Or even pleasure.
But love.
His eyes flashed with swirling white as his hungry kisses made demands of my mouth and his body commanded my pleasure, taking me beyond the mortal realm, into something so beautiful that I ached.
“This,” Cassius said softly as every ounce of darkness drained from the room. “Is what we have together…”
I cried out against his chest as he moved one last time, triggering every pleasure point in my body simultaneously.
Limbs weak, I sagged against him. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” he whispered, rocking me in his arms, back and forth, back and forth, our legs still tangled, our bodies with frozen beads of sweat.
It was then, that I forgot his words.
And closed my eyes.
Cassius
AS IF THE LIGHT was getting sucked into a black hole, the brightness diminished within the room leaving us blanketed in the soft glow of the moon and the slithering darkness of night.
“Stephanie?” I pulled back to look into her eyes. Anger swirled beneath the surface of her heart shaped face, like I was seeing her but not truly seeing her. Black specks of darkness spotted her white eyes as she blinked up at me again and again as if trying to clear away the mess of cobwebs.
She shook her head again.
“Fight it,” I urged. “Learn how to fight it, learn how to focus on the good, the bright, the joy. Feel the cold, let it become a part of you.”
“He’s warm.” Her voice was hollow. “He’s so warm.”
“Do not allow the temptation of something so fleeting as warmth cause you to lose your footing on reality.” I spoke quietly taking her face between my hands. “All Dark Ones are born with this choice… stay between the mortal planes of humanity and immortals alike, or give in to the darkness.”
She gritted her teeth together and slammed her hands against my chest with a scream.
White hot flames teased my skin as I flew through the air toward the window, I held up a block of ice just in time to keep myself from damaging Ethan’s home further, while Stephanie fell backward off the bed.
The room smelled like burnt skin, but already my body was healing, knitting cells back together while I maneuvered around the bedroom to see if Stephanie was okay.
I froze as she stood to her feet, still naked, wobbly. The palms of her hands were black with soot and near her left cheek was a strip of red hair.
The sign of fire.
The sign of Darkness taking hold.
“I’m sorry.” She ran toward me. “Are you hurt? I just, I was trying to push him away, not you.”
“No.” I grabbed her wrists, carefully examining her hands. “It’s fine. I’m fine.”
Nodding, she tugged her hands free and wrapped her arms around me. “I think… I need to go for a walk.”
“I’ll go with you.”
“No.” She shook her head violently. “I need to go by myself… It’s not you, it’s…” She shrugged as her words trailed off into the empty atmosphere of the room.
They held no physical power, words, but being dismissed felt like being punched without warning.
I wasn’t sure how to respond.
How to react to the fact that my mate, the one I’d just loved, joined with, promised my life to—was shutting me out, this time purposefully, right before my very eyes.