Total pages in book: 222
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 213974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1070(@200wpm)___ 856(@250wpm)___ 713(@300wpm)
His question confused me at first, but then I remembered the dreams of him speaking to me and how I’d struggled to recall his name and others. And then there was how I’d behaved upon waking. Was it possible that I wouldn’t have remembered him? The mere thought caused my heart to ache. “I will always know you, Ash.”
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Ash’s chest rose sharply, and then he went completely still, even the eather in his eyes.
My heart kicked as our gazes collided once more. There was an almost feral look to his stare, one that caused a whoosh to rush through my stomach. “Ash?” I whispered.
His eyes slammed shut. Shadows began appearing along his shoulders and across his chest. His skin thinned.
Oh, gods, had I taken too much blood? I moved off him a bit.
Tendrils of shadowy eather lashed out from him, coiling along my forearms. I gasped at the chill, momentarily caught off guard. My stare swept over him. Blotches of darkness appeared down his arms, his thighs, and even on his cock, where pearly white liquid beaded at the tip—
Sucking in a startled breath, my head jerked to the side as the shadows slid up my arms, brushing against the sides of my breasts like a cold winter’s kiss. My nipples beaded, sending a pulse of blade-sharp desire through me.
Skin tingling, I attempted to rein in my response. Now didn’t seem like the right time to be turned on, but harsh, churning lust hit my core.
A low rumbling growl echoed from Ash, snapping my attention back to him. My arousal hadn’t gone unnoticed.
His lips parted, revealing a glimpse of his fangs. Dark hollows appeared in his cheeks.
“Ash,” I tried again.
“I was terrified,” he said, his voice thicker and guttural. “I was terrified that I would lose you.”
My chest dipped. “You didn’t. You saved me.” I wasn’t exactly sure how, but I knew he had. I knew the only reason I was here was because of him.
“Then I was terrified that you wouldn’t remember me.” Tendons stood out starkly as he twisted his neck to the side, seeming not to hear me. “That I would still lose you.”
“You won’t. Not ever,” I promised, attempting once more to move closer to him.
The ripple of eather pushed down on my shoulders, pressing me onto my back. Essence pulsed in my chest, ramping up in response to his Primal display of power. My eyes widened as I saw energy spark along my skin below the throbbing mass of his shadows.
The sight of the silvery light coming from within me—light streaked with gold—distracted me for a second. I’d never seen it look like that before. But I…I was different now.
Reminding myself that the essence was a part of me and that I could control it, I locked the power down. It wasn’t a struggle like before. In the back of my mind, I knew it was because the eather was only a byproduct of my will, and it responded immediately because I never wanted to hurt him. “Ash?”
He shuddered. “I feared I would never hear you say my name again.” His body…it vibrated. A moment passed, and then another as he twisted his head from side to side. The tendrils of eather lifted. “When I…when I release you, you need to run.”
I tensed. “What?”
“You need to run, Sera. Fast. Faster than you ever have before. You may be able to outrun me…” Another series of shudders ran through him. “You have to try. Because I…I need you. Your heat. Your silky tightness. I need to be inside you.”
Another stunning pulse of desire sliced through me, causing my hips to squirm in blade-sharp anticipation. “Why would I want to run from that?”
More of the darkness became visible, nearly obscuring his skin. “I won’t be able to hold on to my mortal form much longer.” The shadows briefly thickened around him. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. I trust in that—trust in you. Just as you trusted me earlier when I wasn’t even all that aware—”
“This is different.”
I started to tell him it wasn’t, but Ash changed. It was him—the shape of his features, the strong jaw, and wide, expressive mouth. His high, sharp cheekbones and blade-straight nose, but he was now shadow and smoke turned to stone.
He had shifted into his Primal form, his midnight-streaked skin looking as hard as granite as moonlight wings lifted behind him, sweeping out and blocking the chamber behind him.
This was Nyktos, the Asher, the one who is Blessed, the Guardian of Souls, and the Primal God of Common Men and Endings. This was who he was at his core: an ancient predator and the giver and taker of lives.
A Primal of Death, terrifying in his power and glory…and not in control.
Even without the newly gained knowledge that had come with my Ascension, I would’ve known that it made him incredibly dangerous. Even to a Primal.