CHAPTER 13

CHAPTER 13

SLADE

Huge tendrils of liquid goldlash out, wrapping around me like ropes and then tossing me away. They send me crashing against the jagged wall of the cave so hard that I see stars. I land on my side, the breath knocked out of me for a moment, and it’s only because of the endless hours of training I’ve had that I leap right back up to my feet.

Déjà vu rushes over me, because twenty feet away, Auren stands with a wave risen behind her like a gilded crest. Her chest heaves with rapid breaths, her dripping hands curling into fists at her side while her eyes glow with narrowed attention.

“Auren.”

I try to take a tentative step forward, but a snarl rips from her throat. My eyes rake over every inch of her, assessing. When I take a step, she thrusts out her hand, sending a rope of gluey gold shooting out at me like a whip. But it doesn’t make contact. Instead, it was merely a warning.

My lips tip up into a smirk, while her eyes taper in suspicion.

Oh, Goldfinch, I see you.

“So, you’ve finally woken up,” I say casually, barely glancing at the whip of gold hovering mid-air, like it’s ready to strike at any moment. “Not a morning person?”

Another snarl comes gnashing through her teeth.

“I didn’t think so. That’s alright, Ryatt’s worse. Although,” I muse, glancing toward the cave’s darkening entrance, “it’s nighttime now, anyway.”

With slow, measured steps, I shift to the left, starting to circle around her. I keep the same amount of distance between us as before, but this makes her shift with me, makes her become acclimated to movement. She’s not dripping new gold anymore, but everything she has is coalesced around her, gathered with perfect synchronicity.

Her gold mirrors her motions, stretching up behind her, its surface rippling like an ocean’s wave. But my attention is on her and her aura flickering around her silhouette.

“You’ve been asleep for days, did you know that?” I ask, keeping my tone conversational. “Lying on a bed, not waking, not eating. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that you’re probably feeling a bit weak.”

As soon as I say the word weak, her anger bursts through her gold, which she sends hurtling toward me. But this time, I’m ready for it, and I dodge the viscid whip before it can make a hit. Behind me, it slaps against the rock, a splatter left behind from the blow.

I tsk. “That wasn’t very nice.”

Her face pulls together in a furious sneer.

“Oh, I see,” I say casually as I take off my stained coat, letting it drop to the floor, before slowly rolling back the sleeves on my arms. “You don’t want to be nice. You want to fight.”

My body shifts with a thought, black spikes punching through my forearms and curving down the length of my spine. They line my brows, and I touch my tongue to the fangs now dropped from my jaw. She watches my transformation with rapt attention, like a beast trying to size up another predator in her midst. With my ears now pointed and the slash of gray scales against the bones of my cheeks, the smile I flash her is pure fae.

Her chest heaves, and her body is so tense, like she’s a string pulled too tight. She’s not going to listen to soothing words to get her to come back to herself. No, what she needs is to snap.

Which is why I lift a hand, gesturing for her to come near. “You want to fight, so fight me.”

That’s all the invitation she needs.

Auren sweeps her arms out to her sides, and the wave of gold behind her splits. Then she claps her hands together, the gold moving to mirror her movements, but I drop to my knees and roll before it can smash into me. The focus of her fight is good. She’s not depleting herself like she did back at Ranhold Castle, and her aura is holding steady, although, she’s also not wholly herself.

But I know a thing or two about dual natures.

“Is that all you got?” I taunt as I leap back up.

She whirls around to face me, eyes blazing. The gold moves with her, blowing her hair back, tightening in a cocked wave to hold itself in a predatory stance beside her. With a curl of her fist, she sends it shooting toward me, trying to squish me to a pulp. I leap away, but not without it splattering all over me from the force of its crash. I see her eyes glow, her jaw tighten, and I smirk in return.

She starts sending the waves at me again and again and again. Yet not only am I fast, but I know her. I can read her every move before she makes it, giving me time to anticipate exactly what she’s going to do and dodge the gold before it can slam into me.

