Page 90 of What did you do?

“You may experience the fire of Caly’s love now, but you’ve only just fallen.” Eli’s gaze turned to mine. “I’ve been burning for years. I can take the heat.”

Straddling him in all my nakedness, my jaw dropped.

Eli was my hero; he always had been.

Mendax was my villain, and he always would be.

Deep down, I knew I loved them both. But the problem was, who was I? Did I belong to the night or the sun? Was Ia hero or a villain?

Stunned, I glanced to Walter, still tied next to Eli.

“Don’t look at me,” Walter responded with a sparkle in his eyes. “The Artemi ancestors created my entire lineage. You are almost a goddess to me, and I love you in a powerful way. I respect you far more than these twoevercould—but if you willingly sit naked on my lap right now, Mendax will have to kill me for what I’d do to you.” He grinned.

My panicked eyes shot to Mendax while my horny brain tried and failed to form a plan that could keep Walter and Eli safe.

“Don’t worry,” Walter replied softly. “Mendax already knows this. He also knows I’m as loyal as a—well, wolf—and I’m not the one you really want. My desire is to be a source of friendship and to bring you a sense of comfort and—I don’t know—home when you need it. You never have tobeanyone around me, and I will always be here for you. Even when it’s the angry you or the imperfect you. I will always be here foryou.”

Even with faerie mead pulsing through my veins, my cheeks heated at both of their admissions. I shifted myself off of Eli’s lap.

Still untied, Eli reached out in a flash and grabbed a large shard off the floor where Mendax had shattered his glass.

Worry shot into me watching Mendax’s wings widen from their slacked position.

I moved between the two of them, even though that was arguably more dangerous. Eli tossed the jagged glass to me just as the smoke returned to overlap and tighten around his body, leaving only his head free from the full cocoon of smoke.

My training was so ingrained that I immediately snagged the glass and was about to whip around and face the dominating man behind me, but before I could turn, he was on me, pressing firmly against my bare back.

Through the delirium of lust and mead, my years of brutal training lay in wait and the hand not holding the glass came up to block my throat as something moved over my head.

Mendax’s belt.

I tried to shove my forearm out to loosen the restraint, but he was too strong. He pulled the belt tighter so that my left wrist was now pulled against my neck painfully, yanking me back against him. Delicious tingles prickled around my neck and coursed down my body, brimming with such potent ecstasy, my teeth chattered.

Fighting against the intense pulsing between my thighs, I remembered the glass in my free hand and moved it down to stab his side. Mendax grabbed my wrist with the hand not holding the belt.

“So their words affected you?” he murmured into the crook of my neck.

A sharp pull of the belt forced me to gurgle and gasp. He pulled my earlobe into his mouth, dragging me backward until we were at the edge of the love seat.

I pushed my wrist away from my neck, and I felt the belt slacken slightly.

“Enough. This has gone too far. You have toyed with me enough, Mendax. Release usnow, or I will carve your flesh into a chessboard and challenge Eli to a match,” I snarled.

I was fighting it but was more turned on now than before, and I had a suspicion it had nothing to do with the mead.

“Do you know the primary difference between a hero and a villain?” His warm breath brushed my ear. “The hero refuses to cause pain when given the choice, but the villain,” he rasped as he dropped hold of the belt and spun me around to face him, still holding my wrist. “The villain knows pain only allows for more pleasure.”

He held my wrist tightly, no doubt leaving a mark on my skin, pulling me down to him while he returned to his favored seat. Gracelessly, I fell onto his chest first, tossing my thigh over his lap and straddling him to gain any footing and recover my upper half. My intent was strong; I was filled with determination—but as soon as my bare, throbbing skin brushed against his barely clothed length, I stopped thinking completely.

This close, his whole visage was hostile and blanketed with grim captivation.

I could feel the firmness of his desire nearly parting me. At this angle, there was no possibility of hiding how turned on I was. I’d likely already left a wet spot on his pants.

Mendax moved my wrist until it was at his throat and pressed it firmly against the top of his black tunic. The glass I had previously refused and now couldn’t drop was forced against his skin, pressing out a few small beads of black blood. My mind swirled like a hurricane, while my tongue felt dry from panting. He shifted slightly, his hardness brushed against my bare center again, and it took every grain of fight in me not to roll against it.

“Do it. Carve the flesh that makes you feel everything you wish it didn’t,” he whispered.

“I’ve stabbed you twice already. Do you really want to play a game of chicken with me, Prince?” I said huskily, wishing it was from the belt still hanging from my neck and not arousal.

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