Page 48 of Lost and Stolen Gods
“Enough!” Guru Mihir snapped. “I cannot tell you what to do, only what is, and how things are. Whether you claim your potential or squander it is up to you, but this is your world now. Decide how you wish to live in it.”
The wooden blades swished, the logs turned, and the blunt spikes stabbed at the air periodically.
The drohi took their demigods aside, whispering words of wisdom and instilling confidence, and the hollow pit of awfulness inside me grew.
I couldn’t do this alone.
I needed a drohi.
I needed Araz.
The sun was settingby the time I made it back to barracks. Some of the other demigods had gone to the heated baths to unwind with their drohi, and even though they’d asked me to come, I didn’t want to be a fifth wheel.
It was obvious that the bonded pairs were getting close, that whatever magic woo-woo had been used to make their jodishad worked.
Not for me, though.
I entered my room cautiously, ready to close my eyes if there was any nakedness, but it was empty.
I needed to shower and change, but I was bone tired, my body an aching mess. I took a step toward my bed then stopped, eyeing up Araz’s huge comfy one laid with furs. It was supposed to be a shared bed, and he was hogging it. Totally unfair.
Fuck him. Or maybe not, because I’d seen his cock, and no way was that going anywhere near me. The wholeI’ll break youline made sense.
I was tired.
I climbed up, stretched out, and oh my god… This was heaven. No wonder everyone was so rested.
I’d take five to unwind then I’d shower…change and…
I must have fallenasleep because when I opened my eyes, it was dark, and I was no longer alone.
Araz loomed over me, eyes like twin flames searing into me. The pressure of his large frame rolled me toward him so that I was crushed to him.
Trapped.
My mouth was suddenly dry, heart fluttering like a hummingbird.
“You want in my bed?” he asked, his voice low andsilken soft. “Are you offering me your body?” His hand settled on my throat, thumb pressing against the fluttering pulse beneath my ear.
I stilled, heart racing as he stroked me there, his breath beating against my mouth, eyes like molten lava warming me in ways that shouldn’t be possible.
I didn’t like him. He was mean and arrogant, yet my body softened, mouth parting. His gaze dropped to my lips, and something flickered in their depths—a yearning, a longing that echoed mine. The vibration of his growl resonated deep in my core before he claimed my mouth.
Heat flooded through me, pushing up from within to press at my skin as if reaching for him. I hated it. I wanted it to stop, needed it to stop because I was drowning in it, in him. In the taste and feel and?—
He broke the kiss, leaving my lips wanting and cold, and a whimper escaped them.
His eyes flared bright. “Look at you, wanton and needy.” He kissed me again, harder, bruising.
I gasped into his mouth, moaning as he pulled his lips away.
”You want me to service you?” He pinched my jaw, forcing my mouth wider and claiming it in a dizzying frenzy that left me torn between desire and disgust. My hands found his shoulders, fingers digging in, clawing at him to push him away or bring him closer or just to hold him, I couldn’t be sure because thoughts were muddled and unnecessary and my body was on fire,hungry and crying out for his touch to be everywhere. All over me and?—
He tore his mouth free, face contorting into a mask of fury. “You willnothave me.”
I finally found my voice buried beneath the thrum of my pulse and the thunder of blood in my head. “I don’t…don’t want…this…”
He leaned in so all I saw were his golden eyes and the dark slitted pupils that seemed to expand as if attempting to swallow me whole.
