Page 16 of Taken By the Blood God

My heart began to race as Talant stood. His movements were slow and measured. Our eyes locked together in a battle of wills as he prowled toward me. Once again, he reminded me of a cat, but he was no tamed tabby. No, he stalked toward me with the predatory grace of a panther.

I didn’t try to evade him. Running from a cat on the hunt meant it would chase you down before it tore you apart.

No. I wouldn’t show him a single weakness.

My chin lifted as he got closer, stopping less than a foot away. I kept my gaze locked on his, refusing to back down an inch. Not that I had anywhere to go with the cabinets at my back.

He put his hands on the counter on either side of me, caging me between his arms. His wrists barely touched my sides, but I could still feel the heat from his skin seeping through my dress.

Talant leaned down until our faces were only a few inches apart. “Perhaps I’m not the one behaving like an asshole,” he murmured.

I laughed in his face, but he didn’t react at all. He merely studied me with those ruby and bronze eyes, his expression unreadable.

When I stopped laughing, he said, “You should remember who I am, little witch. And that my hearing is better than anyshifter or vampire you’ve met. Especially when you’re in the shower with your?—”

“I get the picture,” I snapped, lifting my hands to shove at his chest. My cheeks burned when I realized he knew what I’d done upstairs in my shower.

Talant didn’t move an inch. Instead, he leaned in, using his weight to pin my body against the cabinets and my hands to his pectorals. His fingers went from clasping the edge of the counter to gripping my hips. The hard bar of his dick pressed against my belly, and I felt a spasm deep in my pelvis at the sensation.

“If your body needs relief, I can certainly help you with that,” he purred, sounding exactly like a panther that caught his prey. “As many times as you need me to.”

My face heated. Goddess help me, I hated the way my body reacted to his touch. And his words.

I shoved him again, this time adding a boost from my magic.

Talant took a step back, his hands flexing on my hips.

“I prefer to be able to tolerate my lovers. Not actively loathe them.”

He stilled, his fingers losing their grip on my body. If I hadn’t been staring at him so closely, I would have missed the flash of pain that crossed his face. It was so brief that I wasn’t sure I saw it at all.

In a blink, Talant released me and stepped back. I reached behind myself to brace my hands on the counter. My knees were so weak I wasn’t sure they would hold me.

“You have the day to gather what you need. We leave tomorrow at first light,” he said.

Before I could remind him that I needed his brother’s true name, he left the kitchen. It was the second time in less than two hours that he’d walked away from me leaving me unsettled.

I thought I was beginning to understand him better, but it seemed I was wrong.

Talant was a puzzle I was no closer to solving.

Even though my instincts told me I should cut and run, I couldn’t resist putting the pieces of him together until they fit.

Chapter

Eight

Talant

The little witch despised me. It hurt more than it should have. I was a god. When at my full capabilities, I was one of the most powerful beings to ever walk this earth. Yet I couldn’t convince this woman to give me a chance. If my chest didn’t ache at the thought, I would have laughed. Cassia would have loved her.

I kept my distance the rest of the day, giving Minerva space. I wasn’t sure I could handle more of her sharp tongue just yet.

I knew from stories that Ally told me in the dreamscape that her aunt was funny. And generous. She was also kind. But she had yet to show me those sides of her—unless you counted her biting wit. While her observations were humorous, the way she viewed me sliced deep.

When I fell asleep that night, I could feel my brother calling for me. It was muted and far away, but I knew exactly where he was. I could sense his weakness. The constant drain on his magic was taking its toll.

I woke before first light and reached for my power. It had replenished to the level it had been before I dreamwalked to Davian. But it hadn’t grown as it should have.

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