Chapter 37

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

Fane dragged his hand through his hair, his gaze flicking to me while I danced. "Claiming her is forever, Wrath. It's not something either of us can undo once done."

My poor beast didn't realize nothing he did would bring the old Tate back. This was her now. This was me. The dark parts merged with the light. The amulet merged with the shifter. We were all one, and there was no severing the pieces again.

As I felt the internal struggle in Fane, a tiny sliver of doubt infiltrated my thoughts. This link between us was a mystery not even the nefarious power within understood. It was drawn to him almost as much as the old Tate was. If Fane claimed this body in the shifter sense, could the binds tying us loosen the amulet's hold? Would it splinter Tate's parts again and force me to plunge back into a deep slumber?

I couldn't take that chance. Fane couldn't claim me, no matter how much the idea of having him forever tempted me. The hard lines of his form drew my attention, and I longed to run my fingers over the scars digging into his flesh.

He was battle worn and hardened on the outside, but he softened when Tate—when I—was around sometimes. Fane yelled at me and hated me. He protected me and wanted me.

My beast would never fully surrender to the idea of claiming me. Even now, when Wrath pointed out all the good that could come of us being bound as mates, Fane paced with uncertainty, jamming his fingers through his hair.

Before Kaspin's spell, he would have done it in a heartbeat. The magic still permeated in his veins, shielding his memories and tainting his thoughts. The enchantment wouldn't allow him to forget I killed his brother, and the urge to murder me was like a drumbeat inside of him. Sometimes it was quiet. Sometimes it was thunderous. The old Tate couldn't detect it.

But I could.

"Do you have somewhere else to take my family?" Fane asked.

Wrath rubbed the splatters of blood off his face with the bottom of his t-shirt as he considered his options. "I know a safe place."

The next few moments passed in a haze as I danced, and suddenly Fane and I were the only two remaining in the backyard, the ground saturated with blood and fallen enemies. He approached me with slow, measured steps. I should have backed away, but the savage predator in him drew me closer.

He was so addicting. I couldn't stop myself from craving his presence.

"What are you doing, beast?" I asked as his hands skimmed over my sides, toying with the hem of my torn shirt. Fane couldn't have decided to claim me with all that turmoil and uncertainty raging in him.

He tilted his head, motioning to the bloody battleground. "Isn't this what you always wanted? To have your way with me while surrounded by your victims? "

I gave a low hum at the picture he painted. Such a good artist. I had dreamed of that while we were in Heldrok many times.

"I'll worship you if you allow it." Fane dropped to his knees, the firelight flickering over the sharp, ebony tattoos, scars, and blood covering his bare chest. "I surrender. I submit to you."

That last part sent a wave of pleasure to the shifter within, and she prowled forward, influencing my mind. And that was exactly what I'd feared. Fane hadn't even kissed me, but the amulet's hold already wavered.

Even knowing that, knowing what he planned, I had trouble resisting him while he gazed at me as if I were a goddess, ready to sacrifice his life at my altar.

"What's it going to be, little rebel?" His rough voice, laced with lust, had flames licking between my legs, right where he should be.

I could have him and still deny his claim. He'd never do it against my will.

All I had to do was say no when he asked.

"Worship me, my beast."

As soon as the words hit the air, Fane tossed me onto the ground and used his talons to shred my jeans off. Heat swelled through my insides and throbbed low in my belly. His phantom hands roamed my body while he loomed over me, watching the desire intensify.

Black demon blood covered him, and his hair was tossed around his face in wild, messy waves. A bright glow emanated from his eyes, his pupils in thin slits like mine. Battle torn and disheveled, he should always look like this.

Such a glorious sight.

"You like my dark side, don't you, fiera mika?"

A smile curved my lips. "Stop talking and start worshiping. "

His laugh promised pleasure and pain. "As you wish."

Fane didn't waste any more time, tearing his jeans to pieces before falling on me. His mouth captured mine in a vicious kiss, bruising my lips as he shredded the remainder of my clothes.

I moaned into his touch while his fingers plunged into me at the same maddening tempo as his tongue, tasting and teasing until I writhed beneath him. I bucked my hips and ran my claws down his back.

His growl as I broke his skin vibrated against my chest, shooting electric sparks down my spine. "You really want the beast, don't you?"

"Of course," I rasped as he continued to work me into a frenzy. "Have I not made that clear?"

Fane arched his head toward the sky, and his muscles clenched and hardened as his tattoos quivered. His beast roamed closer to the surface as if he'd released him from his cage.

No more chains. No more leash. No more collar.

When the demon shifter brought his face back to mine, the lust ricocheting between us intensified. His teeth had sharpened, so deadly he could easily rip my throat out.

"You wanted this." His voice, a savage snarl that had me shaking with need, poured out as he forced my legs apart and lined his cock up to my entrance. "Remember that when you're screaming."

