CHAPTER 13

Nika

Lips twitching, themercenary's eyes danced across my face before his thumbs rubbed over my hands as if to soothe me, and for some reason, the tension in my body eased. "Fuck, Nika. What is it about you that gets to me? I'm a bleeding mess around you. A bumbling troll of a man just trying to share your shadow."

I opened my mouth, not sure what to say. "I don't know what you mean. But, um, my condolences," I clapped back, a little saltier than I needed to be about it.

"See, that's it right there—that savage sass. Fuck, it gets me every time. I'm bloody mad about it, I am." The Fae's entertainment was palpable in his stare.

I was pretty lost to the conversation as a whole, and a little annoyed by the tangent the other Fae took if I was honest, but I'd guide him back to the necessary topic if I had to. I was desperate for the information he kept from me, and I'd play his games to get it if that was what it took.

Releasing a laughing breath, Silas straightened his shoulders and his smile faded. "I've never met someone with a power like yours in my entire life. In all six hundred years of it, that is," he said, and I somehow kept the shock of his age from reaching my face. "They're called Soul Collectors."

"The name doesn't inspire happy thoughts," I sassed, a lump in my throat and growing. "So, I assume they collect souls?"

The image of Bear Claw, several small wispy strings fleeing his mouth into my body, the glowing necklace, the ice-covered skin and dimming eyes, everything aligned with what I'd assume collecting a soul might look like.

A damning reality, but one I'd come to terms with.

Silas's eyes dropped to my necklace. "They do, but it's more than that."

More than that? Of course.

The hands holding mine tightened, and I peered down at our joined hands only for Silas to speak again and drag my gaze back up with a jerk. "Soul Collectors can use the unique abilities of the gifted souls they collect. It's likely the reason Yuma fears them so much. With every soul collected, you can call on greater and greater powers."

My breath fled in a powerful whoosh.

But with the way the man's body constricted and his eyes fled mine, I knew he wasn't telling me everything. "What else?"

The question brought his golden eyes back over to me, their gleam bright. "Everything we know about Soul Collectors is composed primarily of myth, Nika. I've only ever heard about their ability to collect a soul and use its power. The only reason I suspected it might be that sort of power was because they were said to leave their victims in a similar state to the one you left Bear Claw in."

"Covered in ice?"

Silas hummed in his throat, probably deciding whether or not to answer. "All I saw was Bear Claw leap at you, then he was frozen in front of you in that state."

Deciding to take a chance on Silas, knowing that it could one day damn me, I said, "It was as if time stopped. He was transformed from wolf to man and then just...frozen. The color bled from his eyes and skin, he was slowly covered in ice, and what I assume now was his soul fled his mouth to my chest. The necklace glowed the entire time but was back to its normal state when I came out of stopped time." I noticed the mercenary had gone rigid in front of me as if under attack, and I sighed without meaning to. "Does that mirror your understanding of Soul Collectors?"

His eyes drifted away, and the muscles in his jaw tautened again. Not a great sign from what I'd learned about the mercenary's body language. He rarely held back. Always told it how it was. Filtered nothing he said, no matter how often I wished he would. But I'd relied on that being the case this time.

So why did he hesitate so much?

Yanking my hands from his, I offered the brute a glare. "That look of yours suggests this is more than just a formidable power. Don't insult my intelligence, mercenary."

His shoulders dropped and he grinned with self-deprecation. "You're terrifying, little rebel. You know that, right?"

"I'm aware," I clapped back, unamused. "Spit it out."

Lips slanted, Silas stared at me. "I mean, I'm into it. Gets the blood pumping. Riles up my animal side. Gets my cock—" I had a dagger at the appendage in question, and his hands went up into the air. "Oh, aye. That was a little too far even for me. You're right, little bird. Silly me."

"I'm very close to cutting it off, just a fair warning," I delivered with a hiss.

Throwing his head back with a sigh, Silas finally relented. "Soul Collectors are dangerously powerful as you probably gather, love. And that power comes at a cost. Rarely is it ever..."

"Light?" I supplied, my hope escaping with the breath I expelled.

"Darkness dwells in power," my father always said.

Silas moistened his lips and crossed his arms over his chest. "Soul Collectors, or what some referred to as Dark Reapers, were the kind of Dark Fae who inspired terrible legends and brought the entire magic world together against them. So, aye, their power rarely led anywhere good."

"So, they were all evil. All the darkest of the Dark. Corrupted by their power," I surmised, sheathing my dagger, desperate to ignore the tight constriction of my throat.

Silas took my hands again, and I nearly smacked him for it. "Like I said, very little is known about them. I have someone we could ask. If anyone would know, it's her. I've never come across a Soul Collector, so I didn't really have any reason to learn more than the basic intel about them."

