Page 34 of A Bond in Flames

“No.”

“Because you didn’t want to, or because they didn’t live long enough?”

He said nothing.

Nope, not feeling overly reassured by the wholedon’t accept death as the outcomething. My gaze dipped to his chest. “The poison out yet?”

“Yes.” His gaze darkened, the shadows beginning to swirl around him. “My turn.”

My stomach squirmed, and that look in his eyes, I felt it. Goddess, did I feel it. “Shoot.”

“Do you want me to fuck you, Zinnia?”

My body instantly responded. A pulse throbbed deep inside me. So many things were flying through my head right then. He was beautiful; he wanted me and only me. I was his consort and I would be until my last breath, and if things went the way they usually did for Death, that would be coming sooner rather than later. I’d lived my life to the fullest, as best as I could, anyway, with the responsibility I’d had. And I realized, looking over at him, I wasn’t about to stop now. “Did your consorts die because they kissed you? Slept with you?”

“No,” he said.

He could be lying, but I didn’t think so. His pain was too real. He didn’t want to lose me; I saw it, felt it. “You’re overwhelming, Mors, in so many ways. The idea of surrendering to you, of letting you have me in that way, it’s too much. So no, I don’t want you to fuck me, not yet.”

He flinched, but besides that, he didn’t move, every muscle in his body rock solid. “I understand—”

“I haven’t finished,” I said and took a steadying breath while my heart tried to leave my body. Apparently, I was a masochist, and I’d decided to give in to it completely. “No, because the first time we do sleep together… I’ll be the one fucking you.”

CHAPTER11

Zinnia

Death rose from the water.

Every muscle on his lean body was taut, his veins popping from his smooth, inked skin. He was breathing heavily, and the shadows around him swirled faster. “Come here, Zinnia.”

His voice rolled through the room like thunder, and my knees almost gave out. I shook my head. “If you want me, it has to be on my terms.”

With each of his exhales, a growl rattled his chest. His stomach was roped with muscle, his thighs bulged, and his cock jutted from his body, hard and thick and long and, goddess, intimidating.

Death looked every bit the god he was, and he was looking at me as if he was on the verge of insanity from his hunger—for me. I wanted him so badly, I trembled all over. But this was Death. I was no coward, but he was, shit, too much… ofeverything. “I have to call the shots this time… and you have to let me call you Mors without holding it against me. I’m not calling you Death while we’re in bed.”

“I agree to your terms,” he said. “Take your clothes off.”

An unexpected laugh burst from me. “You’ve waited this long, so how about you find a little patience?”

“Impossible.” He stepped out of the bath, water dripping from his body. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you. Anything your heart desires—it’s yours.”

This was another new side of Death. Yes, he’d been giving me glimpses, but this was next-level, and the more he showed me, the less afraid I became. I reached up and undid the top button of my jacket, working the rest until the heavy leather slipped from my shoulders and hit the floor.

Death watched my every move like a predator waiting to pounce on prey.

I dropped my hands to the buttons of my pants; he took a step forward. I stepped back, lifting my hands. “No.”

He snarled.

“I come to you.”

His fingers curled, clenching and unclenching at his sides as he watched me shove down my pants. “Is the water safe? Is there poison in it?”

“You don’t need to wash,” he said, baring his teeth. “I like you like this.”

“Covered in sea salt, sweat, and demon blood?”

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