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“Ransom,” she says, voice thick with sleep. “Where are we?”
Blaze stretches luxuriously, the move drawing the material of her shirt taut across her breasts. The memory of how they taste makes me instantly hard and I shift my weight, concealing the fact in the coverlet. I don’t want her to misconstrue my intentions. As much as I want to be inside her, it’s not why I brought her to my room. I crave the closeness of her more than the feeling of her around my cock. To my surprise, she lifts a hand, gently stroking it down my arm. Anywhere her fingers brush, flames come to sudden life inside me, eliciting a glow that lights one small corner of our room.
“Your marks are so much brighter than mine,” she murmurs. “Why?”
“Because I’ve embraced this,” I say quietly. “Embraced the fact you’re my mate. You’re still unsure of me.”
Something flickers behind her eyes. Fear? Defiance? Anger? I don’t know human emotions well enough to read her. That’s Maddox’s area of expertise. He’s more of a diplomat than I am. He’s a hell of a lot better at it than Axion, whose stiff demeanor tends to put women off until they can get to know him. I wish she knew the king as I do. Perhaps she wouldn’t dislike him so thoroughly if she knew what he was like before.
“I don’t believe in fate,” she says shortly.
I raise a brow at her. “What do you mean?”
She gestures to the space separating us. “This thing between us. And the whole Chosen thing. I don’t believe in it.”
“But you have powers.”
She nods. “I can’t deny that I have powers. There are tests to show it’s true. But I don’t believe in a hand that guides everyone to a foregone conclusion. Our choices matter. It’s what makes us people, not pawns. Some of the others might believe in that bullshit, but I don’t. If I’m going to be with you, it’s because Ichoose to be with you.Not because of some mate bond or your pheromones or some unknown force pulling us together.”
A pang shoots through me. “Are you saying you reject our mating on principle?”
The idea hurts more than I think it should. It’s reasonable, considering how we came to be tied together, but the rejection stings more than a thousand harpies clawing at my back. Her gaze softens and she lifts her hand to cup my cheek, drawing my face down to her. Her lips are petal-soft when she presses them to mine.
“No, I’m saying you need to give me a little time, Ransom. If I’m with someone forever, I want it to be real, not some mind trick or some trick of fate pushing us together. If I make love to you, it should come from my heart not just my libido or some bond that’s forcing us together.”
“Make love?” I frown at the unfamiliar words, sounding them out. They don’t make sense to me.
Blaze’s scarlet brows scrunch down over her eyes as a smile steals her lips. “Yes, making love. It’s basically sex that means more. Something that creates a connection between two people. Haven’t you ever made love with someone before?”
I just stare at her. I can’t understand what she’s getting at. Sex is my purpose. It would still be my purpose if we’d never encountered Lycaon and been dragged into his war. I’ve had spirited bouts with females that I enjoyed, certainly. They’re distant memories, drowned by all the unpleasant encounters I’ve had since, but what she’s saying doesn’t fit with any of my willing encounters either.
She smiles sadly at me before she takes my face in both hands, kissing me again. When she draws away, her breath comes out in a shuddering exhale. I can hear her sadness in the choked sound of her voice.
“No one has ever given anything but a fuck for you, have they?”
“No,” I agree, because at least that much is true. Fucking is all I know.
Blaze leans her weight against me, guiding me down onto the coverlet with infinite care before kissing me again. I expect her to mount me like a stallion and ride my cock to completion. It’s already hard for her. I don’t mind the position as much when she’s the one on top. But she doesn’t shove my pants down and climb on top of me. Instead, she kisses and strokes her way leisurely down my body, teasing me almost to the point of madness.
“What are you doing?” I ask when she finally frees my cock from the flimsy human trousers I’m wearing.
Something wicked glints in the blue of her eyes as she rolls my balls between her supple hands. I groan, head rolling back at the sensation.
“I’m not going to take from you, Ransom. I’m going to give something and ask nothing in return. You deserve to be taken care of.”
Her mouth closes over my cock a moment later and I buck up into the warm slickness of her heat with a moan.
I could get used to being taken care of.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
AXION
Blaze has snuggled close to Ransom, linking her arm with his when she thinks none of us are looking.
She seems amused by the pace at which he’s consuming his meal, hardly pausing to chew the slabs of meat, too eager to get something into his stomach to care if he chokes. We haven’t eaten well in weeks, too busy pursuing this Chosen to bother with more than a squirrel or hare every few days. We were too on guard to indulge at Carmine’s castle in Ascor, but now their appetites have returned with a vengeance. Maddox is eating slower but has cleared more than one plate already and is almost finished with his second.
I’ve hardly touched my food, which is a shame. The meat is slathered in a tangy sauce. It’s some water fowl, so fatty that its juices spray everywhere with each indulgent bite. Even the most dainty eater would look like a savage trying to consume it, and neither of my men approach the meaning of the word. I settle for nibbling on the greens, a handful of bitter herbs that taste exactly the way I feel. Ground down and unpleasant. I know what has to come next. I’ve embraced it as a possibility since we first concocted the plan, but it still turns my stomach. This isn’t the way I want things to go. But we’re out of time and options. Lady Death’s territory is a hub that connects to all other worlds. The fastest way to Cyllene is to pass through and there’s only one currency she’ll accept to ferry our band through.
