Page 13 of Consumed
At once, a root burst from the earth, catching Eoin’s ankle like a viper’s strike. He fell hard, catching himself on his forearms, directly upon spindly brambles that had not been there moments before.
The tension shattered, silence spreading like a fog. No birdsong. No rustle of a breeze. There was onlyme.
Cursing in pain, Eoin pushed himself up carefully. Drops of his blood hit the ground. I quaked from the rush of energy that burst through my core. The earth drank his blood greedily—Idrank it greedily through the roots beneath us, though he couldn’t know it.
So much like the day he had cursed me with more consciousness and desire than I could bear.
The brambles receded into the ground. Eoin regarded me with wide eyes. I wanted to gash him deeper, let him bleed out until every last bit of him belonged to the forest, but—no. I couldn’t. Especially not when he looked at me with such concern on his beautiful face.
I breathed shakily. My bare feet were silent on the mossy ground as I approached him. “I didn’t mean—”
Eoin flinched when I reached for him. I stopped short, hating the pinch of emotion in my voice. “Let me see, please.”
Kneeling, I extended a hand once more. Eoin met my gaze, relenting. I gently pulled his hands onto my lap, turning the palms up to expose the wounds along his arms. The gashes were many, but most were not deep—just painful enough to remind him of my power here.
I bowed down, pressing my lips to the first wound. Eoin’s breath hitched, but he did not pull away. So I continued, kissing every cut in silence until his skin had mended under my intention, and only a few tears in his clothes remained.
“I’m sorry,” Eoin breathed. “I upset you.”
I shook my head. “Forgive me. I forgot myself. Feeling is… It doesn’t come naturally to my kind, Eoin.” I met his gaze. “And you make me feel a storm inside me when I’m near you.”
His brow knit, but he gave a cautious nod, as though understanding—or trying to. He watched me with that look—the one torn between keeping me at arm’s length and pouncing on me.
Then, I saw it—a line of crimson curling under the shadow of his jaw. Guilt tightened its vice. Another injuryfrom my outburst.
“You’re still bleeding,” I murmured, brushing the reddened area. “May I?”
There was a pause before I received a gruff nod. I moved in slowly. Eoin shivered as I brushed tangled strands of his hair back from his throat. I said nothing more before pressing my lips to the gash. His skin was sowarmthere. The motion was reverent, penitent—but I dwelled too long. My mouth lingered there over the healed skin, my body anchored against his. I was suddenly aware of our bodies; how I had crawled halfway into his lap, and Eoin was rigid, but not with fear now. My very realization seemed to make something shift in the air, and the silence rippled with a tension that crackled in every inch between us.
Eoin turned his head, ever so slightly, and our mouths were so close, I could practically hear the question demanding to be answered.
“We can’t.” His voice was a gravelly, strained thing that made my stomach flutter.
But his calloused hands were on my waist—not pushing me away, but holding me in place. His breath deepened.
“But you want to,” I whispered back.
Eoin’s fingers twitched against me, trembling as he felt the curves hidden beneath my gossamer slip. I should not have felt such heat in my belly—I was not meant to experience such primal lust. My sisters and I were guardians of this sacred forest, not common whores.
But when his touch drifted beneath the hem of my gown, I thought I might perish from the raw pleasure of it.
And then he closed the space, pressing his lips to mine.
This kiss was not tentative or apologetic—it was fierce, bruising. It waswant. There was a hunger blossoming, restraint severing. I felt him give in to me, piece by piece.
My hands moved to the strong column of his throat, plucking at the collar of his wool shirt, exposing more of his skin, flushed and warm. I trailed kisses down his neck, claiming him and tasting him with every touch. He crushed his arms around me like he might be able to fuse us together—moonlight and sunlight colliding.
A simple shift of weight, and then Eoin had rolled over me, my legs spread beneath his. Willing prey to his hunt. The strap of my gown slipped off my shoulder, and he pounced to kiss my exposed shoulder.
The forest crackled with life around us—saplings pushing from the frozen ground. Crimson roses blossomed, carpeting the ground in a widening radius with every moan that passed my lips.
“Say my name,” I demanded, though it came out as little more than a whisper.
He did. He said it like a prayer to the stars. Again and again. A feral glint seared his gaze—I adored the animal in him. Something dark and wild that matched the monster in me. He was greedy in theway all humans would look at a creature like me—to keep me as his own personal secret like some sinful source of pride.
For him alone, I would gladly chain myself.
“Don’t lie anymore,” I panted. “Don’t pretend you don’t wish to possess me. To claim me as yours.”
