Page 12 of A Witch Out of Time
“No,” Ace shook his head, closing the distance between us in two long strides. “Koschei…” he mumbled distractedly, reaching a hand toward my abdomen, furrowing his brow in confusion.
I took a step back, unsure if hecouldtouch me, but also afraid of what might happen if he did.“Koscheitook you?” I growled. “What about the others? Where are Vasi and Nox?”
Ignoring my questions, Ace advanced again, immediately placing his palm on my heart, making me jump at the contact. My gaze dropped to his bare chest, and I noticed something odd under the surface of his skin. “You’re not a dream!” he gasped, drawing my attention back to his face again as he smiled in relief. “Oh,suge,I’ve been so worr…”
“Where. Are. The. Others?” I gritted out, forcing myself not to physically shake with what his touch was doing to me.
“I don’t know,” he rasped, moving his hands to gently cup my face. “But you’re here now...”
The moment our lips met, I lost all coherent thought. I’d slept with so many men and women over the years I’d lost count, but no one had ever compared to Ace. He was somehow hard and soft all at once—an absolutely perfect combination of my sweetest dreams and darkest desires, and he lit me up like a fucking firework.
He groaned against my mouth, hands running over my body like he was still checking that I was real. “Tan,” he whispered, moving his lips to brush over my jaw. “I need to talk to you…”
Burying my hand in his curls, I yanked him back into position, shoving my tongue into his mouth and silencing whatever nonsense he was about to spout. I didn’t want to talk. I wantedthis.This all-consuming, inescapable attraction we shared, even if it was one-sided at this point. The noose around my heart was ever-tightening, pulling Ace so closely against me it felt like we were in danger of becoming a single person.
I kissed him savagely, like it was the last time I ever would, because I feared it was the truth. Even if we somehow found each other again, I’d already lost him, and that knowledge killed the last part of me that felt alive. Ace was so deeply ingrained in my being, in my daily existence, that I wondered how I could be expected to continue on as only half a person.
I can’t keep doing this to myself.
Even though my soul wilted from the separation, I roughly shoved him away. “What do you fuckingwantfrom me, Asa?!” I angrily hissed. “I’m not interested in being your consolation prize when Vasi’s not around, so stopusingme. I’m not your sympathy fuck!”
His shattered expression ripped my heart out of my chest. Before I could take back any of my hateful words, I could feel my body fade from this plane of existence as if something were pulling me back to the Nav. The last thing I saw was Ace reaching for me before my vision went dark again.
Chapter 10
Vasilisa
As soon as the guard escorting me unlocked the security panel, I barged into Nox’s room, causing my Rider to leap off the bed, dark brown eyes narrowing as he took in my disheveled state. Pressing back against the closed door, I tried to calm the emotions racing through me, digging my claws into the metal for purchase and involuntarily flinching when Nox moved toward me.
My reaction caused him to freeze mid-step. “What did my father do to you?!” he snarled, somehow growing larger and more intimidating than he already was, filling the room with his rage.
Which is oddly comforting at the moment.
“Nothing,” I automatically replied before realizing that wasn’t the truth. Straightening, I angrily shook off my displaced feelings of guilt and fiercely met Nox’s gaze. “No...notnothing.Matthew cornered me and touched me without my permission and apparently has plans for abreeding programwith the shifters that includesyou.”
Nox’s fury immediately dissolved into confusion. “Why would he touch...Wait. Why would my father think I would fucking agree to take part in something like that?”
“Because you’ve apparently slept with half of this Facility!” I shouted before I could stop myself.
Goddess, I sound like a simpering human!
Cocking his head in amusement, Nox moved closer, planting his palms on the door, walling me in between his enormous biceps. “Are you jealous, Vashka?” he smirked, lowering his head so he could meet me eye-to-eye, his breath tickling my lips. “Of all your men to be worried about, I’m not the one who’sactuallyslept with half of this Facility. Or half of Europe, to be exact.”
I scowled up at him, resisting the urge to either slap the smirk off his face or bite it off. “Yes, well, Tan doesn’t pretend to be something he’s not.”
He scoffed incredulously. “Says the witch who hides behind a mask.”
My annoyance vanished as dread pooled in my stomach. “Nox. Your father...he canseeme.” I swallowed hard before continuing, “He knows who I am. Not just the Yaga but Vasilisa,from the old legends.And he said...he said I was rightfullyhis.”
As quickly as it had vanished, Nox’s rage returned, his pupils dilating like they had when he’d licked me off his fingers. Painfully gripping my face in his hands, he hissed, “You arenothis. You aremine.Do you understand?”
If any other man had dared to handle or speak to me in this way, I would have peeled his skin off until he begged for death, but to hear it from Nox made the blood in my veins hum in approval. The newly visible black design on my forearm pulsed, and I noticed his swirling tattoos had taken on a purplish glow, so dark it was almost black, which only confirmed what I already knew.
You are mine as well.
Although Nox was stubborn enough to continue pretending the bond between us wasn’t real, I knew the truth in my bones. Our connection was a living, breathing thing, ordained by fate and permanently tying us to one another—whether or not he fully accepted it yet. And anyone who thought they could separate me from my Riders, or stand against us, would die.
Painfully.