Nodding, I stole my hands away from his and stood, ready to wash away the day from my body. My thoughts needed to marinate with all I'd learned, and I didn't want to do it in front of this brute. But to my surprise, Silas got up and followed me to the bathroom door. I turned to find his chest inches from my face. When my head fell back to gaze up at him and demand why he followed me, the worry etched into his expression stopped the angry words from leaving my mouth.

"There was a time when I would've been considered the darkest of the Dark, Nika. Oh aye, my sorry soul is stained with the corruption of my past. But I know better than anyone, no one decides who you are but you. Might not seem very convincing coming from a bloke like me, but over the last few days of knowing you, I can't see something like this defining you. I can't see you not overcoming the stigma of it."

To say I was surprised to hear his sincere encouragement would be an understatement. More surprising was how it was exactly the thing I needed to hear.

It'd always been Lev who picked me back up when I was giving into the power of other people's words. I wasn't invulnerable to the constant reminders I was a stain on society. The Marked. The Foretold. The Scorned. It was always my kind-hearted friend who reminded me only I could define who I was.

I wasn't sure what possessed me to reach up and grab the brute by the head then slam our mouths together, but I blamed the overpowering emotions taking my heart by storm. I blamed all the collecting tension from a life gone renegade and an intensely ominous revelation.

I was walked back into the bathroom by the mercenary's hastened steps, his hands in my hair, then tracing the shape of my body on their way down to my hips. The dangerous glint in his eyes reminded me of when we fought Bear Claw, and it hit with powerful force between my legs, throbbing in a way that nearly made me climb onto the man and force action.

I didn't want to admit it, but I was turned on by the wild and out of control violence in his eyes. It was nothing like how other guys looked at me. It suggested that whatever I wanted, he'd give it to me. And he'd take what he wanted, too. All of it. Until there was nothing left to take.

Lilith, it got me so hot and bothered.

Not that I'd ever admit it to him.

Sucking my bottom lip into his mouth, Silas groaned like he was in the middle of savoring the best meal of his life. "Fuck you taste good, little rebel."

Snapping his fingers, his cerulean magic fled in a sparkling swirl and turned the shower on. A hot spray fell inside the glass box a second later, and heat quickly filled the room, fogging up every surface inside. Our lips were already moving to devour each other. I sensed the tension in the other Fae's body growing, and I tugged his shirt to express how much I wanted to take this thing between us to the next level.

"Silas," I breathed, voice affected by a deep husk, "take this off."

The other Fae stalled and took strong hold of my hips, groaning when I slipped a knee between his and rubbed the hardening tent in his pants. "Ah, bollocks. Fucking shit. Hey princess, I won't last long if you go all saucy vixen on me," the other Fae joked, though his voice was affected by the same husk as mine.

I struggled to breathe, overcome by my desire to have him again. It wasn't clear what it was about Silas that made me crave and yearn to connect, but it didn't matter anymore. I didn't have any reason to avoid it. No reason to pretend I wasn't drawn to him. No reason to hold back. I didn't care how shameless I looked or sounded, and by the way the mercenary took in my lustful state with his golden eyes gone silver, I was probably quite the sight already.

Running his tongue over his lips, Silas bent down and nipped my neck, breathing me in. Then he sunk a hand into my loose hair again. "I hate myself for asking this..." he whispered huskily, his eyes bouncing from my swaying body to my lust-lidded eyes as his panting breaths painted my face, "but I'd be a right bastard if I didn't. Is this what you really want, little rebel? I'll have you any way you're willing, but I'm not the sorry sort of sod to take advantage of a woman who's in a vulnerable state."

Shit. He was an asshole until he wasn't, and I hated how much I was into it—how much it made me want to seduce the playful Fae into fucking me until I forget everything that was my shit existence.

My lips slanted, and I gripped the back of his neck with force, yanking him nearly until our mouths met. I traced his lips with my tongue, relishing the chest-deep groan the action dragged out of the brute, and then I pressed against him. "You think I'm vulnerable, mercenary?" I asked, palming his cock over his black jeans. "But I've never felt more powerful in all my life."

"Ah, fuck me," the other Fae groaned loudly, his powerful hips rocking into my hand. "You're going to make me come if you keep talking like that, love. I'm not taking the piss."

His tongue swept out and filled my mouth, and I was pinned back to the wall near the shower, his heavy body pushing into mine. Face-eclipsing hands took strong hold of my jaw, angling my neck so he could trail his lips and tongue down the curve of it. I grabbed hold of his thick forearms, a sigh escaping, and tensed when his teeth tugged on my lobe before his tongue took a path to trace the shell of my ear.

