Page 89 of Somnium

“Elias.”

She leveled him with a look, refusing to let her own desire show through. He couldn’t just drop that bomb and expect her to be able to focus on anything else until she got some clarity. He let out a defeated sigh and flopped back onto the couch cushion, running his hands over her thighs.

“Each god’s power is aligned with them specifically. If he tried to use it, it would be like giving a human the wrong blood type. It would destroy him. So he needs more members to get more power.”

“Then why is he taking the power of the other gods?”

Elias’s expression turned serious, his frustration loosening as he lifted his shoulders. “Greed. Spite. With the others gone, he stands completely unopposed.”

“But what abou⁠—”

Elias leaned forward and pressed his fingers to her lips to stop another question from forming. His face was a breath away from hers, and the look in his eyes … well, she couldn’t remember what she was about to ask him anyway.

“I don’t want to talk about him anymore,” Elias breathed, running his thumb against her lower lip before he pressed his mouth to hers. Hard. A soft sound escaped her at the fierceness she found in his kiss, her hands wrapping around the back of his neck to pull him closer.

Elias slid his palms over her body, slowly exploring every inch of her as if each touch was new and precious. Cadi reached between them, her breaths turning ragged as she tugged at his belt, pulling it free and beginning work on the buttons of his pants.

A sharp trill cut the air, the unwelcome interruption making them both jump. Elias grumbled and shifted to the side to dig his phone out of the back pocket of his jeans.

“Are you serious?” Cadi asked, giving him an incredulous look.

He met her stare, his brows lifting. “What, you think I’m happy about this?”

She rolled her eyes and pulled her lips between her teeth at the clear frustration in his tone when he answered the call.

“What?” he growled into the receiver.

Cadi leaned forward to muffle a giggle against his shoulder before she turned to brush her nose against him, smiling at the way he shivered. She drew the tip of her tongue along his skin, following the line of his neck to his ear. After he had been so adamant about cutting off her questions, she was not about to make this phone call easy for him.

“Uh-huh,” he said, his hand squeezing her tight when she reached between them again and slid her fingers beneath the fabric of his jeans, wrapping them around his cock.

His breath shook when she tugged his earlobe between her teeth and started to work his hard length beneath her hips.

“Yep. Sure. Sounds good. Bye.”

Elias ended the call and chucked his phone across the room. In a swift movement, he gripped her hard, and Cadi’s squeal cut through the quiet when he twisted them both until he was hovering over her.

“Who was that?” she asked, her voice turning breathless as Elias nudged her chin, tipping her head back to draw his teeth against her throat. Fucking hell, she loved it when he did that.

“Sera,” he muttered, his voice vibrating against her.

“What did she want that she couldn’t have sent in a text?”

Elias chuckled, the heat of his breath ghosting over her skin to send a flurry of sparks right to her core. “Wants to talk with us this weekend,” he replied as he slid the hem of her top higher to kiss a path down her stomach. “But I’m not worried about that right now. What I am worried about …”

He inched lower, his eyes locking on hers as he hooked his fingers into her leggings and slid them down her hips. “Is the concerning amount of clothing we both still have on.”

Cadi laughed, the joyful sound bleeding into a soft moan as Elias’s mouth continued its journey. She threaded her fingers into his hair, letting him banish every thought or question from her mind as he pulled her deeper into their own private form of worship.

27

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

CADI

Cadi leaned forward to grab her bag from the floor of Elias’s boxy green SUV, shifting with the motion of the car as he turned them onto the next street. It was a good thing he was driving because she had absolutely no idea where they were, having lost track of their turns a few miles back.

Now she was content to sit and watch the world speed by while he navigated the city streets, winding through neighborhoods that Cadi had never even set foot in. Which wasn’t saying much, since she didn’t usually venture too far outside of her bubble of familiarity unless it was absolutely necessary. Which today, it was.