Between the Moon and Her Night (Between Life and Death #3)

Chapter 15

Aurelia

A cool draft whispered through my subconscious, luring me from the embrace of sleep. That same light touch of air strolled across my bare shoulder as if someone were walking their fingers over it. The sensation changed from light to something harsher—like a cold bit of metal was being run along my sensitive, heated skin. The touch was intimate. So intimate it sent a shiver skittering down the span of my back, straight to my sex.

I was suddenly all too aware of the molten heat building between my thighs, accompanied by a dull, nagging ache.

“Are you dreaming of me, Kitten?” purred a primal voice.

Startled, my eyelids flickered open.

Sitting on the ledge of a ceiling-scraping, arched window, directly across from me, was the masculine silhouette of a predator .

Amethyst light bathed his bare, heavily muscled shoulders, teasing a small glimpse of the inky markings that lingered on his skin. It caught on his onyx mane, tugged up into a warrior’s top knot, while cloaking his features in shadow. Leather pants hugged his muscular thighs, accompanied by a pair of combat boots. A nearly devoured apple sat in his palm. He raised it to his mouth, his teeth slicing into the ripe fruit as he severed off the last chunk. Even though I couldn’t see his eyes, I could tell they were fixed on me.

While he watched me, I surveyed my surroundings.

I was in an enormous bedchamber, dimly lit by a crackling, roaring fire, bathing obsidian walls in a sensual red. The fireplace was forged of bones—skulls, femurs, and ribs, encased in a layer of silver. Surrounding it was a settee flanked by adjacently placed wingback chairs, a coffee table sat in the middle. My gaze swept back to the canopy bed I was lying on, large enough to fit a pair of expanded wings. Onyx-dyed silk hung from the canopy, the same fabric mirrored in the luxurious sheets that surrounded me. A bar area was to my left, the shelves behind it lined with unmarked bottles—most likely full of spirits.

Spirits . . .

My eyes darted from one window to another. Finding the same answer repeated over and over again. Outside, there was an ominous, dark, moody sky. A sky that was not forged of azure—no, it was of a foreboding amethyst.

“You brought me to the Spirit Realm,” I snarled at him, jerking up onto my elbow.

“I did,” Death replied .

“Unbelievable.”

“ You made a deal,” he reminded me, as if that were reason enough. It wasn’t.

“One you forced me into,” I bit back, my tongue a blade, sharpened and ready to cut.

He scoffed. “I forced you into nothing. You agreed of your own volition.”

“What choice did I have?”

“You could have said no,” he teased in that cocky, arrogant tone that made me want to punt him out the window.

“ As if it were that simple! I thought I was doing the right thing by trading my freedom for Aurelius’s.”

Death flashed his white canines. “And how did that work out for you, sweetness? You traded your soul to the King of the Spirit Realm just so that worthless asshole could crawl back to his. And what did he do to repay you? Oh, that’s right, he cut down your orchard.”

My blood boiled beneath my skin, my head feeling like a dried-up pot that had been left too long over the fire, ready to explode. But I held it in, reasoning that I didn’t have to put up with this— or him. The arrogant jerk.

My eyes shifted around the room, landing on the balcony doors.

“Don’t even think about it,” he warned. “The Living Realm is no longer safe for you now that you pulled that little disappearing act of yours and wounded me in front of Nicholas and Malachai. They know that you are my weakness, something Nicholas will tell Aurelius. When he does, Aurelius will stop at nothing to get you back. From now on, you will stay here, under my protection. ”

When I flung those daggers and ran, I knew that there was a chance I might be exposing the truth to Nicholas and Malachai, but I had been shoved into a corner and forced to decide within seconds. And so, I chose—I chose myself, damning the consequences in the process. And yes, it might have been stupid and brash, but I was desperate. And desperate people did desperate, stupid things.

Was that why he was adamant about keeping me here? So that I couldn’t be weaponized against him? It was a question that begged to be asked.

“Confining me here . . .” I looked at him. “Is that for my safety or yours?”

“Yours.”

“And if I choose to leave?”

The air shifted.

“Then I will hunt you down and drag that fine little ass of yours back here,” he said slowly—as if he wanted me to taste each word. The way he made it sound—an invitation and a warning.

I swallowed, trying to find my backbone—which tended to disappear all too easily with him. “So I’m a prisoner then.”

The dark god snorted in mockery. “Although I quite enjoy when you are in my chains, no, you are not a prisoner here.”

“So then, what am I?”

“My future bride.”

“And if I don’t want to be?”

He shrugged a large shoulder. “It’s a bit late for that.”

I huffed. Insufferable male.

Pressing off against the window, he strolled towards me—his gait a lazy, powerful prowl. He tossed the apple core over his shoulder. Shadows swam abound, chewing up the remnants of fruit—seeds and all—before it had a chance to touch the ground.

I shot upright, the silk sheet drifting down my body—grazing against my sensitive skin. A desperate little sound bloomed on my tongue, a whimper that was more animal than human. A plea.

