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

Chapter 16

Von

S he was standing at the sink, the sink I never used.

The sink that I had installed when I was a hopeful young god who dared to wish that I might someday find my mate. The same sink that I had grown to hate over time, because whenever I looked at it, I was reminded that the other half of my soul was missing. That, perhaps, I would never find her.

That was the sink she was standing at.

At that moment, my knees did something they had never done before—they buckled. They buckled at the sight of her—the Goddess of Life, my bonded , my mate —standing at the sink I had installed for her long before her creation.

It was always meant to be hers.

And if someone would have asked me if waiting all those years to see her standing there was worth it, without hesitation, I would have said yes.

A thousand times over .

I took in her naked, beautiful frame—appreciating her and all that she was.

My Little Goddess.

My gaze ran over the curvature of her sexy little bottom, ripe and swollen and oh so fucking bitable. The tattoo of my teeth marks lingered there.

I bit my bottom lip, half inclined to give her a matching nip on the other side.

Slowly, my gaze drifted upwards, lingering on the adorable twin dimples set in her lower back. I traced her spine, all the way up to her slender shoulders. She had her face glued to the mirror, pulling up her top lip as she tapped the sharp point of her canine.

What are you doing? I asked across our bond.

Her eyes met mine in the mirror, and then she dropped her hands, a light-pink hue tinging her cheeks. “I—” She swallowed and then turned to me, her supple breasts snagging my attention. She walked towards me.

Oh yes, I’d bite those too. I’d sink my teeth into every inch of her. Sink myself into every inch of her. Until she was consumed by me. Just as I was with her.

My fingers slipped under her chin and I tipped her face upwards. “What is it?”

“My teeth.” She lifted her upper lip, showing me. “Something is wrong with them.”

“Wrong with them?” I chuckled softly, the sound more breath than laugh. I shook my head. “There is nothing wrong with your teeth. All New Gods’ fangs elongate when they wish to feed.” That was one of the differences between Old Gods and New. Ours remained permanently long and sharp. The space between my brows crinkled. “Don’t tell me you have gone this long without your teeth ever doing so?”

I couldn’t fathom that.

The life essence of another, whether it was blood or ichor—terms that were linked to either mortal or immortal yet were sometimes used interchangeably—was necessary for us immortals. Although we would not die if we went without it for a long period of time, we could grow incredibly weak and frail, to the point we would lose bodily functions.

But here she was, standing before me. Sure, her ribs were a bit more prominent than I would like, but she seemed perfectly healthy otherwise.

“I know that New Gods’ teeth lengthen when they feed,” she huffed at me. “Aurelius’s would when he drank from me.”

Jealousy, potent and raw, vibrated throughout my body at the mention of that fucker drinking from her. Immediately, I regretted not leaving him locked in my dungeon with Marishka, my monstrous tarantula, after the Immortal War ended.

Aurelia made a strange face, as if she tasted something funny on her tongue. She shook her head, her expression returning to normal. “But mine don’t do that. They never have,” she said, her hand shooting up as she began to press the pad of her thumb against the sharp tip of her right incisor.

“Then how did you feed?” Surely, she had to. I caressed her cheek, my hand dwarfing her face. I marveled at the size difference between the two of us, at the way my inked hand looked against her porcelain skin.

It was a visual I would never get enough of.

She quit tapping her tooth. “Aurelius would typically have his ichor infused in my food and wine. On rare occasions, he would bite his wrist or dig his claws into his chest and have me drink from him, but I never actually bit him.”

Something about what she had just said did not sit well with me. I didn’t like the idea of him putting his ichor in her food and wine any more than I liked the idea of her drinking from him. Whether that was due to my own territorial nature or if it was something more, I wasn’t quite sure.

“Is this the first time your canines have lengthened?” I asked.

“It is,” she confirmed with a single nod.

As much as I wanted to revel in this new information—that my mate’s canines had lengthened for the first time when her lips were against my neck—I couldn’t. It wasn’t normal for an immortal’s teeth to take hundreds of years to erect. Pair that with the fact that her divinity seemed dormant as fuck when her body needed to heal, I felt even more uneasy.

Sometimes, her body acted more mortal than immortal, and in some ways, that scared the shit out of me.

Eyes as deep as the sea met mine. “How do I make them go away?”

A smile tugged at my lips. Damn, she was adorable. “Why do you want them to?”

Her brows pressed together. “They look ridiculous.”

“I disagree.”

She shot me an unimpressed look, pushed me away, and went back to the mirror.

The chain between us gave a gallant pull, but I ignored it, letting her have her space for the time being.

“Why don’t you like them?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest .

Her eyes met mine in the reflection of the mirror. “Because . . . they are barbaric.”

“Barbaric?” I snorted. “They are a way of life for us, a means of ensuring good health.”

“There are other ways to feed.”

“Ah yes, through a gilded goblet. You New Gods are such refined, well-mannered beings,” I teased.

“We are,” she said with a playful smile—unintentionally showing me her lovely little fangs again. “Unlike you uncivilized Old Gods.”

“We are an exceedingly brutal species,” I agreed, circling behind her.

“Primitive too,” she added in a sultry tone, eyes tracking my movement.

“Heathens to the core.” My shadow draped over her as I placed my hands on the counter, on either side of her, locking her in my cage.

“Ruthless and cruel.” She stole a shaky breath of air, as if I had chased it from her lungs.

“Possessive of what is ours ,” I purred before I lowered my mouth to her skin, kissing the tender spot between her neck and her shoulder where I had bitten her yesterday. The wound was now healed, courtesy of hers truly. Mouth busy, I pushed a question across our private channel. Do you like it when this heathen’s teeth are deep in your pristine flesh?

