Page 60 of Right Hand Of The Reaper
It was reckless. That’s what it was. I’d never bound a soul to mine before. It was something usually saved for loved ones, but I’d seen Atticus lying on the ground, his soul slipping away, and I was instantly captivated by something. He was beautiful, and that wasn’t a word I used often. I’d tried to deny it as I’d stood over him, watching his soul slip away, but I couldn’t. I saw him and instantly wanted him. Everything else disappeared, replaced with a sudden, inescapable need to possess him. It rocked me to my core and I did the one thing that would make him mine forever.
And it was fucking stupid because he already belonged with Roux. Was already marked by her. How was I going to compete with that?
A hunger burned deep inside me. A yearning that crept out of the darkness at my centre and I instantly knew it was Atticus’ emotions I was feeling. I lived in a world shrouded with death. It was all I could feel. All I knew. My own emotions had always been smothered, buried beneath the darkness that surrounded death, so this desire and lust currently sparking my veins, wasn’t mine. It washis.
It’s the reason I’d fled earlier. That bolt of desire had hit me straight out of the blue and I’d panicked. It had felt so alien, so odd… sogood. I’d wanted to revel in it. It was so new to me. I wanted to dissect it. Dissect Atticus. I wanted to know what made him feel that. What had sparked it. I wanted to break him into little pieces just to find out what made him tick.
He was going to become my obsession. It was a good thing he was already dead. I had a feeling that my obsession might have ended up killing him.
An image of Roux flashed before my eyes, her head thrown back in ecstasy, her neck exposed. I had a sudden urge to bite it. Wait. That wasn’t me.
Atticus… he was fucking Roux. And I was what? Seeing it through his eyes? Fucking hell, I could feel her around my dick, clenching and rocking her hips as if she were actually above me.
I stumbled and threw my hand out to catch myself on the wall. I’d never needed a release like I did right now. Fuck.
I crashed into through the door next to me, practically falling through it and slamming it behind me. I ripped my pants open and released my aching cock. I braced one hand on the wall and the other I wrapped around my shaft, pumping tightly and wildly. I was so worked up with all the sensations I could feel through the soul binding, that it barely took any pumps before my knees buckled beneath me and I fell to the floor as pleasure crashed through me. I wrapped my hand around my mouth to stem the moan that escaped as my body shook and trembled. My cum shot over my fist and coated the floor but I didn’t stop stroking my dick until I’d milked every drop.
What the fuck was that?
I’d never felt lust like that before. Never felt so consumed by the sheer desperation to come. I’d always needed pain to find satisfaction, and even then, it was nothing compared to the sheer bliss I’d just enjoyed.
A knock sounded on the door, and I jolted. Shit. Had someone heard? How long had I been sat here?
“Thane, you in there?” Roux asked through the door.
“Yes.”
“Can we talk?”
“Give me a minute.”
“No, Thane. Now.”
I looked at the cum coating my hands and the floor. At least I’d had the good sense to fall into a spare bedroom when I’d had the sudden need to jerk off. “I need a minute. Maybe two.”
She huffed but grumbled her assent through the door. It was one of the things I liked about Roux. She was pushy but knew when to back off which suited my temperament well. I wasn’t good with other people. I was socially awkward and preferred the company of the dead to the living. Because I lacked the ability to feel, I lacked the ability to understand and empathise well with others. Roux said it made me a cold-hearted bastard, but I couldn’t find it in me to be offended. I just wasn’t wired that way.
I cleaned up my mess and walked out to the lounge area to discover everyone sitting there waiting for me. Rafe and Rayne looked at me curiously, both of them sitting there with their heads cocked to the side with matching furrowed brows over their eyes. Roux sat in Atticus’ lap; her face was concerned but her posture was relaxed. Atticus on the other hand, stared at me, those fathomless eyes tracking my movements across the room. There was something dark lurking in them as he watched me, and I wondered if he knew what I’d done. How hard I’d come to the sensations he’d unwittingly pushed through our bond. A shiver traipsed up my spine as I relived it. My cock taking notice and hardening behind the zipper of my slacks. Atticus’ eyes blew wide. Could he feel it? Could he see?
He swallowed slowly and I knew he could feel something. Interesting.
“So,” Roux snapped, pulling my attention to her. “What the hell is going on?”
I sighed and placed myself in the chair opposite her. “I’ll be honest, I’m not entirely sure. Souls are going missing, and I don’t know how. Or why. But it’s like I can feel them disappearing like smoke. The more I try to hold onto them, the further away they get until they’re just gone.”
“They don’t make it to judgement,” Atticus said slowly, his lips pursed. “In my investigation—”
“Investigation?” I interrupted. “You work for the Guild?”
“Yes,” he replied.
That was surprising. “But now you’re not?”
His gaze dropped and he disappeared into his thoughts for a moment. “I don’t know. I guess not. I suppose that’s a perk of being dead. Your debt to the Guild gets wiped.”
Interesting. I’d have to explore that story later. “Forgive me, I interrupted you.”
“Yes, well, as I was saying, in my investigation I discovered that there’s be a record of a soul arriving but that’s it. From there they just vanish.”
