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Tears pricked my eyes. I wasn’t sure why. I wasn’t scared of Mrak, not really. I also didn’t like fighting with him. But after a year of relative bliss, it seemed like everything was falling apart.
“What do you want, Aisling?”Mrak asked as his tendrils finished gathering at my neck and shoulders. A strange embrace. Intimidating, but not aggressive.
“I don’t know.” Which was true because in that moment, I could no more decide what I needed from Mrak than I could deal with what he really was.
“I can’t be the virtuous hero you might’ve wanted,”Mrak said as his presence drew closer.
I relaxed having him so close again, until the feel of an ethereal body was pressed against mine—larger than mine, immensely larger. Intimidating in its stature.
“But Icanpromise you protection, affection, and a throne. Because, Aisling, despite my cruelty to others, despite my willful ignoring of your request—done in order to keep you safe—I do love you. I care for you in a way I did not expect to care for a human mortal.”
Mrak felt so close now, his presence so strong that I could have sworn he was physically here beside me. Like I could reach out and finally actually touch him.
I licked my lips and tried to find the words I wanted to say. But all that my mind could think of was what Leif had warned. Like I had to say it to put all the cards on the table. “When you open the portal to Kithonia, more demons and monsters will spill into this world, won’t they?”
“Yes.”
“Will they be under your control or their own?”
Mrak’s ethereal lips brushed mine. I inhaled sharply, trying to stay focused on the questions I wanted answers to.“Mine if I retake the throne. They will come to this world and they will spread, but I can command them not to harm innocents.”
“But if they feed on pain and death like you do, they won’t survive.”
Mrak’s ethereal tendrils coalesced into large claws again, now sliding up my abdomen as though he were standing in front of me. It was always dizzying not knowing where he’d touch next.“We can rid the world of evil, Aisling. Of the people who cause pain, of every vampire feeding community and the suffering those cause. My kind will be hungry. They will devour those who are evil and your world will prosper for it. And you’ll be their queen.”
I had to admit, I loved the sound of every vampire feeding community on this planet being destroyed. Of every victim being rescued and freed. And now that I thought about it, every time Mrak had taken over my body and killed someone, it had been a vampire who had intended me harm—and likely would have harmed others, too. Gods knew Hunter had hurt so many.
Mrak’s methods were questionable and cruel, but his intentions made sense.
I nodded in small motions, trying to work up a response. Because today had been a whirlwind and I kind of just wanted it all to stop. “I understand now.”
“Good,”Mrak said as his lips captured mine in a searing kiss that sent electric shocks of pleasure straight to my core. I rocked forward into his presence, trying to get as close as possible despite his incorporeal form. I felt naked before him always, especially now, as if nothing in my mind and soul was a mystery to him.
Unfortunately, that didn’t go both ways.
I pulled back and held up my hand. “I will help you return to Kithonia. I’ll help you create the world you want. But you need to never lie to me again. No more secrets. No more taking over my body without permission. Just truth. The world you want to create is one I would love to see.”
Mrak kissed me again, and then once on my forehead.“Your wish is my command, Aisling. Together, we will rule both worlds.”
I felt his claws slide up and roughly grasp my breasts as his lips seared mine again. My breath hitched, feeling everything all at once. His presence. His touch. The magic binding us together. I was so swept away by all of it that when I was suddenly lifted off the ground by what appeared to be nothing, no words came to exclaim my surprise.
Mrak carried me from the front of the workshop into the studio apartment at the back, never once letting his lips fall from mine. Only when he dropped me unceremoniously on my bed did his full form flicker into view. A massive, hulking shadow creature with six red, glowing eyes. Mrak was easily eight feet tall, towering over me, but I’d never felt safer in my life.
Mrak wasn’t able to keep his form solid. It kept flickering. But his touch, his kiss, never drifted away as he leaned me back over the bed, my body pressed beneath him. Pinned. Locked there. The idea of it sent an excited shiver through my body. I couldn’t imagine anywhere else I’d have rather been.
Mrak slashed down with a shadowed claw, cutting away my clothes before throwing them off the side of the bed. And then I really was naked before him. I saw his wide, white smile grow before his form flickered out again.
“You are so beautiful, Aisling.”
Without seeing his form anymore, I had no warning when his lips pressed kisses between my breasts. Nor when his mouth focused on one. I moaned, my back arching as pleasure racked me.
I reached up to grab hold of him, but there was nothing there. Frustration bloomed within me even while an ache built between my thighs. “I want to touch you. This isn’t fair.”
Mrak slid an ethereal claw along my inner thigh, teasing right up to my core.“I think this is rather entertaining.”His claw ran measured, firm circles, unrelenting. It stole my breath and curled my toes.
I reached for him again. After all the truths that’d come to light, after every intense encounter throughout the last year, this was all I wanted. To touch him. To feel him with my own hands.
“Mrak, please,” I nearly begged.
