always. But he never broke, never went further than a peck.
At first, she’d feared she’d lost her touch. Then she’d realized the truth. She had lost nothing; his hunger for her was never hidden. He yearned for her. He yearned for her madly—but he wanted her pledge more.
Did he have any idea how sexy that was?
Holding out was growing increasingly difficult. Sometimes she imagined saying yes to a happily-forever-after without the promise of stardust, more and more of her resistance crumbling.
Once the girls took off, Halo escorted Ophelia to an empty entertainment room. The place she liked to relax and watch movies. The freeze wasn’t due to occur until 8:00 p.m. The next labor would kick off soon after; that, she knew. Erebus wasted no time nowadays; he couldn’t. They neared the end of the entire blessing task.
And she couldn’t forget Erebus’s claim that the “real fun” kicked off with this next labor. A time Ophelia and Halo would supposedly suffer untold agonies.
“Something upsets you,” he said as he removed his shirt. He reclined on a couch and crocked his fingers at her.
She joined him, straddling his waist. Mmm. Her core rested atop his hard-on.
“Is it the stardust?” he asked, his alevala jumping faster than usual. He gripped her hips to prevent her from grinding down.
The beasts—her beasts—caught her attention every time they reappeared. But oh, how she hated seeing their battles. Witnessing Halo’s agony... Now that she had watched him die on a battlefield, she understood his upset with her deaths.
She traced a fingertip over the lioness. The one who started it all. It jumped again, another image taking its place. A beautiful female with kind eyes snagged her attention...
27
A haze fell over Ophelia’s mind, her present superseded by Halo’s past...
A new world opened. Six moons set in a circle around a seventh. Those celestial bodies came in a variety of colors, from pink to blue to gold, a few streams of light bleeding into others. Even the stars twinkled in circular patterns, creating symbols. A magic realm? The land itself took her breath away.
A forest clearing, spotlighted by the moonlight. Trees with tops that appeared to be cotton-candy roses, the petals like fluff. Roots that swirled over azure grass, simulating waves washing over the ground. Large, glittering rocks.
A beautiful female clad in a flowing ruby dress hovered nearby—the one from the alevala. She floated over the grass, a ring of fire and smoke seeming to create a force field around her. The gown’s hem flapped in a wind only she could feel. Long auburn hair whipped around a pale face. Eyes like an abyss. Lips the same shade as fresh blood. She had aligned her body perfectly with the moons.
Thirteen Astra surrounded the ring. They were silent and exuding concern. Halo fought his way closer to the female—Ophelia gaped as the smoke thinned. Not mere flames, after all, but a horde of small, horned creatures set ablaze. Halo shredded monster after monster. Black blood splattered him, the droplets eating through his skin. He didn’t seem to notice.
Pure ice. Ophelia flattened her hands over her stomach. And she’d thought him cold before. This male felt nothing. He truly resembled a robot, his chiseled features fresh off the assembly line.
His gaze remained locked on his target. At first, Red was unafraid of the approaching predator. But the closer he came, the more fear she evinced, going from pale to pallid. Her eyes flickered from black to green.
“I have done nothing to you, warlord.” She threw the words at him. “For weeks, you’ve chased me across galaxies, striking at me. I have never struck you back. Yet you think to end me?”
“Without hesitation.” He slashed and shredded more creatures. Almost within reach...
“Please,” she beseeched. “Don’t do this. I dream only of a better life. Let me have it.”