I was horrified. Confused.

What in the Spirit Realm was that? my inner voice asked.

The tips of Death’s long canines snatched my attention as his lips twisted into a smile.

It’s your body’s way of summoning mine, his chest-deep voice answered inside my head.

My breathing became erratic, his voice conjuring liquid heat to pool low. I bit my bottom lip, trapping the next desperate sound before it could escape. I swallowed it down.

What is happening to me?

“Why can I hear you inside my head?” I asked, snatching up the sheet and covering myself with it—ignoring the feel of it against my skin and how my body was screaming for more friction.

Friction that only he could provide.

His massive hands, full of ink and rings, propped on the bed as he leaned forward. The shadows parted from his face, revealing—

His eyes. They were no longer a bottomless black.

They were full of the most incredible color I had ever seen.

Like leaves in late spring, after the rains had come. A beautiful, opulent, vibrant . . . green.

“You can hear me because we are bonded, Little Goddess ,” he purred, reaching for a tendril of my hair, trapping it between his thumb and forefinger. “We are now connected through an ever-flowing channel—a private river vein that belongs only to us, where we are able to communicate silently with one another.”

My heart thumped against my chest. Bonded ?

“That’s impossible.” I shook my head. “Aurelius said that the bond didn’t exist.” As soon as the words fell out of my mouth, the aftertaste of deceit blossomed on my tongue.

I was an idiot. A gullible, stupid idiot.

After Aurelius and I consummated our marital life, he had been nothing but frustrated after. As it was my first time and I hadn’t completely understood the pleasures of the flesh, I thought that I had displeased him. He assured me that I hadn’t. The following day, he had a group of healers brought into our chambers to run a variety of health checks on me. I couldn’t make a lick of sense from their poking and prodding. After they left, Aurelius brushed off my questions with a kiss to my forehead. He told me that he was only concerned about my health due to my deal with the God of Death. And like a love-sick puppy dog, I licked his lie right up. After that day, I didn’t see Aurelius for a few weeks, and when he finally returned, he told me that he had been busy working with council members, as they were making crucial amendments to the laws of the Immortal Realm, but I was never told exactly what for. It wasn’t until a few months later, when I overheard some ladies gossiping in the halls about the new rules regarding the bond. It was not to be spoken of anymore and doing so would result in arrest.

Now, it all made sense. Aurelius’s frustration. The change of law.

He was angry that the bond had not formed between us, but now . . .

I looked at the deliciously handsome god who was preoccupied with a ribbon of my hair—void of mud, sparkling white, and brushed.

Had Death bathed me? Brushed my hair? I should find that thought revolting, considering I had been unconscious, and yet I didn’t. I felt . . . cared for. Never mind that, there were more pressing matters at hand like—

That’s what the constant pull was between us. Like a rope tethered to us both, always trying to bring us together. Even when I hated him, the feeling had been there.

Fated.

Bonded.

Complete.

His green eyes met mine, and just seeing that color there made me swell with pride and—

“You are my mate,” I choked out, equal parts dumbfounded and astonished at this revelation. I couldn’t understand why I hadn’t realized it before. Tears pricked my eyes, blurring my vision.

He let go of the tendril of hair and sat on the bed beside me, long legs stretching out. Strong arms pulled me onto his lap with ease. Rough fingertips tipped my chin up, bringing my gaze to his. “As you are mine,” he said, his thumb brushing over my bottom lip.

His body felt so good against mine. His muscles. His warmth.

His dark, unparalleled masculinity. Speaking of—

I could feel his erection pressed firmly against my bottom.

That familiar hunger began to build. Not one of the stomach—no, it was one of the flesh. And like a wildfire feeding on acres of dead brush, it began to consume me.

Control me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was turning around, straddling myself on his lap. My legs spread wide on either side of him, aligning my sex with his—his pants were the only thing that separated us. My hands started wandering all over his phenomenal body, exploring his hardness while my lips found his strong, sturdy neck. He tipped his chiseled jaw upwards, giving me better access while his fingers wove playfully in my hair. I lapped and suckled, feeling the powerful swell of veins beneath— filling with blood for me .

The Blood King would bleed for no one else, only me.

I scraped my teeth along his skin, right over the rose tattooed on the side of his neck.

Drink from me , he spoke through our bond.

My canines elongated and—

My canines elongated!

I jerked back, my eyelids flaring wide.

Death’s black brows knitted together. “What’s wrong?”

I covered my face as I scampered off him, off the bed, and raced to the doorless frame that led into the bathing room. The room matched the dark aesthetic of the monstrous bedchamber, complete with twin sinks and a bathing pool large enough to fit ten people in it. The gently moving waters reflected on the glass-top ceiling, painting it in a wavy, blue glow.

I peered at myself in the mirror, flipping up my top lip and inspecting the sharp incisors. I poked at my lengthened canines.

In my hundreds of years of being a goddess, that had never happened before.