Each time she tries to pin me down, I slip away out of her gold’s grasp, chuckling as I circle her. The gold keeps up with me, sloshing against the ground, arcing and twisting with my movements. Her irritation is clear on the pull of her brows, on the way her eyes barely blink. But she is so attuned, so fucking gorgeous like this, wielding her power so effortlessly.

When I dodge another splash slamming toward me, I wipe away the spray that landed on my cheek with a grin. “You’ve got to be quicker than that if you want to land a hit,” I taunt.

She screams in frustration and abandons her tactic. This time, she breaks apart her gleaming wave into a hundred different twisting ropes and sends them lashing out at me like a wall of whips. When I duck, she manages to move one strip down in time to slam into my stomach, smashing me against the rocks.

I grunt upon impact, my eyes flashing up to see her reaction. Satisfaction edges her mouth, but when she sees me get back to my feet with a smirk, it slips right back off.

“That was better, Goldfinch. But why don’t you drop the gold and hit me like you mean it?” I croon.

She blinks, taken aback, but then her lips press together in anger. With a snap of her fingers, the gold immediately loses its shape and drops to the floor in a splash, soaking through the soles of my boots. Instantly, the gold hardens, and even though it’s only about an inch thick around my feet, it’s enough to pin me in place.

Clever girl.

Now that I’m stuck, she comes walking over, hips swaying in satisfaction. When she stops in front of me, there’s a gleam in her eye. Anyone else standing here would probably be pissing their pants. At the very least, trying to yank out of their boots and run. But me? I’m just turned on. And I stay right where I am.

“You’re gorgeous when you’re unhinged,” I tell her.

Then, I slam my lips against hers.

Her mouth is warm and supple, droplets of gold dotted along the seam, and I can’t help but let my tongue dart out to get a taste. I have barely a second of feeling her against me before she’s shoving me back, the solidified gold turned back to liquid. I fumble backwards from the force of her push, feeling it splash around my shins.

She pants, looking even angrier than before, her golden eyes alight as she brings her fingers up to her lips. For a moment, she just glares at me, fuming, the gold rippling at our feet.

Come on, Goldfinch.

I keep my body loose but poised, readying for another hit from her. When she drops her hand, my eyes dart down to the gold, expecting it to come up for an attack.

Which is why I’m completely caught off guard when she launches at me instead. I go tense, just as her body slams against mine, forcing me to take a step back to keep myself upright.

It takes me exactly a heartbeat to realize that this is an entirely different sort of attack. She’s not trying to hit me anymore. She’s trying to devour me.

My lips part against the assault of her mouth on mine, and my hands come down to grip her thighs that wrap around my waist so I can hoist her up higher. This time, instead of pushing me away, she’s got her hands in my hair, yanking me closer, demanding more. When my tongue slips against hers, she moans, this time not in pain or aggravation, but pure, hedonic thrill.

Fucking sexy.

When she nips my bottom lip hard enough to split it, I pull away, locking eyes with her challenging gaze. She tries to dive right back in to continue with our kiss, but I lift a hand up and thread it through her hair, yanking it firmly to hold her in place, but not enough to hurt. She growls in response, making me smirk.

“Come out to play, Goldfinch, and I’ll kiss you all you like.”

Her eyes flash with warning, and a moment later, she’s on her feet and I’m pinned against the cave wall by her gold. It’s not liquid enough to seep into my clothes, but it’s firm enough to hold me in place. She stands in front of me with a look of pure victory on her face. I’m like an insect caught in the strands of a spider web.

“Very good,” I praise.

She smirks in satisfaction, trailing a hand down my neck, streaks of gold smearing against me wherever she touches—like she’s marking me, which my fae nature really fucking likes.

After she trails along the stubbed spikes above my eyebrows, she leans in and skims her mouth against my neck. I have to bite back a groan.

“Come out, Goldfinch.”

A delicate, warm hand comes up to my cheek, and she turns my head to look at her.

“Come back, baby,” I say softly before I reach out and cup her jaw, letting my thumb drag across her cheek. “Come back to me.”

Something flickers in her eyes. Like flecks of shimmering light. Then, she blinks, and her expression suddenly morphs.

Sheer and complete relief pummels into me like a fist to my chest. “There you are.”

