Page 25 of The Cursed

I stepped around her, making my way toward the closed door to my bedroom. Pushing it open slowly, I took in the sight of Willow curled up in the center of the bed. She hadn't bothered to change or get under the covers, and if what Juliet said was true, I suspected it was because of the emotional exhaustion of her day.

Johnathan stretched on the foot of the bed, twisting his body to rub his cheek into the bedspread before turning to his back. He hissed when I picked him up without finesse, carrying him to the couch and dropping him onto the cushion. His violet eyes glared up at me, narrowing in annoyance as I pointed a finger in his face. "The bedroom is off limits to you," I warned, watching as he tipped his head to the side.

He may not have been able to speak, though I knew exactly what the motion meant.

Is that so?

"You can pretend to be a cat all you want, but you and I both know all she has to do is snap her finger, and you're a human with a dick. Stay the Hell away from my wife," I said, ignoring Juliet's disbelieving laughter as she sat down on the sofa and patted her lap for Johnathan to cuddle up with her.

I left them to it, heading for the bedroom and closing the door behind me. Stripping off my clothes to the sound of Willow's relaxed, even breathing, I lifted her off the bed to pull back the bedspread and cover her up before climbing in beside her.

My boxer briefs rubbed against her jeans as I pressed myself against her back, wrapping an arm around her waist and enjoying her warmth.

She sighed happily, murmuring a sleepy, "Gray."

"Go back to sleep, Witchling," I said, ignoring the desire to use the moments when she was soft and pliant, half-asleep and willing, for my own pleasure.

The next time I got inside her, it would be her who begged me for it.

13

WILLOW

Iwoke with Gray's warmth wrapped around me, feeling far too hot in the clothes I'd never changed out of. There was something comforting in the fact that he hadn't stripped me down while I slept, but it made me wonder what had changed. He'd never hesitated to do it before, not recognizing the boundaries that should have existed.

I'd cried myself to sleep the night before, letting out all the rage I felt. The hot, angry tears had served their purpose, diminishing my fury until I felt like I could do what was necessary to survive in this place and this odd, complex relationship. Gray might have been my husband, but that didn't mean that anything less than absolute hatred would motivate me going forward.

He just couldn't know it, not when my only chance at defeating him involved using his weakness against him. He was too powerful in his own right, but if I was the thing that made him vulnerable?

Then I would manipulate him the same way he did me, until he never saw the blade coming.

I stood from the bed, being careful so I didn't disturb him, and made my way to the bathroom. I knew what I needed to do. I knew that Gray's love language was physical touch, and nothing would manipulate him quite like having access to me. It felt like a betrayal to myself, like I wouldn't be able to survive the seduction.

I'd be forced to admit how much pleasure I found in his body and would need to find a way to keep that pleasure separate from my heart. He could have my body, as other men would when he was gone, as much as it might have pained me to think.

But no one would ever have my heart again. He’d made sure of it.

I stood in front of the mirror, washing my face and brushing my teeth before I stripped off the clothes I'd worn to bed. My hands grasped the edge of the vanity, clenching it tightly as I let my eyes drift back toward the door.

I'd been here before. Known what I was doing when I allowed Gray to touch me for the first time or when I allowed him to take my virginity, though that had been distinctly different. Every time before this, I'd fooled myself into thinking I was acting out of my need for revenge and the need for answers. In reality, I'd only been reacting to him.

He'd initiated it all; he'd laid claim to me, and I had simply not stopped him. It was fortunate it fell into the plan that had been set forth probably from the moment I'd been born, because I didn't know that I would have had it in me to control it.

But this? This time, I was in control. This time, I would knowingly step into that bedroom and do what I needed to make him lower his guard even a little. I didn't disillusion myself into thinking that it would tear down all the walls between us and he would believe I suddenly welcomed him with open arms and forgave him.

But I could use his body against him the way he had mine.

He hadn't had a heart for me to sink inside when he was a Vessel.

But he did now.

I released the counter, staring at the depressions in the stone momentarily while I sighed. The fissures in the marble made me swallow, hating the reminder of all he'd taken from me.

I left it behind me, slowly pulling the bedroom door open. Gray still slept peacefully, having turned onto his back in my absence. The bedspread was draped over his waist, leaving the expanse of his chest uncovered. The mark at the center of his skin stared at me as if it had a mind of its own, a symbol of the power I didn't understand.

My body hummed as I padded over to the bed with soft steps, taking care not to wake him. The gold of his skin gleamed in the sunlight, which drifted in from the window at the edge of the curtain. The dim light did something to him, showed me a whisper of what he once must have been before being cast out from heaven.

It was as if he shone from within, but he just emanated power instead of pulsating with light.

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