Page 33 of Blood Sacrifice

I shot her a filthy look. “You weren’t doing anything to discourage that idiot back there,” I snapped.

“Did you want me to curse him? Turn him into a frog? Maybe give him warts?” Luna asked, her eyebrows rising as she spoke.

“All of those sound appealing,” I replied. “The asshole was practically having sex with you in his head. He was already starting to undress you.”

Luna grinned, biting into her crispy snack. “You know as well as I do, you don’t have to undress to have sex.”

My head cut in her direction and I glared at her while she continued to pop chips in her mouth. I only moved my attention back to the road when a horn made me realise I had veered over the central line.

I knew only too well that sex didn’t have to be skin sliding against skin, although that was definitely preferable. On more than one occasion, Luna and I had little time, and our rendezvous was nothing more than her priestess robes being lifted up as she braced herself against the wall. The passion that burned between us had been all-consuming in its intensity, making us reckless since nothing mattered but finding my way to Luna.

I growled lowly in my chest. “I hate when I can scent another male’s arousal near you,” I finally muttered, hating that I admitted that fact.

Her sigh echoed around the car and clutched my heart. “Salvator, I tend not to crawl on the counter and open my legs in every store where the worker gets a little flirtatious,” she said.

The image of her lying on the ground in that pose with her hand held out to me flashed through my mind and my foot pressed the accelerator down, the car lurching forward. My problem was that the longer I spent with Luna, the more I craved her. I wanted to stop the car and bury myself so deep in her that we were one entity instead of two people.

“I can’t help my reactions,” I responded, trailing my fingers through my hair. “You might not view us as being together, but my wolf knows you are our mate.”

She turned in her seat to sit and watch me. “That was a different lifetime, Salvator,” she said in a soft voice. “I waited for you, living on just the other side of the border of the empire. I grieved your loss, the loss of our relationship, and our future together.”

My heart felt like it was going to shrivel up and die in my chest. “I searched for you, seeking a witch to activate the magic in this quartz so I could track you.” My rage began to thrum through my veins. “I trusted them to help me since you were a sister witch, and they fucking lied to me.” I slammed my fist down on the steering wheel and it cracked under the force.

A gasp sounded from beside me, and I pulled the car to the side of the road and stopped.

“Fuck!” I almost screamed.

We sat in silence while my pulse pounded in my ears and my wolf howled in rage and hatred as he protested what had been stolen from us.

Her small hand touched my thigh. “I can’t change the past,” Luna said in a small voice. “If I could turn time back to that morning, I would insist you stayed with me and we rantogether. If wishes were real, we would have had four centuries together, children, and grandchildren.”

I stared at her small hand on my leg. “I wanted to stay that morning, to leave with you, claim you as my mate and find somewhere for us to be together.”

“That world didn’t exist back then.” Luna lifted my hand in hers, pressing a kiss to my wrist where my pulse pounded. “Even now, the crossing of the species is frowned upon.”

“I don’t care what is acceptable, or what rules govern over who we can and can’t marry. A heart doesn’t understand rules when love is on the line.” I slumped back in my seat and stared out through the windscreen, suddenly deflated.

“Look at me,” Luna commanded.

At first, I refused to move my attention away from the tree in the distance. Luna tugged my hand and I finally moved my gaze to Luna.

“I’m not that woman anymore,” Luna said softly, her thumb rubbing the side of my hand. “You’re not that man either. Neither of us can pretend that four hundred years haven’t happened.”

The truth of her words sank in and I sucked in a deep breath. “My wolf doesn’t understand that. All he knows is that you are our mate.”

Her smile was sad and didn’t reach her dark brown eyes.

“I know, but you need to understand. The Salvator who walked away from me that day is not the same Salvator who is sitting in this car with me.”

“What are you trying to say?” I asked, bracing myself for the news that she was about to leave me and return to a husband and six kids.

“I’m saying that we should get to know the new versions of ourselves. That we should take time to find out what we experienced in the time we have been apart.”

I knew she was right, but that didn’t stop the pang of disappointment that pierced through me. My greatest desire was to pick up where we left off that morning when I had to leave her and return to a war I didn’t start.

Luna curled her legs under her. “Why don’t you tell me about what happened just after I left,” she continued. “We heard rumours of the fall of the empire, but we all know there is only a grain of truth in a rumour.”

I sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. “Those were dark days that left marks on the souls of the survivors that are still there today.” I put the car into gear and started driving again. “Balor had everything planned, and some believe he had been poisoning the emperor so he would request magical intervention more and more, meaning Balor could manipulate the sacrifices.”

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