Her breath catches. Her lips part, and I watch her eyes focus on me before she whispers, “Slade.”

“I’m here. You’re here.”

She gives herself time for one breath, and then she fuses her mouth against mine. Her hold on the magic seems to disintegrate in a blink, and it goes splashing to the ground, splattering us both.

But she doesn’t even seem aware of it. She’s too busy trying to climb up my body, like she can’t bear to have any distance between us. I let the spikes on my arms sink beneath my skin, but everything else in me comes flaring up. All the worry and dread is shed into the pooling gold at our feet as carnal heat takes their place.

Because she’s awake. She’s alive. She’s warm and writhing and pressed against me.

Thank fuck.

Her lips yank away, just long enough for her to gulp in a breath. “I need...”

“What do you need, Auren?” I ask, letting my fang scratch against the pulse of her throat. Her hands cling to my neck, legs wrapped around me while I hold her ass, hands splayed and squeezing.

“You, please. I need it. I need it now.”

Her hands drop to the strings of my pants, already loosening the ties. So different from our first time together when she was shy and unsure. But all thought leaves my head when her hand darts inside and she grips my length.

“Fuck.”

She strokes me up and down, frantic and fast, like she’s desperate for me, desperate for escape. “I need you to make me feel.”

Her touch makes my balls tighten, and all I can think of is sinking into her and giving her exactly what she needs.

I put her down on her feet, making gold splash up around us.

“What are you doing?” she growls out in protest.

I grip her jaw, tilting her head up to look at me. Without saying a word of warning, I reach with my other hand and shove her leggings past her feet, her borrowed shirt barely covering her from my gaze.

She gasps, but when I cup her pussy, the sound turns into a moan. “Please...”

“You’re begging, baby.”

“I know!” she shouts out, head lolling back when I swipe my thumb over her clit.

I lean forward and lick a line up the curve of her neck, making her shudder. “I like it.”

Hands at her ass, I pull her up again, and the feel of her bare heat against my length makes me grit my teeth in pleasure.

“Rub yourself over me,” I command. “Get that slick pussy all over my cock.”

Wetness drips from her as she does exactly as I say, her hips rocking over me and coating me in her juices. “That’s it,” I purr. “Just like that...”

“Slade...”

The pitch of her voice seems to shoot directly to my cock, and I can’t wait a second more to sink into her waiting heat. I shift my hips and she reaches down between us, lining me up with her entrance.

I hold still, staring into her eyes while she trembles over me.

“Hurry,” she pleads.

I punch my hips forward and thrust into her, sinking all the way to the hilt.

Auren’s body latches onto me inside and out, hands digging into my neck, her inner walls clamped down tight.

Squeezing her ass, I lift her up and then bring her back down with a forceful grind, tearing a cry of bliss from her throat.

“Is this what you needed, Auren?” I say as I lift her before bringing her back down once again. My arms flex with every move, my spikes wanting to punch right back through my skin.

“Harder.”

Her breathless appeal tips over my restraint, and there’s nothing I want more than to oblige. I start slamming her down onto my cock so hard that her entire body tightens up, letting me have her completely at my mercy.

“Harder,” she cries, just as her head falls to my shoulder. Her blunt teeth bite into my skin and make my cock swell impossibly larger.

I go harder, faster, driving into her with carnal fervency.

“Harder,” she says again. And again. And again.

And again.

I jerk my head back, seeing sweat slick her face, her lips parted in quickened pants.

But I also see an edge of something else in the depths of her wild eyes. Something that makes me pause.

“No! Keep going,” she says, fingernails clawing at my neck and yanking my hair. “Go harder. So hard it hurts. I need to hurt.”

My hips stop punching up, my hands pausing on their lift. I raise a hand and fist her hair, tugging her face to the side. She hisses out a breath that turns into a groan.

“You need this?” I say, pinning my hips against hers, keeping my fingers threaded through her hair so she will look me in the eye. “Need to be punished?”

Her throat bobs, and I see a flicker of something in her gilded depths. “Yes...”

I thrust into her in a slow drag that makes her eyes roll back.

