Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

Zinnia

Death rose from the water.

Every muscle on his lean body was taut, his veins popping from his smooth, inked skin. He was breathing heavily, and the shadows around him swirled faster. "Come here, Zinnia."

His voice rolled through the room like thunder, and my knees almost gave out. I shook my head. "If you want me, it has to be on my terms."

With each of his exhales, a growl rattled his chest. His stomach was roped with muscle, his thighs bulged, and his cock jutted from his body, hard and thick and long and, goddess, intimidating.

Death looked every bit the god he was, and he was looking at me as if he was on the verge of insanity from his hunger— for me . I wanted him so badly, I trembled all over. But this was Death. I was no coward, but he was, shit, too much… of everything . "I have to call the shots this time… and you have to let me call you Mors without holding it against me. I'm not calling you Death while we're in bed."

"I agree to your terms," he said. "Take your clothes off."

An unexpected laugh burst from me. "You've waited this long, so how about you find a little patience?"

"Impossible." He stepped out of the bath, water dripping from his body. "Tell me what you want, and I'll give it to you. Anything your heart desires—it's yours."

This was another new side of Death. Yes, he'd been giving me glimpses, but this was next-level, and the more he showed me, the less afraid I became. I reached up and undid the top button of my jacket, working the rest until the heavy leather slipped from my shoulders and hit the floor.

Death watched my every move like a predator waiting to pounce on prey.

I dropped my hands to the buttons of my pants; he took a step forward. I stepped back, lifting my hands. "No."

He snarled.

"I come to you."

His fingers curled, clenching and unclenching at his sides as he watched me shove down my pants. "Is the water safe? Is there poison in it?"

"You don't need to wash," he said, baring his teeth. "I like you like this."

"Covered in sea salt, sweat, and demon blood?"

"Yes."

"Is the water safe?" I asked again, even as my belly went wild with nerves and excitement.

"The poison evaporates when it leaves the body. It's safe."

"Good." I dragged off my shirt and then removed my underwear. "Step back," I said. "At least four paces."

He growled low but reluctantly did as I said, tracking me as I walked to the bath and got in. He was barely holding himself back; I could see it in the way his muscles twitched and his breathing grew heavier with every passing second.

"Your body is perfection," he said. "Fuck, female, I want to lick every inch of you."

I lifted my gaze, letting it move over him as I slid the soap over my skin. "I like the way you look as well." Understatement of the century.

He stood straighter, a pleased light flashing through his eyes. "Cup your breasts for me. Play with your nipples. Do it," he said.

This was going to be a challenge; gods didn't like to be told what to do, but that was the only way this was happening. Still, I did as he asked, cupping my heavy and achy breasts. "I'm only doing it because I want to and not because you told me to. I'm in charge here, remember?"

"Will you ride my face, little witch?" he said, his hands still fisted at his sides. "I'll fucking beg you for it, if you like? I'm desperate for a taste of you, Zinnia. You have no idea how much."

Death had a dirty mouth, and yeah, it was working for me—big-time. "Are you in pain?"

"Yes."

"You can stroke your cock if you like." A vision of Death stroking himself filled my head, and my inner muscles clenched.

"If I touch my cock now, I'll come, and the next time will be inside my wife's sweet little cunt."

I flushed hot all over, so turned on, my next breath shook out of me. "Go to the bed and lie on it," I said.

He gave me another flash of his teeth, a look that said he was frustrated and entertained by my demands all at the same time. He strode to the bed and sat. His head dipped so his eyes were shadowed by his brow. "You need to know that after you fuck me, Zinnia, I will have you my way. I'll claim you so often and so deep that even when I'm not inside you, you'll feel me there. Every single day."

I was trembling now from how much I wanted him. It was getting seriously hard to hold my composure. Every word he said was stripping away my armor. This was probably a terrible mistake, but if my mortal life was reaching its end, I was making the most of every moment, even if it scared me. I knew what was about to happen between us—for me, at least—would be life-altering, soul-searing, earth-shattering, and I'd be a fool to pass that up.

"Lie back," I said and mentally gave myself a pat on the back when my voice didn't tremble like every other part of me was.

He lay back, his abs tightening as he did, then slid his hands behind his head. His gaze slid over my chest—what he could see of it above the water, anyway. "Now what, wife?"

Jesus, now he was being cocky? Or, at least, he was trying to be. He was still trying to maintain some kind of control. I got the feeling he hadn't been in this position, letting someone else lead, many times in his long life. He'd called me wife sparingly in the past, choosing consort more frequently, probably because wife seemed more intimate, more claiming, and considering when he chose to use it, he felt the same. I licked my lips because they were dry as hell. Had there ever been anything in existence as utterly beautiful, as awe-inspiring, as Death, hard and naked, lying on his back and waiting for me to have my way with him?

I rose from the water, and the cocky look on his face vanished. He ate up the sight of me, his cock jerking against his flat stomach. I grabbed the clean towel draped over the back of a chair, and slowly, carefully, dried myself off. "That feels better," I said and dropped it.

"When was the last time you were fucked, little witch?"

"It's not question time right now, Mors."

His nostrils flared. "When we're together like this, you can call me by my name, and I can ask you as many questions as I like."

Fair enough, I guessed, but talking about me sleeping with other males wasn't really something I wanted to get into right now. "Do you really want to know the answer to that?"

"Yes. Tell me."

I moved closer, standing at the end of the bed. "A couple years ago, I guess." I shrugged. "I've been busy."

"Who were you with?"

"No one special, just some guy I met while I was on the road. It used to get lonely, and he was nice. We had fun," I said, trying to get across how little the encounter meant.

His eyes darkened, the blue swirling with black. "I want to tear his limbs from his body."