"This is going to sound like lip service," his thick voice whispered hotly next to my ear, "but I've never been this turned on. Fuck, Nika, you've got me trembling, heart going, blood pumping. I'm a bloody fucking mess right now, and I don't care who knows it."

His huge chest muscles flexed under his shirt before he removed it and went to his knees. I didn't breathe as Silas yanked my shirt up and sucked the taut skin of my stomach into his mouth, scraping his teeth and chasing each bite with his tongue. Sensation battered my body with every erotic swipe of his hot tongue and gentle nibble of his teeth, and I arched into it, seeking his mouth's caress.

A heady sound broke away from my throat when Silas's magic removed my clothes. The cool air of the bathroom struck my heated flesh, but I loved the way it felt. The other Fae spread my thighs with his hands, guiding one of my legs over his shoulder and smoothing his petal-soft palm over my retracting stomach. It awakened every nerve in my lower half, and I swallowed a breath, afraid of giving my eagerness away.

I wanted nothing more than to feel Silas's mouth on me, bringing every sensitive place to life. To succumb to the pleasure I was confident he'd give me. Desperate to be lost to the intense stimulation of his touches.

I dared a look down at the other Fae, but a moan quickly erupted from my throat when his mouth teased where sensation exploded. His silver hair was all I saw as the grunting mercenary shoved his face between my legs and dragged his tongue across my slit, worshipping the wet skin like he'd spent all day thinking about it. Inadvertently, my hips swiveled in a desperate circle as his talented tongue and mouth elicited sensations I'd been unaware I could feel.

It'd never felt like this before. Not with a man, anyway. If I was honest, not with a woman either. And I wanted more of it.

The mercenary's tongue flicked out, and his fingers sunk into me. The unrelenting pleasure and stimulation left me panting and swallowing moans, helpless to the assault. I clung to his shoulder with one hand and his hair with the other, working my hips against his mouth to ease the tension collecting in my waist. Silas's happy grunts and desperate groans only spurred me on.

His hand wrapped around my milky-white thigh, coloring it with his grasping fingers, and his other hand worked my body to his liking. The thickness of his fingers and tongue were intoxicating, and soon they were all I could think about.

"Silas..." I groaned, trying to warn him I was close, but words failed to come. All I could manage was his name in a breathless whisper.

His fingers moved faster, his mouth caressing the wet place between my legs, and my body grew impossibly tight, overcome by the pleasurable assault. I moaned and tried to flee the intense stimulation, but his hands kept me locked to it. My lidded gaze found his between my open thighs, the subtle lift to his mouth telling. Silas licked his lips clean before sucking my clit into his mouth, expertly flicking electric sensation into my hips and thighs. And not even ten seconds later, I came so hard my vision failed.

Before I could gather my wits, Silas was fully naked with his cock bobbing between us. The powerful brute lifted me into his arms, and I wrapped my legs around his strong waist and my arms around his broad shoulders, feeling his pulsating length pressing along my ass. He walked us into the spray while his sinful mouth coaxed mine into another battle of tongues. I was pinned to the shower wall with his waist rocking against mine. My head fell back onto the tile surface behind me, the crown of his erection slipping across my wet opening.

Overcome, Silas's entire body constricted. Growling low in his throat like the beast he was, he pushed his massive girth inside, touching places his tongue and fingers couldn't reach. "Lilith's tits, you're tight."

I kissed him hard enough to put a stop to the ridiculous curses the mercenary was prone to uttering and worked my hips over his, sinking down onto him all the way until he was fully inside. His stomach retracted sharply before he grunted in pleasure. Then his hips smacked into me without relenting, seeking pleasure for both of us.

Silas fucked me so hard I didn't know how to do anything but moan my appreciation and cling to his body, riding wave after wave of ecstasy until we were both hurtling over the edge.

The other Fae thrust into me one last time, fully sheathing himself, and his body shuddered against me. Intense pleasure lived in the low groan leaving his mouth, and it made my lips tilt into a smile without realizing. His chest heaved with effort before Silas let his head fall back, water washing down his hair and face.

We stared at each other, not saying anything for nearly a minute. All that filled the quiet were our joined pants and the relentless sound of water hitting whatever surface it reached.

"Nika..." he breathed, my name his prayer. "I—"

"Don't talk," I ordered hotly, pushing us both into the spray and kissing him again, hands grasping his powerful jaw and savoring the after-orgasm moment.

A feral sound left his chest, and his mouth moved against mine eagerly, reigniting the previous lust, saying what words couldn't. We were swallowed by the spray of the shower, kissing like we'd been starving our entire lives.

I didn't want to think about why I sought out his kiss or why I needed his touch so much, so I just indulged in it. Let myself slip away into the moment and enjoy it for what it was. Because reality was sure to come knocking the minute we left the safe haven we'd created in this room.