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“I thought you were a dragon, Neo, not a vulture.” I tap my finger again, waiting.
Finally, he finishes and tilts his head toward me. “I wasn’t lying when I referenced your redassearlier, Elysia,” he purrs with an eager growl in his throat.
An instant tremor rocks through me. Defensive, I ball my hands into fists at my sides, thrust out my chest, and mouth off, calling his bluff, “You wouldn’t dare!”
When Neo sweeps out a small paddle from his inner robe, my blood runs cold. I can’t help but startle. I’ve already exhausted all my powers at the border. Precious little Halo light left. Dammit. Shit. Shit. Shit! And my whip-smart mouth.Or Thanatos…No, I obliterate that thought. The last thing I need is to owe him anything when he already woke me to the reality of Lux’s fingers.
Hissing and glaring, I dodge to the side. Neo blocks me, shadowing my movements with a cruel grin. “If you bend over like a good bride, I’ll switch to my hand.”
Jutting a finger at him, I command the Prince of Destruction, “You be a good demon and destroy that thing right now.” I back away but remember my training,histraining, and never take my eyes off the target.
Eyes narrowing, arrow-like, Neoptolemus takes one long stride toward me and steps onto the ends of the toga-like blankets. “Bendover, Princess.”
“Higher than you!” I yell. “If you think you’re using that thing on my fine ass, you’ve got another thing coming.”
“Youwill get what’s coming to you tonight, Elysia.”
Fuck!
Too drained mentally and physically, my Halo dims, I know I can’t fight him. I’m not ashamed to take flight. Not ashamed to spin and run. Until I remember he’s still standing on the blanket. It falls, collapsing around his feet.
Neo’s eyes darken, and he sweeps his gaze across my nudity, eyes dilating till they’re swollen. Fucker. All my muscles tense. No matter how much I shiver from my naked vulnerability, I refuse to leap for the blanket or cover myself. Instead, I summon his shades. They still obey me right before he suffuses them, scattering them from my form. Damn it, he looms toward me again.
“Come now, bride…your lovely gold skin should be honored to wear my bruises,” he taunts huskily. His eyes hunt mine as I take a few steps back, defensive hands raised while getting closer to my suite. “In this case, I’ll have you flush.” A muscle ticks in his cheek, silver veins flaring beneath his dark skin as his grin spreads.
The Halo responds to my terror. Adrenaline charges through me to gift me star-fire. After draping meager strips of gold to cover my privates, I curl my fingers to my chest and withdraw my whips. Neo pauses because he remembers nothing from that night. I deadpan.
“Thought all I had were pretty firebirds and gold rain from heaven, did you, Neo?”
“I’ll take you to the closet, woman. For some seven minutes in Hades.”
He lunges, launching his shades to wrap around my ankles. I come down hard. Unleashing my Halo whips, I bind them around his wrists and neck. Scrambling, I blaze my fire against his shades to smother them and try to get to my feet, but Neo’s already on his knees, jaw like rigid black steel from how my whips singe his flesh. My joy is short-lived.
A savageness overcomes his eyes. Every muscle in his body hardens like an iron buttress. Ice pushes into my veins, slowing my blood, slowing my adrenaline. It’s the first time I’ve ever been truly terrified of him. Something deep within me registers how different this scene would be if it was playful, sexual. Everything in me wishes it would be. Discipline in training vs. punishment for nothing.
With the deepest growl rumbling from his chest, Neo calls all his shades to battle my Halo. They break the bindings until they shower into gold flecks at his feet. He destroys all of them. I pant, on the verge of dropping.
Eyes gleaming, Neo cracks a dangerous grin. “When brides buck, they must be punished…byme.”
“Don’t do this, Neo. Neo. Neo!” I repeat his name, reminding him that he isnew,mynew. Something in his face softens, the tension in his jaw abating…a glimmer of reflection in his eyes? Hope ripples into my chest. Liquid warmth pools in my belly. Because he is still my husband, and we haven’t been this close—skin to skin and flesh to flesh—since our honeymoon.
So, I move toward him even as he closes the distance between us. “I vowed to protect you from danger. Evenmydanger. Protect me from yours,” I implore him. I appeal to him and heave a sigh, a whimper when he cups my shoulders, fingers tender and nestling on the edges of my neck.
For a moment, his lips part, and his head dips low to brush against mine. Hope swells in my chest. I close my eyes in a breath prayer…right before he pushes me over his knee until I fall, stomach collapsing onto his lap.
“You manipulative bastard!” I cry out when he destroys my resistance, when he uses his power against me—and puts his hand on my neck so I can barely breathe!
“You’ll have better words for me after this.” He raises the paddle while tears of anger burn my vision. “Especially when I’minsideyou…” he adds. And brings it down.
My chest lurches. I tense up, bracing for the pain. Some holy force arises from the soft gold strips I’d bound around my nether regions. They rear up and attack the degrading paddle, slicing right through it. They crack it in half, so it tumbles to the floor. I hear it thud.
“What the hell?”
I buck to the sound of Neo’s snarl. I thrash and snarl.
“Ha! I thoughtyouwere the hard ass,” I shout with a wild laugh. “But that’ll teach you to spankmydie-hard ass!”
I kick my legs but find Neo’s hand has replaced that paddle, cupping my backside even as I struggle. Rage pulses through my blood. I don’t stop bucking for anything. Yes, ever since he admitted to his desire to suck and spank my bare ass, I’ve fantasized about his dark hand cupping my glowing golden bottom, imparting pain and pleasure and drowning out the voices of my demons. But not like this.