Well, shit. I needed to turn this back on him and make him see how hypocritical he was being. I could guarantee he hadn't had any dry spells. "What about you?" I asked, taking a deep, steadying breath and climbing onto the bed. He tracked me as I crawled up beside him, his hands slipping from beneath his head.

"Keep your hands where they are," I said, and he growled again. "Answer the question. When was the last time you had sex?"

"A very long time ago, with my consort, before she was taken from me," he said, then, ignoring my order, reached out and slid his fingers down my cheek. "I've been waiting a very long time for you, Zinnia."

He was telling the truth; there was no doubting what I saw in his eyes and on his face. "Why?" I whispered, my throat tight with an emotion that surprised me.

"Because I didn't want anyone else."

None of this made sense. Could he only be with females destined to be his? Or was he just that into monogamy? There was so much I didn't know and desperately wanted to, but now was not the time to ask. Now, I was going to be the first for Death after what could be hundreds of years of celibacy. Curling my fingers around his wrist, I took his hand from my face, put it back behind his head, then grinned at him. "Well then, my lord, I'm about to rock your world."

A grin broke out across his face, and it was like it had the force of a thousand stars behind it, its impact like a sucker punch to the sternum. "Show me what you've got," he said, and there was no missing the teasing note to his voice.

My heart crashed into my ribs like a car in a head-on collision. "Well now, that sounds like a challenge."

His grin slipped. "Now, Zinnia—"

"Did I tell you I liked to take things slow?"

He growled. "We'll go slow next time."

I tutted and cupped his square jaw as zaps of electricity shot through me, making me squirm. Kissing Death had been on my mind a lot. At first, it had been unimaginable, but now? Goddess, he had those utterly perfect lips and the thought of it, the temptation, had become too much to ignore. "Making out really gets me in the mood." I was about to make out with a god. I'd laugh and scream—both at the same time—but I was too turned on in that moment to do anything but try to remember to do the whole oxygen thing.

"You're already in the mood. I can smell it. Your cunt is hot and slick and more than ready for me," he said through clenched teeth. "Kiss me, but do it while you fuck me."

The please went unsaid, but it hung between us. Death didn't beg, despite what he said earlier, and he'd get no mercy here, not tonight. For the first time since I started coming to Limbo, I was the one with all the power, and in this, I needed it.

Sliding closer, I lay beside him and pressed my naked body to his. I was trembling, but there was nothing I could do about that. "Don't move," I rasped as I leaned in and pressed a kiss to his jaw. "Stay right where you are."

He hissed. "Do you enjoy torturing me, little witch?"

"Doesn't this feel good? Having me pressed against you?"

"You know it does." He was panting now.

"Then stop complaining and let me kiss you." I lifted up to my elbows, so I was looking down at him, and studied his handsome face. "You have perfect lips. I've thought about kissing them a lot."

"Zinnia," he said, his voice full of raw hunger.

I dragged my nose along his throat and kissed the corner of his mouth. "You smell really good, like dark spices." He was shaking as well. Goddess, he was perfection. I pressed my mouth to his, and he groaned against my lips, then jolted as if he was about to pounce, but I reached back and grabbed his wrists, reminding him to keep them where they were.

Slowly, I ran my lips over his, reveling in their firm warmth, then dragged my tongue along his lower lip, desperate to taste him. My body was on fire, my nipples impossibly hard against his chest, and the pulse between my thighs was so damn deep, I couldn't stop myself from sliding on top of him, from straddling his hard body as I opened my mouth to slide my tongue deep into his mouth. He groaned again as his tongue slid against mine.

My hips rocked all on their own, working my pussy against his hard stomach, while I made out with Death like it was the end of the world, and I guess it kind of was—my world, anyway.

His skin was scalding hot against mine, and there was no way he couldn't feel how wet I was now. Kissing him was addictive. I could stay where I was all day and just kiss while rubbing up against him, but my body was screaming for more.

"Up," Death growled against my lips. "Sit on my face. Let me taste you."

I lifted my head a little and stared into his otherworldly eyes. "That sounded like an order."

His gaze seared mine. "Please."

His plea rolled through me, making me shudder, and my pussy clenched hard with need. Death never begged for anything, but he was, for me. How could I deny him? Why would I want to? Licking my lips, I slid higher.

"Yes," he said. "That's it."

I kept going until I was sitting on his chest.

"I'll need to hold you steady," he said.

His hand was out from under his head and wrapped around my waist before I could tell him no. He lifted me like I weighed nothing, putting me where he wanted me, and all thoughts of stopping him from touching me flew from my mind when he opened his mouth over my pussy and dragged his tongue through my center.

His deep moan was so incredibly sexy, my hips rolled on their own. He gripped me tighter, holding me down on his face with more force, and my head dropped back as he used that tongue with the kind of skill only a male who'd been alive since almost the dawn of time could have. I was shuddering and sweating, crying out with every skilled swipe of his tongue and every suck of those perfect lips.

I tried to hold back, to make it last, but I couldn't; I came with a scream. Death locked his arms around my hips, holding me down on his mouth, sucking and feasting on my pussy as I came against his lips.

When I collapsed, he dragged me down his body, thrust his long, thick fingers in my hair, and took my mouth in a claiming kiss that had my world spinning. I'd had every intention of being the one in control, but I didn't try to stop him when he worked his legs between mine and forced me to spread wide with his bent knees, or when he hooked me around the waist, just above my ass, and lined the head of his hard cock up with my opening.

I expected him to slam inside me, but he didn't; his entire body trembled, but somehow, he held back. "You need to control how much of me you take. I don't want to hurt you, but after seeing you fight those demons, after almost losing you, after how long I've waited for you, the force of the hunger I'm feeling is dangerous, and I would rather die before hurting you… so please, my perfect, feisty, beautiful little witch, put me out of my misery and fuck me the way we both need it."