Page 65 of His Darkest Desire
“Magus?” Echo asked, their voice soft, uncertain, and concerned.
“Go,” Vex commanded. “I require solitude.”
Echo hesitated, ghostfire swirling.
“I said go!”
Shrinking back, Echo made a soft, sad sound and darted away.
A pang of guilt pierced Vex’s heart like a knife, its blade coated in remorse.
But neither the wisp’s intrusion nor the pain Vex had inflicted upon himself were enough to divert his thoughts. The air around him wavered, and shadows gathered in the corners of the chamber, gradually flooding it with darkness. Only a single source of light broke through—a glowing mass of rose quartz shaped into a large basin. Bubbles, shimmering with tiny rainbows, rose above the rim.
Gritting his teeth, Vex stepped toward the tub.
As though touched by a gentle breeze, the bubbles parted. Kinsley emerged from the steaming water, arms crossed over her chest, her pale skin glistening with moisture in the rose quartz’s luminescence.
Vex halted beside the tub. Peering up at him, Kinsley moved her arms, revealing her full breasts. She took one of her pink nipples between her fingers and—
“No more!” Vex slashed his arm through the air.
Bubbles, quartz, and steam wavered and faded to nothingness, taking the phantom image of Kinsley along with them.
He was standing before the alcove where he’d kept his bed since bringing Kinsley to the cottage. There was no naked female awaiting him, only crumpled blankets piled on a sleeping mat like the nest of some sad, lonely creature.
But by silver and starlight, were Kinsley here now, he’d never want to leave this pallet. His whole world could’ve been reduced to this spot and he wouldn’t have cared.
Hissing, he clamped a hand over his erection and squeezed against the maddening ache. Molten heat flowed in his veins. Something tugged on him, urging him back toward the door, back to his bedchamber.
Back to his mate.
“I’ll not surrender my will,” he growled. Releasing his cock, he turned away from the pallet and resumed his pacing. His wings brushed the shelves and tables, their tips scraping the floor stones, but he barely noticed any of those sensations.
Images of Kinsley danced through his mind’s eye. Memories of the lust that had been in her eyes, the desire. Of the playfulness, the teasing, which had sparked such uncontrollable, frightening heat within him.
He quickened his stride, but he could not outrun those images. She was in his mind, his heart, his soul, and she would not be dislodged. He was powerless to exorcise her from himself.
He saw again and again the way she’d touched herself, the way she’d reacted to his touch, to his kiss.
He saw again and again the way she’d stared into his eyes as she’d climaxed. And he heard his name, breathy and broken, from her lips.
Vex halted and slapped a hand atop the worktable to steady himself as the pressure in his groin increased tenfold. His other hand again grasped his throbbing cock, bunching the fabric of his trousers. Need crackled through him, carried on a firestorm of yearning so hot and bright that it blinded him to all else.
His harsh breaths filled the laboratory’s quiet.
She is a means to an end.
The key to the shackles that have bound me here.
And I…
“I am a master of illusion,” he grated, “and none fall prey to my craft so thoroughly as I.”
She was his mate. It mattered not that he’d forced that bond, that it had been made under dire circumstances. How it had been formed was inconsequential because now it was.
And to pretend he wanted her for naught but the child she’d promised was the height of foolishness.
His fingers flexed, and his claws scraped the tabletop. Though he’d not sworn on his true name, he had given Kinsley his word that he would not touch her, and he’d broken his word it tonight.