And for what?
To find out I stood at the front lines of a war I thought ended over a thousand years ago. Not only that, but they expected me to fight as well. To kill. To harness the source power and use it to assassinate those who technically created it.
Fuck. “I need a distraction,” I said, looking around. “We need a distraction.” Everything around us was going up in flames, and we were sitting in the corner with our hands behind our backs, watching it all burn.
I stood again, stepping right into Zeph as he moved forward midstride. His irises flared with power. He wanted to hurt something. I could see that need lurking in his gaze.
“Use me,” I told him. “Take it out on me.”
“No.”
“Do it, Zeph.” I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and grabbed his hip with my opposite palm. “Destroy me.”
“No.”
“Stubborn dick,” I said, crushing my mouth against his.
He threaded his fingers through my hair, yanking hard to pull me away, but I sank my teeth into his lower lip to hold on.
He growled.
I growled back.
It was either this or we sparred, and the latter would destroy a lot of shit.
This would at least provide us with a necessary release.
My name rolled off his tongue, the warning clear.
I accepted it as a challenge and kissed him again. This time he bit me, drawing my blood. It should have given me pause, forced me to stop, but instead I fed the essence into his mouth with my tongue and tightened my grip on his nape.
He snarled in response, my blood providing the boost of power I knew he craved.
As my Guardian, he could bite me as often as he wanted. Imbibing my essence had been a key part of his fealty bond when we were younger.
But there was one thing I’d never done—I’d never bitten him back.
It would snap a mating bond into place, one that would further tie us together for eternity. My incisors ached to do just that.
Because why the fuck not? If Shade could bond me, then I could bond with Zeph. We were already vowed to one another anyway. Might as well take it to the next level.
I captured his gaze, then sank my teeth into his bottom lip again, this time hard enough to make him bleed.
His eyes widened. “Kols…”
I made a show of licking the wound and swallowing, eliciting a sharp gasp from him. I’d shocked him. Fuck, I’d shocked myself.
This was reckless.
Crude.
So fucking wrong.
But I didn’t give a damn.
He shook his head in disbelief, his eyes wide with a myriad of emotions. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
I shrugged. I’d already ruined everything, so why not create my own inferno to burn in? “Kiss me,” I demanded.