Page 29 of The Arbiter

“I’m sorry,” she says quietly.

I’m about to ask what she’s sorry for when her hand clamps down on my wrist, and a spark of light comes from her palm. The jolt shoves me back against the driver’s side door.

Before I can recover from the shock of her power, she’s up and out of the SUV, walking in the downpour of rain toward the entrance of the club.

“Fuck!” I shout. I open my door and race after her. “Nocturna!”

She ignores me and quickens her pace. I only manage to clutch the back of her shirt as she reaches the other side of the street, then haul her back to me. Her back hits my chest with a loud, wet slapping sound from our soaked clothes.

“Let me go, Larkan!” she yells, trying to get away as I wrap my arms around her.

Thunder cracks above us. “Not happening, little Arbiter! You can’t go in there!” I yell over it, then begin to walk us backward.

She tries to zap me again, but I grab her wrists and hold them together with one hand. As long as I keep the runes from touching me, we should be good.

She struggles against my hold, but it’s useless. She may be slightly more powerful than me, but I’ve had many more centuries to hone my skills, while she’s still learning.

Pulling her backward is becoming taxing with her wiggling, so I quickly pivot her to face me and wrap her in my arms tightly with her hands behind her back. I don’t even care about the rain anymore. I just need to understand how she can be so out of control right now. She’s stronger than this.

“Why are you letting the hunger win?” I ask her forcefully. “I’ve heard of the control you have over it, Nocturna. Why is it so difficult now?”

Her eyes zero in on mine with perfect attention, but her lips are pressed tightly together as if she’s grinding her teeth.

“I don’t know,” she says, almost struggling to speak through her clenched jaw. “I haven’t been feeding as much lately as I should. This power—” she shuts her eyes tight and shivers “—it needs more than what I normally take. I can’t handle the hunger as easily anymore. I feel like…like I could literally just claw myself out of my skin…”

I watch as she struggles internally while the chilling rain batters down on her eerily beautiful face. I can’t even imagine what it must feel like to be a slave to two warring sides of your soul. To have to stave off an uncontrollable hunger so deeply set into your DNA that you would feel like you’re about to claw out of your own skin if you couldn’t satisfy it…

And I can’t imagine what possesses me to say the next few words that come out of my mouth.

“Take it from me.”

Her glowing eyes snap open like a hawk that’s found its prey, but she shakes her head.

“You don’t understand, Larkan. I’m a Succubus. I—”

I cut her off. “I understand perfectly fine, Nocturna.” I release her hands from her back and palm her face between my hands. “And I don’t care. I’d rather it be me than anyone in there. So just take it.”

She still doesn’t move as her hungry gaze flicks back and forth to mine. I can feel her power amping up beneath her flesh and dancing across mine, though it tingles rather than sparks like before. Almost like her power wants mine. And by the Creator, I fucking love it.

I don’t wait for her to decide. I throw away the reasons we are even here and make up her mind for her by slamming my lips down against hers.

Her hands immediately grab onto my jacket, her nails digging in hard.

Her mouth opens, and I slip my tongue in. An electrical current vibrates across my tongue as it touches hers, making it feel like I am licking a live wire. It’s strange yet feels fucking amazing. I can taste the mixture of Divine and Damned power within her; her Damned half having almost a spicy taste, and her Divine sweet.

I know this is a bad idea, but I can’t stop now. If anything, Ineedmore. I know she needs more. As she said, she’s a Succubus. There’s only one way to feed a Succubus this starved for energy.

I bend at the knees and slip my hands down her thighs, then grab the sides and hoist her to wrap her legs around me.

As hot as it is kissing her in the rain, I don’t think I’d like giving the people who happen to see us out here a show. Thank the Creator for tinted windows.

I don’t stop kissing her as I walk us to the SUV, only peeking out around her to watch where I’m going.

She pulls away so I can get us into the car, smiling coyly at me as I do. I open my door and slide backward into my seat, making her straddle me before closing the door and claiming her mouth once again.

The SUV is hot and sticky feeling from the humidity, but I barely notice with her in my lap. Her hands tear at my jacket and shirt, trying desperately to get them off me. The material clings to my skin as she struggles to pull the shirt over my head.

I help her, sliding my shirt off, but she stops when my bare chest is displayed.

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