Page 43 of The Powers of Nyx

I WATCHEDfrom the doorway as Ivy tucked the children into bed. Pillows were being used as barriers to keep them from fighting over sides, despite there being bunks available. But they wanted to share the same space, even if they fought over it. They couldn’t be alone.

I understood that need for certainty, for proximity. It was why I followed Ivy into the bedroom in the first place. The blood thirsty beast beneath my skin burned for her presence. It wanted her and no one else. It felt like I was crawling out of my skin, waiting for the moment I could finally be alone with my mate.

It was selfish to want her and yet trying to fight it was like stamping down on my basic instincts. Not having her as soon as we’d completed the bond was torture and having to see her take what she needed from her other mates fuelled a dangerous kind of jealousy within me.

Ivy pressed kisses to the tops of each head before rising. She frowned as she looked at the old lamp beside the bed, and her frustration was felt down the bond. It was an old witch item, made with captured sunlight and charmed to hold it until one blew on it. Then it would set like the sun did until morning.

Blow on it,I said, capturing her attention. Ivy glanced back with a frown, but she didn’t question it. She leaned over and blew on the lamp, which lowered the light until it was a soft glow, and she left it like that. The youngest was already asleep by the time Ivy stepped away from their tucked in bodies. She stoodwatching them for a long moment, her anxiety palpable, like if she took her eyes off them again, they would be split up.

I couldn’t ignore the guilt and shame of forcing them apart. It was something, as team leader, I knew needed to happen. Splitting them up had worked temporarily to protect both her and the children.

But the part of me that was now eternally tied to Ivy understood the gravity of that decision.

Ivy released a shaky breath and turned towards me. She hugged her midsection, uncertainty playing in the depths of her dark eyes, but she strode towards me and buried her face in my neck. Her heart raced against mine, a heart I still wasn’t used to, a heart that beat only for her.

For over two centuries, I’d almost forgotten the vital organ that used to pump lifeblood throughout my body. For over twenty years, it’d been a staple in my everyday life, and then like a switch, it had been taken from me. A decade it had taken me to get used to it not echoing in my ears, not feeling it when I touched my wrist.

Would it take me another decade to feel its presence as something more than intrusive?

But with Ivy in my arms, it made it all the more...real.

After several long moments, she stepped away, and I missed her warmth and the feel of her body immediately. “Would it be okay if we...?” Ivy trailed off, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

I frowned before taking her face in my hands. “What would you like,a mhuirnín?”

Her eyes widened and she released her bottom lip. I followed the action with my eyes, and without thinking, I swiped my thumb over the plump flesh. The bloody beast in me yearned for another taste of her; of blood, perhaps a taste of her skin, the mound of flesh between her thighs a common desire thathad been swimming in my head for weeks. Her arousal had always been a potent scent, one that was both intoxicating and overwhelming. My mouth watered with the thought of laying her out, claiming her in the way she deserved, in the way our bonddemanded.

Ivy’s throat bobbed as she swallowed; she ducked her head, cheeks warming, and through the bond now tying us together, I caught snippets of her embarrassment. “Ivy?”

She shook her head, releasing a shaky breath as she did. “Sorry. I’m trying to...figure it out.” She glanced up, and an uncertain smile playing at her lips. “I don’t want to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. It’s not really like we made the mutual decision to...bond.”

There was a small wave of disappointment that rushed through me. “Are you disappointed in our mating?”

Ivy blinked in shock before sparing a quick glance at the three sleeping children. She tugged her bottom lip into her mouth again as she grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. I didn’t fight her as we entered the small hallway outside the bedrooms; there were three bunk rooms in total, with another two sharing larger beds.

The door to the children’s room clicked shut behind us. “That’s not at all what I’m implying, Maeve,” Ivy replied, sighing tiredly. “I’m sorry if that’s—” She stopped and shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t really know what I want right now. A bath? Sleep? To have many, many orgasms? I’m exhausted but my magic is like a burning sensation under my skin with how close you are.”

As I traced my fingertips up her arm, her magic hummed like a livewire. A living, breathing creature beneath her skin. Ivy’s eyes widened as she stared, her plush lips parted slightly. Pink highlighted her cheekbones, and the urge to feel the warmth of her blush beneath my own fingers overwhelmed me.

The beast born of bloodlust wanted to feed again from her throat. It wanted to feel her writhe beneath us, hear her moans of pleasure and fear as I pulled her lifeblood from her tender flesh, taste her magic and essence on my tongue.

My fangs elongated and pressed against my bottom lip. Heart racing, I lowered my face to hers. Breathing in, I took her scent into my lungs as if she were the only air I could breathe. Arousal hung heavily around her, clinging to her body, while her comforting scent of coffee tickled my nose like an afterthought. My body tensed as our lips brushed.

A different scent crashed into me, and my head shot up as Elias entered the hall. He crossed his arms over his chest, a frown darkening his face. “For all our sanities, take it into the bedroom.”

Ivy ducked her head and pressed her face into my shoulder. Her embarrassment seeped down the bond. “Sorry,” she grumbled, barely loud enough for either of us to hear.

Elias gazed down at her with so much adoration, that I couldn’t help the pang of jealousy that ignited within me. My jaw clenched. I tried to hide that particular emotion, though I struggled with the knowledge that Ivy had free access to the inner workings of my mind. I wasn’t sure how Adrian and Elias handled it. They seemed so at ease with it. But it was like a war in my own mind.

For so long, I’d been so used to hiding everything—for myself and others. Knowing Ivy had access to the darkness in my mind ignited a fear I had no means of quenching.

What would she do or say if she learned of what I’d done in my past? Of the horrible acts I’d committed in the name of my Sire?

Ivy wrapped her arms around me and squeezed without saying a word. It was enough to pull me out of my thoughts and bring me back to the present.

“Are you okay?” Ivy asked, gently pulling back to meet my stare.

I nodded, though it didn’t feel like the full truth. But Elias had a point; we shouldn’t be out here like this—Ishouldn’t be out here like this. Not with my bloodlust running high and our bond feeling so...incomplete.