“Well, guess what?” I say, bringing her lips close enough to mine that I can sip in her exhales. “You don’t deserve punishment, Auren.”

She goes stiff in my arms, eyes widening.

“I see you.” I start fucking into her slow and steady, just as I slowly release her hair and instead bring my hand between us to stroke her clit. “You need an escape? You need me to make you feel good? I can fucking do that.”

I punctuate my words with my fingers rubbing against her, making her shake, her teeth biting down on her glistening lip.

“Listen to me,” I command, making her watery eyes latch onto mine. “You don’t deserve punishment for anything. You deserve reward.” A sob churns out of her, and I don’t need her to say a thing, because I see it all there in her eyes. “I will drive myself so far into you all you’ll feel is pleasure for how fucking glorious you are as you burn for me. But there will be no punishment.”

A golden tear drops from her lid and falls on my chest, soaking into the fabric of my shirt.

Before she can let out a protest, I sit us down on the ground. I lie beneath her, my cock notched so deep inside her that she lets out a whimper. But from this angle, she can be in charge. “I’m going to thumb your clit and make you scream, proving to you that you’re a goddess who takes her pleasure because that is what you deserve,” I growl out. “Now ride me.”

Her palms press against my chest, and with an angry glare, she starts lifting her body and then slamming back down on me hard and fast, her pace relentless, her expression determined. But all the while, I just stroke her clit with slow, smooth movements, circling her nerves and waiting.

Waiting.

Another frustrated tear slips down her cheek, and she looks down at me with anger burnishing her cheeks. “Fuck me,” she says.

“I will,” I tell her. “As soon as it’s about your pleasure and not your punishment.”

She slaps her hands down on my chest hard. “I need to be punished!” she snarls, chest heaving, aura flaring.

“Why.”

It’s not a question, it’s a demand.

Her expression falters. “Because I...I...”

I sit up fast enough that she sucks in a shocked breath, my cock angling deep. “I’ll tell you what you did. You finally broke free and you conquered.”

She stares at me like I’m her lifeline. Like I’m her only hopeof not being torn to shreds. But I will always ground her. I will always remind her of who she is.

Because I see her. I always fucking have.

I wrap my hand around her throat, my other hand still stroking her clit, slipping through the wet desire she’s gushing. I make my grip just tight enough to cause the slightest restraint to her breaths. The moment I do, her chest heaves faster, more moisture slicking from her pussy, pupils blowing wide. “The only thing I would ever punish you for is the way you tried to give up on me.”

Her pulse slams against her veins, and she lets out a small, shaky noise. I tighten my grip and thrust my hips up into her, making her shudder and moan.

“You’ll never give up like that again, will you, baby? You’ll never let your power overwhelm you.” I thrust again, hips snapping up and making her gasp out my name. “You’re going to remember who you are and how fucking powerful you are, and you will not—ever—fucking—give—in—again.” Every word is a thrust, every letter a faster stroke over her clit.

“Say it,” I demand, my growl vibrating against her ear. I want to consume her. Bury myself so far into her that she will feel me forever, sear my words into her thoughts.

“I won’t ever give in again,” she cries. “Slade, please.”

Bliss to my ears.

My fingers rub over her clit, my speed a blur. My hips punch up again and again, making her mouth drop open in a scream that echoes through the cave.

“Come, baby. Take your pleasure on my cock and fucking flood me with it.”

Her orgasm seems to implode.

I feel her body clamp down on my cock, and my thrusts stutter. She calls out my name, shaking all over, her pussy surging with wet heat that sends me right over the edge with her. “Good fucking girl.”

I come so hard I’m surprised I don’t black out, spilling hot jets of cum deep inside of her, marking her as mine. But I don’t take my hand off her clit until I wrench the very last wave of pleasure from her singing body, not until she slumps against my chest, shaking from the aftershocks.

Only then do I move my hand and start to stroke her arm instead. Slowly, gently, fingertips grazing up and down. We stay sitting there for several long moments, and I don’t rush her. I don’t push. My cock has no complaints, and neither do I. I wish we could stay in this cave, I wish I could keep her safe in my lap. But despite my wishes, reality comes trickling in.