Fane drove into me, yanking a cry out of my mouth at the huge intrusion. He pulled out and slammed in again. And again.

His brutal thrusts stole my breath, and the only sounds coming out of me were broken, ragged pants as I tried to gulp air. Twigs and leaves dug into my back as the fire seemed to heat the entire area, or that might have been us. I scraped my claws down his back .

"You always liked it rough," he whispered into my ear between grunts. "I don't remember, but I feel it."

Images flashed through my mind, memories from the old me still lingering inside. Fane had torn me apart and put me back together a hundred times those hours we spent screwing in the woods in Mohan Wilds. The first time, he'd tried to hold onto his control, but I begged him to let go.

It had hurt. And it had felt so damn good. So perfect.

"I remember our first time." My legs widened, allowing him to thrust deeper, pounding me into the ground. "You were afraid to show me the real you."

"Did I show you?" He licked the tattoo on my neck, and I arched into him, moaning as sparks of pleasure rippled from the mark all the way to my center.

More memories of us colliding and the electrifying bliss they brought flowed through the bond, spurring Fane to go harder. Faster. "Yes." I tried to catch my breath. "I wanted you even more. I didn't shy away like everyone else. I stayed and begged for more."

"I want to give you more, fiera mika."

The heavens blurred above, the stars dancing and melding together as this beast devoured me. The scent of our arousal mixed with the blood and death surrounding us. I could still taste the violence on my tongue.

My thoughts began to slip out of reality as the sensations Fane produced intoxicated me. He was a drug I craved, and I'd surely overdose on him. I was losing my mind, falling under his spell.

I never wanted to stop falling.

"Fane," I cried out, but it wasn't the me joined with the Infernal Sol. It was the other me. She'd broken free and was climbing her way out .

Could I really blame her? This would bring the dead back to life.

The beast licked my throat and then bit my lip, drawing blood. "Will you let me give you more?"

"Yes. More." My fingers dug into his ass, pulling him against me as I rocked my hips in time with his. "Please."

His fingers wrapped around my throat. "You will have so much more—when you let me claim you."

Oh, this was his trick. I was supposed to say no. I had to deny him.

"You don't really want that." My words came out in broken moans and gasps. "You don't want to be tied to me forever. You're only trying to bring the old Tate back, but she's dead and gone."

As if he smelled the lie on me, his teeth flashed within the feral smile. "I've been fighting the urge to claim you since I first saw you in that lake in the Underworld. I hated you. And I wanted you." Fane's head lowered as he sucked my hardened bud into his mouth, his tongue twirling and flicking it. My back arched, and I groaned as so much moisture leaked from me that it probably puddled on the ground beneath us.

How could it get better than this?

"It will, fiera mika," he said into my mind, picking up my thoughts. "Just say yes, and I'll show you how much more my beast has to give to his bound mate."

I shook my head. "I-I'm supposed to say no."

Fane released my breast and kissed me as his fingers coiled around my throat just enough to make me dizzy. "The beast wants this. You have no idea how badly that part of me needs to claim you. And once I do, there's no stopping the amount of worshiping I'll rain down on you. I will always be on my knees for you. "

His words prodded my resolve, each one a temptation to drive me over the edge.

Do it. Think of how good it will feel.

That voice, her, the other girl inside, taunted me.

He's promising to be yours forever . He'll worship you forever.

"Just say yes," he panted against my mouth, his cock still hammering into me with so much force we slid across the ground. "Let me give you this."

As the throbbing in my center grew, my vision blurred until he was all I saw. Wild ebony hair, tattoos and scars covering his carved body, a face as beautiful as it was brutal, and burning eyes in two mesmerizing colors.

Would it be so terrible to have my beast chained to me forever? Why would that be a bad thing?

How could it?

I could no longer remember why I was supposed to deny him. I wanted him with me always. It wasn't just the old me hanging on.

"Can I claim you, my little rebel?"

"Yes."

The word was barely out of my mouth before Fane darted forward and sank his teeth into my neck right over the mark his bite had given me.

A ball of heat and pleasure erupted, and I screamed so loudly my vocal cords cracked. Within seconds, I came hard, shaking violently beneath Fane while his teeth latched onto my throat.

"You. Are. Mine."

The possessive claim wrapped around my soul, binding me to the beast, deepening the link forged the moment he turned me. Tiny, invisible strings wound around my heart and his.

"Fane!" I screamed his name again as his moves became savage, his beast taking over. Pleasure and pain had me in a choke hold, stars spotting my vision and molten lava filling my veins. My core throbbed and wept from his brutality. Tears streamed down my cheeks, and my body threatened to split in half.

I'd never been so thoroughly fucked in my life.

And I was his now.

But he also had to be mine .

I pushed Fane onto his back, tearing his teeth from my neck. He looked startled, having been lost in the euphoria. "It's my turn to claim you."