Page 21 of Bound to Death

His shadows moved closer, then rose off the ground like curtains of black silk, dense and no longer translucent. We were wrapped in them like the night before. The same sensation that stole my breath after I watch five men die took powerful hold over me. But it was only seconds before we were at my office. I didn’t have time to be surprised because I was dropped on top of a desk. When I realized that he’d taken us to Major Asshat’s office, I almost couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud.

“This isn’t my office, but something tells me you know that already.” I sounded way too amused for the annoyance I intended to express.

But Death’s little grin stole the laugh I worked hard to suppress. “I won’t lie, little raven. I’ve wanted to fuck you on this desk since that bastard tried to put his filthy hands on you.”

He saw that? How long had he been watching me? That was over two months ago.

Stripping off his jacket, Thanatos slid his hands up my pantyhose, teasing the hem of my skirt. His enormous shape seemed larger in Mark’s office. As though he took up half the space. And maybe he did. Something told me that no room could hold him. His moon eyes followed every movement his hands made before they jerked back up to mine, asking.

But I was too distracted by what he’d previously mentioned to make a cute comment about it. “Wait a second…”

I thought back on the day Mark nearly sexually assaulted me after calling me into his office to have “a little chat.” I’d thought it was odd that a bird got in—my little raven stalker—and attacked my boss when he’d pinned me to the desk, touching mythigh the same way Thanatos did now but with a much sleazier look on his face.

I was seconds away from giving Mark’s groin a good hit with my knee, fuck the consequences. Enough of us had been sexually harassed by Grand-pappy’s Golden Boy. I could easily build a class-action suit against him with Emily’s expertise and contacts. Instead, a raven attacked him out of nowhere. I hadn’t even seen how it got in through the window.

At the time, I’d thought that good ol’ karma had finally paid Mark a visit. The asshole was known for his sticky fingers and gross commentary. A few of the ladies talked about it, but none of them felt comfortable reporting him. Since it’d never happened to me, I couldn’t do anything about it. I wasn’t Mark’s type. I had a real woman’s body, and he liked them Instagram thin. So, I’d only ever heard about it. Color me surprised when he tried it on me. I figured it was the ammo I needed to spank him with the legal hand of justice, Ems style. Oh, and also Ash’s knee of justice, just for extra flair.

But since that day, Mark stayed away from the ladies in the office, and his fear of birds followed him everywhere he went. Last week, one of the girls said he’d screeched over a little black bird landing on their car on their way to an off-site client meeting. Not only that, his entire demeanor changed since that day, but I just figured nearly getting your eyes gouged out by a bird had made him rethink his inappropriate conduct a bit.

Did Thanatos have something to do with all that? Was there more to the story I hadn’t already gotten? Could I persuade him with sexy promises to get play-by-play details of how his bird tormented Mark into a fearful mess?

“Was that one of your birds?” I asked, giving him my cutest eyebrow waggle.

I wasn’t sure what I expected, but when Thanatos’s smirk grew and he tried to hide a chuckle, I found myself laughing, too.But I quickly realized that I was still sitting on Mark’s desk with fuckingDeathbetween my open legs. The irony wasn’t lost on me.

Clutching the mahogany ledge, I turned my head to stare out the window aimed at the rest of the office. The blinds were drawn, and the chances of Mark coming in on a Saturday were slim to none. Still, I was worried someone might know we were in here and come looking.

Mark usually kept his door locked, but that didn’t stop the spiraling fear that I’d lose my job because some supernatural dude who controlled birds and shadows thought it’d be cute to rewrite the script and recast the hero’s role. Not that I was complaining with who’d been cast this time.

Thanatos grabbed me around the jaw and forced my eyes to meet his again. “I think you’ve forgotten who I am and what I can do.”

Gah, he’s so goddamn beautiful. Look at that jawline. Is it carved from stone, or is that just another supernatural Reaper of Soul's thing?

“No, that’s pretty much all I can think about right now, Mr. Killer. I’m just not sure why we’re here and not back home.” I’d forgive the fact that I’d essentially admitted I was fine withwhatwe were about to do, just notwhere.

My thighs were shaking. I wanted to pretend it was because I nearly got attacked—again—or that I’d confirmed demons were real and out for my blood, which wasn’t great for my overall mental wellness. But if I were honest with myself, it wasn’t out of shock or fear I was trembling. It was the promise of sex that transcended reality. More than that, it was the fact that he hadn’t left.

He was still here.

I should be scared for my life. I should wonder why Death was stalking me at all. I didn’t buy this you-intrigue-me business. Mygut told me he was after something else, and that alone should terrify me, but it didn’t. If anything, I was glad he hadn’t gone far; that he’d shown up when I needed him to. That our night together wasn’t the last.

Emily’s YOLO lifestyle was apparently rubbing off on me.

It was fucking insane how quickly I gave into him. But so was the fact that I’d become Death’s newest obsession. Or because whatever I was to him made me the target of both demons and angels alike. I wasn’t sure what it all meant, but the part of me that came alive when he fucked me like it’d kill me made it impossible to reject him.

I wanted another kiss. I wanted him inside me. I’d conveniently forget that having sex with him was playing with fire—and my life—because if I could have another night like that, maybe dying wasn’t a big deal. I mean, like he said, there were perks to being special to Death.

He watched me, never doing more than running his impossibly large hands up and down my thighs. When I’d decided to give in, his entire vibe changed. Like he’d been patiently waiting for consent that wasn’t coerced by the situation we’d been in. Like my feelings mattered to him.

Which was so weird when you considered how powerful he was. He could take whatever he wanted. I couldn’t fight him. I didn’t have powers, or shadows, or even a bird that I could sic on him so I could run away screaming. My little raven stalker probably took orders from him, anyway. So, why didn’t he just take what he wanted? Why didn’t he enslave me with his mystical Death powers? Unless sex was the enslavement? Made sense. I was willing to risk my safety to be with him. Maybe he’d put a spell on me. Could Death do that?

“Ash,” he whispered, leaning in and nibbling my lower lip in that sexy way of his. I gasped, and he groaned low in his throat as if it took every bit of his willpower not to attack me. “I won’tdo anything you don’t already want. You’re right. I do have the power to control you, but I won’t.”

He dropped a kiss on my neck, and I angled it so he’d have better access. The hands on my thighs squeezed, and I moaned without meaning to. His feral growl echoed in my ears. “Tell me to stop, little raven. You have all the power here.”

I caught his gaze, confused. “I do?”

His pretty moon eyes sparkled and glowed. “You do.”

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