Page 113 of Bitten By the Basilisk

“It’s beautiful,” he said, admiring it in his hand. “I’ll treasure it always.”

“Shortly after making it, I realized something.”

“Mm, that you might have a thing for snakes?”

She laughed as she reached up to take his face between her hands. “Something like that. I realized I love you, Silas.”

His teasing expression instantly shifted into an earnest one. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into a passionate kiss, cradling the back of her head in his hand to hold her in place for each slant of his lips.

“I love you, Alice,” he rasped against her mouth. “My mate. Mine.”

She was dazed in seconds, her head swimming as he then bent her over his shoulder and lifted her off the floor to carry her away—and claim her.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Silas

Silas rushed from the Den with his mate over his shoulder, smoothly slithering at a pace that would be a jog if he were on legs, the chatter of the gala fading behind them.

Need so potent that it hurt was pounding through him, his cloacal muscles shivering to keep his cocks contained until they were at least in the elevator, though he would prefer if she saw them for the first time in his bedroom.

Their bedroom.

The elevator opened as soon as he jabbed the call button. Before getting on, he tilted Alice into a bridal carry, holding her firmly to his chest.

The glazed look in her eyes as she clung to him, panting, nearly had him bracing her back against the wall of the elevator with her skirt hiked up and her legs around his waist.

Instead, he tucked himself inside and used the tip of his tail to hit the button for the penthouse.

His fangs ached to eject, his venom sacs tingling as they filled with a variant of his normal toxin. It tasted different—smoother and slightly sweet.

“Please, Silas,” Alice softly begged. “I need you. I need you inside me.”

He held his next breath, straining to keep his slit shut, every part of him shuddering. Once he could breathe again, he touched his forehead to hers and squeezed out the words, “Soon, kitten.”

Soon, she would be so full of him she wouldn’t be able to think.

The elevator was mercifully swift. The second it opened, he carried her directly to their bedroom, stopping only to let her kick off her heels at the front door.

He had made the room ready for when he claimed his mate. Ever-burning red candles sat on every available surface. There were towels and bottled water by the bed, as well as a special item that would appear magical to her.

“Allow me to undress you,” he said as he set her on her feet.

“I want to do the same,” she replied, grasping the front of his tunic with a yearnful expression. “I want to see all of you.”

A wave of heat rolled up his body. “After you, kitten.”

She first helped him set aside his cuffs, earrings, mating gift, and circlet, then requested that he continue wearing the rest. “Or is that too greedy of me?”

“I like it when you’re greedy for me,” he purred. “You don’t have to hold back.”

She then removed his belt, biting her lip as she unhooked it and drew it away. His tunic sagged open, revealing the glistening line of his slit and the bulge trapped behind it.

Alice stared for a moment, panting. She then seemed to remember she was undressing him and reached up to push his tunic from his shoulders, leaving him in only his remaining jewelry.

“May I?” She glanced up at him, extending her hand toward his slit.

“Yes,” he rasped, expecting he wouldn’t last more than a second.