Her pliant warmth turns stiff, her mind racing fast enough that I can hear it whirring. I watch as her head lifts from my shoulder, eyes flicking around, taking in the dark cave, seeing the swill of gold still puddled on the floor just a foot away.

“Slade...” she says, but this time, it isn’t with the plea of pleasure. It’s a call of fear.

“You’re okay, Auren,” I say, but she’s already scrambling off me, yanking up her discarded leggings from the floor.

I get to my feet and pull up my pants, tying up the laces as I watch her circling around, her eyes wild as she takes in the cave, her fingers spearing into her hair as she shakes her head. I don’t know if it’s the shock of taking in this unfamiliar place, but the pain in her eyes as reality comes crashing down around her makes me want to roar, want to protect.

She stumbles on her feet, eyes wide, hand snapping up to grab her throat, right over the subtle slice of a scar. She’s staring at the gold on the floor like it’s utter demise looking back at her. When the gold starts to move, starts to come closer to her, she flinches back with a cry. “No, no, no, no, no!”

“Auren.”

Panic has set in, her head shaking nonstop. For the first time since she woke, worry creeps up the back of my neck. Before, when she was attacking me, I had complete confidence that she would snap out of that state and come back to me, had complete confidence that she was in control of her magic.

But now...

Her breathing starts to go quick and hollow, like no matter how much she inhales, she can’t get enough air.

“Auren, look at me.”

She spins in place, looking around wildly. “I don’t… Where am I? I can’t let the gold go. I need it away from me! I need it to stop!”

I stride forward, but the sound of my boots splashing through the melted gold makes her flinch. “It’s okay,” I start to tell her, but she isn’t hearing me.

“What did I do, Slade?” Her arm grazes the cave wall, making the gold splatter there stick like syrup against her sleeve. She wrenches back from it, cowering with a full-body tremble. “Oh goddess,” she breathes, a hand clamping over her mouth in horror. “What did I do?” The question is a shaken whisper. A cornered recognition with its hindlegs backed against a wall.

Sidestepping, I slip in front of her, gripping her by the arms. “Look at me.” She tries to jerk away, but I keep my grip firm. “Auren, look at me.”

Her gaze snaps to mine, her pupils blown with fear, the pulse in her neck racing. “What did I do…”

“Breathe with me.”

I take in a deep breath, pursing my lips slightly to blow it back out. I do this again and again until she starts to mimic me. At first, her breaths are still too quick, her eyes too wild, but slowly, her breathing calms down enough that she’s no longer hyperventilating.

As her panic ebbs, her gold no longer dollops with movement. I can tell the moment she severs her hold over it, because it no longer seems alive. Instead, it’s just liquid left to dry on the floor.

“That’s good,” I soothe, running my hands up and down her arms. “You’re doing so good. Keep breathing.”

She lets out a shuddering breath, watery eyes lifting to mine like she’s seeing me for the first time. “Slade.”

“I’m here, baby.”

My chest has gone tight. I’m so overjoyed that she’s awake, that she’s herself, but I don’t want her to feel fear, to feel despair.

Her gaze drifts to the gold splatters along the cave walls, to the pool of it solidifying on the floor. “Great Divine.”

I watch it—the memories—as they seem to fall into place one after the other. There’s a whole host of expressions that cross her face, but all I can do is brace myself, waiting for the onslaught. Of blame. Of hate. Of guilt.

I think that’s what will cut me deepest. Not her blaming me or even hating me for rotting her—I deserve that.

But the guilt? Her feeling guilt over killing Midas, now that will kill me.

I don’t know how many seconds pass as her mind recalls what transpired, but finally, her eyes hook back onto mine, and my heart nearly drops down through my feet at the tears gathered in them.

“How?” she whispers. “I felt my power leave me when the sun set. That shouldn’t have been possible, but I—” Her words choke off. “There was something inside of me that just snapped open.”

“And it was fucking glorious.”

She flinches. “How can you say that?” she asks, her voice cracking. “I became a monster.”

But I shake my head, brush my thumbs over her wet cheeks. “No, baby. Not a monster. A fae.”