Those months spun in his memory. Reverberated in his ears. Rushed through his veins. The crack of a whip snapping in the darkness. The sting of the leather slicing into his flesh. The cold metal of the shackles tightening against his wrists. The chains jerking his arms high over his head. The hot, wicked sensation of those nymphs’ fingers gliding along his overheated skin. And a release he hadn’t known he’d craved hovering out of his grasp, impossible to reach. All thanks to her.
Blood pounded in his veins. Anger and rage and desperation coalesced. That energy snapped and sizzled in his hands until he couldn’t hold it back anymore. “Stupid move, female.” He closed his hand around her wrist and yanked. “I warned you.”
She gasped and fell into him. But before she could pull away, he turned and dragged her behind him.
“Nick…”
He headed for the tunnel on the left, wrapped his fingers around the first set of steel bars he came to, and threw the door open.
He flung her into the dark holding cell and stepped in after her.
She hit the stone wall, turned quickly, and looked back, her wide eyes searching the darkness, trying to find him. “Wh—what is this place?”
“Our version of a drunk tank. Never used until now. Fucking poetic, if you ask me.”
She sucked in a breath as he drew close, but didn’t struggle when he grasped her arm, yanked it upward, and snapped a metal cuff high on the wall over her wrist. Didn’t once turn away while he reached for her left arm, jerked that one up as well, and snapped the second cuff over her other wrist.
That shadow energy hummed and rolled inside as he stepped back. Thanks to his enhanced senses, he could see her. See her well, even in utter darkness. His gaze slid over her newly dark hair, the white, almost angelic sweater falling open at her chest, the tips of her breasts pressing against the soft cotton, and her slim hips and long legs encased in the formfitting jeans. Arousal stirred in his belly, mixed with the darkness, then slinked downward until he was hard as stone.
“Nick. Listen to me.” Her hands curled into fists. “I—”
“What did you say to me in that cell when you brought those nymphs to me?” Power rippled in his veins as he braced his hands on the stones beside her head and moved in so close his body was a breath from hers.
“I—”
He brushed the tip of his nose against her ear and lowered his voice to a menacing whisper. “I think it was something along the lines of…this isn’t a game.”
She swallowed hard.
He drew in a deep whiff of jasmine that supercharged his blood. And when she shivered at the slight brush of his nose against her neck, that arousal grew inside until it was a roar in his ears, blocking out everything else but her.
“But it is,” he whispered, letting the edge of his lips skim her lobe. “The gods fuck with our lives because to them we’re nothing more than a game. And I’m finally ready to play along. I wonder, how long will you be able to hold out? When will you break? How long do I get to torment you before you give in and beg me to finish you for good?”
She swallowed again, then shifted her weight, standing more upright against the rocks at her back. “You can do whatever you want to me. We both know I deserve it.”
She did. She was right. But the fact she’d admitted it drew him back, just enough so he could see her eyes. So he could see the lies brewing in the depths of her soul.
They weren’t there, though. What lingered in her unfocused gaze as it darted around the darkness was excitement. And determination. And just a hint of fear.
The excitement and fear aroused him even more. She wanted this. She liked being manhandled. But her defiance confused him. And his inability to read her set off an odd tingle in the center of his chest.
He pushed away from the wall. Gave his head a swift shake and reminded himself she’d chosen to be with Zagreus. She’d directed torture. She’d kept him from his people. She was at the root of every bit of pain and misery swirling inside him.
He reached for the hem of her sweater, jerked it up her arms, and yanked it over her head, letting it bunch between her shoulder blades. She held her breath but didn’t move. And as his gaze ran over her once more, his body pulsed with a wicked thrill while he took in every delectable inch of her caramel skin contrasting against her stark white bra and the waistband of her fitted jeans.
“You do deserve this.” Shifting his legs to the outside of both of hers, he placed his fingers on the soft skin of her belly. Her muscles jerked, and her stomach caved in. He wrapped his hands around her rib cage, lowered his nose back to her neck, and drew in a deep breath. “I just wonder how much you can take.”
He bent his head, blew hot against her sensitive flesh as he trailed his nose along the length of her neck, over her collarbone, then down into the valley between her breasts. A tiny tremor ran through her. Opening his mouth, he bit into her bra and ripped the fabric with his teeth.