Her lips parted ever so slightly.

I nipped at her playfully, pushing another thought across. Perhaps— I pressed my hardened length against her— you would like this heathen’s cock instead?

She gasped—the sound feminine. Sexy. A small tease of what was to come—

And by that, I meant her.

Her desire-filled eyes met mine in the mirror’s reflection as she purred through our bond, And if I want both?

“Then both you shall have.” I twisted her sleek, white hair, roping it around my heavily inked arm, using it as leverage as I guided her forward against the counter. She gasped as the cool glass touched her skin. “Spread your legs for me, Kitten. Show me if you are wet enough to take my cock.”

She paused, hesitant at first, but then she obeyed, widening her stance, giving me better access to her.

I looked down, eyeing her pretty, swollen sex—

So fucking breedable.

“Mmm,” I growled in approval, biting my bottom lip.

I sank a ringed finger into her for further inspection. When I pulled it out, it glistened in her arousal.

“Such a good girl,” I praised. “Getting yourself ready for me.”

She watched through the mirror as I brought my finger to my mouth, sucking on the sweet, crisp taste of her, sampling her like an appetizer. She tasted just as she did in the forest, like an apple—my favorite thing to eat. Even her arousal was designed to appeal to me.

She was a lethal trap. One I was eager to feel clenched around me.

I was thankful for her incredible long legs bringing her sex so close to mine. It required a bit of angling on my part, but nothing I couldn’t work with.

“Your body was made for mine,” I said, running my hand over her ass, giving it a playful swat before I guided her back up. My pants and boots were dissolved by my shadows, revealing my naked body behind hers. Blue eyes raked over what she could see in the reflection of the mirror. Her scent became even more potent, and my mouth watered in response.

“Please, Death,” she pleaded, the sound driving me wild. I could hear her blood pounding beneath her skin, singing for me, begging me to take it.

“My desperate little mate. So in need of me,” I mused as I reached for my length.

Within seconds, I had my cock and teeth buried in her as I took her against the sink that was always meant to be hers. I swallowed her sweet ichor in greedy mouthfuls, pulling it from her veins. Two rivers of gold blood dribbled down her neck, my fingers sweeping over them, smearing the gold across her breasts, dirtying her pristine little body.

I wanted her filthy— thrust —I wanted her shaking— thrust —I wanted her to understand that now that she’d let me in, she’d never get me out.

Her eyelids were drooping, weighed down by the intensity of her lust and the blood I had taken from her. Her lips parted, panting and moaning as I drove inside of her again and again and again.

She was a work of art. A thing of beauty. One that I simultaneously wanted everyone and no one to see. It was a conflicting feeling. On one hand, I wanted everyone to know that she had been claimed by me—how pretty she looked when she was writhing on my cock. How it turned her into this carnal creature, stripping her of all her proper bullshit and reducing her to this —

My needy little female.

But then, the thought of anyone else seeing her like this was enough to make me want to destroy every living, breathing thing—to rip all other life to shreds and mate with her in the ashes just to prove a point of who she belonged to.

I slid my fangs from her neck as my hand clasped her cheeks, lifting her face. I pulled her attention to herself in the mirror. “Look how beautiful you look when my cock is inside of your tight little cunt, making you writhe, making you moan,” I purred in her ear. “Look how beautiful you look when I’m fucking you.”

“Yes,” she moaned, blue eyes meeting their own reflection. She clenched around me.

Her eyelids threatened to close as her body tensed underneath mine. She cried out for her salvation as I stole it from her, wrenching her orgasm out of her with my deep, powerful thrusts. As she pulsed around me, shaking and screaming, my cock swelled and I released my seed, drowning her quivering sex.

When we both came down, I pulled out of her, her sweet little walls clenching tightly around me, refusing to give me up. I smirked at that, but my lips fell flat as I watched my seed leak out of her.

I clicked my tongue in disapproval. “Although that is a pretty sight, that simply will not do.”

“What?” she asked in her dreamy contentment.

I spun her around and lifted her onto the counter.

“What are you doing?” she asked softly, her voice sultry and sedated. Curious.

I swept my fingers along her slit, gathering my cum. “Putting this back where it belongs, sweetheart.” I pressed my fingers into her core, pushing my seed up as far as my fingers could reach. I worked her like that, over and over, until she was moaning again.

Until she was climaxing again, coming on my fingers.

Afterwards, I lifted her from the counter. She clung onto me like I was the last thing tethering her to this world, her body shaking, fading. I carried her towards the wall, lowering her back down on her feet.

“Death,” she said, her voice soft—sedated. Her head bobbed, her eyelids threatening to close. I hadn’t taken that much of her ichor and yet she seemed almost intoxicated right now—drunk on blood loss and the aftermath of her lust. The way her body was behaving reminded me of a mortal’s.

How peculiar.

Gently, I lifted her head. “Feed, from me, little one.” I held my wrist to her mouth in offering. “I’m not done pleasuring you yet.”

Her wet tongue pressed against my arm and then her canines sunk in—the pleasure of it far exceeding the pain. My powerful blood thrummed to the surface as she began to drink. Her desperate hands swarmed to my forearm, keeping it there as her suckling became more ravenous, her energy returning to her. A toxic mixture of pride and satisfaction swarmed in my chest as I fed her my blood—something I had never experienced before until I met her. I had no idea providing for her would feel like this . . . feel this good.

Fuck.

My length turned to granite.

“Good girl,” I grunted in praise as I captured her thigh and lifted her leg, eager to be joined with her once more.