Page 59 of V for Vengeance

And then he kissed me.

I didn’t push him away. I honestly should have. But I clung to him. I dragged him closer. I wasn’t helping anyone by letting him have his way—certainly not me, the one already mixed up with three other people—but with how urgently his mouth moved over mine, I couldn’t find the strength to say no or stop the kiss.

Worse, I didn’t want him to stop.

His hands were in my hair, then trailing down my body and pulling me impossibly close in a series of frantic movements. He was terrified I’d run. It was clear by the way he grappled my sides and crowded my body against his. So when I wrapped my arms around his neck instead of escaping, the little sound he made was terrifyingly sweet.

Like he’d never been so happy.

Like he’d finally gotten permission for something he’d wanted to do forever.

It hit me right in the hips, and I found myself kissing him back just as desperately. I’d conveniently ignore the uncountable ways I could be punished for doing this with someone no one else trusted. It was a bomb waiting to hit my life if anyone ever found out.

Still, it was as if I couldn’t help myself. The lure was too strong. Cash’s lips were a magnet I couldn’t prize myself away from. His kiss felt like everything I shouldn’t want but needed. So, I did what I always did. I favored pleasure over sense. I left the consequences for future me to figure out. Because, fuck, it was so good.

He kissed like a goddamn madman, and the way he moved his tongue, coaxing mine into a perfect dance while his hands slipped under my shirt and teased my heated skin nearly made me forget where we were and what we were about to do.

Shit.

“We can’t. There’s so many reasons—” I murmured before his lips smothered my next words.

“I know, love,” he breathed roughly before grabbing hold of my jaw with one hand and kissing me again. “…gods, I know.”

Our tongues twined for several intense minutes before he pulled away, breathing heavily. His pupil-blown irises had barely any color in them, just hints of glowing purple. A predatory stare that made my thighs quiver. I’d never seen him look so…hungry. When the gleam in his eyes finally calmed, the color returning, Cash seemed to come to his senses.

As if it hadn’t happened, we broke away and started heading for the largest cave entrance to Harmony’s hideout, and it was the first time I smelled the foul stench of blood magic. It permeated the space with actual weight. I slowed, sensing a dramatic shift in the air. It was an explosive sensation that crawled over my skin and put me on immediate alert.

Cash took my hand, another one of his river rocks already vibrating above his palm. “I thought you would hide behind your wall, but I guess you can still surprise me after all these years, Harmony.”

Chapter 29

Witch Bitch

Ididn’t expect a gorgeous woman to materialize out of nothing. Her beauty startled on impact. I thought she’d be a haggard witchy thing, not this goddess with light blue hair walking towards us in nothing but see-through fabric. She barely looked twenty.

Another immortal being to fight.

She’d apparently done enough blood magic to retain her youth. Cash said centuries, so she definitely hadn’t aged by human standards. From the way I remembered it, witches were humans with strong magic. They weren’t meant to be immortal, but with blood magic they could be. Immortality in witches was a mark of darkness.

Her body was covered in gold tattoos, patterns that flowered and slithered around her arms, legs, and itty-bitty waist. They had a pattern, but I couldn’t make out what any of it meant. Her caramel skin beamed under soft pink silk, naked everywhere I looked. I could definitely see how someone would be ensnared by her beauty alone. Even I was having trouble recovering my jaw from the floor.

The necklace around my throat went from hazel to white, bleeding all its color. I dropped my gaze to it, surprised to see it change. When I looked over, Cash tossed a cute wink at me. Guess she’d already tried to subdue us with pheromones, but like promised, his necklace rebuked it.

Thank fuck.

After the Siren I encountered, I didn’t want to fight myself before I could even lay a hand on my enemy. It would be that moment with Sloan all over again. Cash might be the resident Fae Karen, but he wasmyresident Fae Karen, and I didn’t want to watch him fall prey to her after all these years because he thought he had something to prove.

Sparkling light glided around the gorgeous woman’s arms as she cut a sharp look from Cash to me, clearly upset her number one trick hadn’t worked. “I always knew you’d come crawling back, Cash. You’renothingwithout your magic, even with those necklaces keeping you out of my control. You’re a lot of things, but I never thought you’d be stupid enough to bring somegirlby your side. What is she? A treat? Bait? You think I can be won over by something so…ugly?”

Okay, rude. I hadn’t won any beauty pageants, but I was hardly ugly. I mean, I’d been trying at least. I put on makeup and did my hair pretty much every day. Wasn’t that enough? Why did all these people insist on outer beauty being all we had to offer to the world? Did a badass bitch who’d escaped death a handful of times not count?

Or at least, that was what Kate would say.

Cash seemed to take more insult to her comment than I did, though. “Watch your words, witch. That’s my darling you’re talking about with that sadistic mouth of yours.”

“Is that any way to talk to me, baby?” she hissed, walking closer. But she slowed with her eyebrow quirked up when he didn’t cower like she expected him to. “You should be grovelingif you want to know where the amulet is. On your knees, Cassy-baby. You know how much I love you on your knees, and let’s not pretend you don’t like it as much as I do.”

I couldn’t hide my disgust.

---