The stifling heat of the room gave way to cool air and Enyo breathed deep of it as she stepped out onto the terrace that ran along the side of the palace. She walked to the onyx balustrade that lined the edge of the paved area, separating it from the garden below, and gazed at the flowers and trees that filled the formal grounds.
“Something is wrong.” Keras stepped up behind her, wrapped his arms around her and locked his hands over her stomach. He settled his chin on her shoulder. “Talk to me.”
She smiled, loving how attuned to her he was. Her mood had barely begun to slip before he had noticed it and whisked her away. She was just as attuned to him, could feel that he needed this moment alone together as much as she did. He was still struggling against the darkness Thanatos had provoked in him. It was right there in his feelings and in the tight way he held her to him, clutching her against his body.
That possessive hold thrilled her.
“I am disappointed that my brother did not come to the battle.” She leaned her back against his front, her focus shifting away from the garden and settling on him and how good it felt to be held like this by him.
Warmth flowed through her as he pulled her closer.
“Would you like me to hunt him down and punish him?” He nuzzled her neck and dropped a kiss on it. “Or cheer you up?”
She smiled. She knew which he would prefer. It wasn’t the first time he had made it clear that he wanted to fight her brother, and it wasn’t the first time he had offered to take her mind off him rather than going to mete out justice on her behalf.
Only this time she had the feeling that his way of cheering her up would be far more wicked, and far more satisfying, than it had been in the past.
Keras released her, placed his hands on her hips and turned her around to face him.
His eyebrows knitted as he looked her over, his voice dropping to a sultry whisper that matched the heat in his gaze. “You’ve been driving me crazy all night. The sight of you in this dress… I don’t know whether I want to peel it off you or keep it in place so I can drink my fill of how beautiful you look for a little longer.”
She lightly shoved his chest with her left hand.
He grimaced.
“Oh, gods.” Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening. “Sorry.”
She had tended to his wounds when they had returned from the battle, but he was still healing. He wasn’t the only one with injuries either. Not that it was stopping her from convincing him to peel the long black robe from her body, or perhaps keeping it on and finding a quiet corner where the guards wouldn’t see them.
Keras rubbed at his shoulder. “It’s fine. Just sore.”
His green gaze raked over her again, igniting fire in its wake, the look in it telling her that she wasn’t alone in wanting to find that quiet corner.
But this banquet was about him and his brothers.
There was no slipping away unnoticed when he was meant to be the centre of attention.
She settled for running her hands down his chest, feeling his hard muscles beneath the fine material of his black shirt, and letting her imagination run wild. The banquet would end soon enough and they could return to his home.
Their home.
“I like that look on you,” Keras murmured and captured her hand, drew her closer as his gaze grew hooded and dropped to her lips.
“What look?”
“You look happy.” He slid his arm around her waist and eased her against him, his hard body pressing into her and stoking the fire in her veins.
The desire to kiss him.
She thought about what he had said.
“I am happy.” Now that she was thinking about it, it struck her that she was, and that she couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this way.
Light. Warm. Filled with energy.
With hope for the future.
She smiled into Keras’s eyes, seeing her future in him, a future she had wanted for as long as she could remember, one she had thought she would never have.
He pulled her to him, his gaze locked on her mouth, sending anticipation swirling through her. She licked her lips, eager for his kiss, aware that if it happened, they would end up finding that quiet corner and making love.
A crimson corona encircled his pupils as his gaze dropped to her body, the darkness she could feel in him rising as it devoured the emerald of his irises. His thoughts were traversing dangerous paths again.
Enyo looped her arms around his neck and stroked the hair by his nape, teased it with her fingers in a way she hoped would pull his focus away from what Thanatos had said about her.
When the red invading his eyes only spread, she tried a different tactic.
“I do not want anyone but you, Keras,” she husked, her voice scraping low as his body brushed hers, sending a sharp thrill through her.
His scarlet eyes heated, had awareness washing through her together with anticipation, a rush of tingles and warmth that had her on the verge of begging him to do something, to give in to that need building in his eyes.
It built inside her too, rising rapidly as her senses stretched around her and she detected only a handful of guards—all of them either close to the house or the perimeter wall of the garden.
Keras lifted his right hand from her waist, flexed his fingers near her shoulder and then brushed his fingers over the thick strap of her dress. She trembled as the tips of them grazed her skin, as he eased the black material aside and it fell to rest against her arm. He leaned towards her, his warm breath skating over her flesh as he neared her, as he swept his lips over her shoulder and downwards.
“Gods, this dress,” he muttered and fisted the material at her waist.
He planted his hands against her waist a moment later, pressed his palms into her as he pushed them upwards, past the dip in her waist to her ribs, drawing the skirt of her dress up with it. Cool air swirled around her exposed shins.
“I want to kill every male who looked at you tonight.” He kissed lower as he bunched her dress in the small of her back, twisted it so the hem rose higher. “I want every male in this world to know you’re mine.”
Her heart fluttered, fire igniting in her veins as those words rocked her.
And her soul answered him.
She wanted that too. She wanted the world to know that she was his, and she wanted it to know that he was hers too. She wanted to kill every female who dared to look at him, who had the audacity to comment on his good looks or gaze at him in a way that invited him to go to them.
She wanted to stake a claim on him.
He growled as he pulled her to him, as he grabbed her backside and lifted her. Darkness whirled around her and her breath left her in a rush as her back hit something solid and cool.
Keras pressed against her, pinning her to a wall in the garden, stealing her focus away from the world and narrowing it down to only him as he pushed her up it. He tugged at her dress, pulling the layers of fabric up, his growl growing frustrated as he tried to get to her.
Enyo released him and pulled at her dress with him, her pulse rushing faster and faster, pounding in her ears as need built inside her like a storm that would break at any moment.
When her dress was close to being conquered, she couldn’t stop her hands from flying to the waist of his trousers. She made fast work of his belt, didn’t slow as she tackled the button and eased the zipper down. Keras grunted as she shoved at his trousers, pushing them down his hips, and growled as she freed him.
She didn’t get a chance to touch him.
On a low, blood-heating snarl, he tore her underwear away and buried himself in her. She bit her lip to stifle the cry of pleasure that wanted to burst from her as he plunged into her, as he stretched and filled her.
Keras growled and she lowered her eyes from the sky to him, stilled as she met his scarlet gaze. Darkness reigned in it as it held hers, pushed the storm inside her to a crescendo, and her over the edge. Need overcame her, tore down her control and m
ade her a slave to it, to the desperate craving for this moment.
For this wild, untamed, side of him.
The fight on the Tokyo rooftop came flooding back, roused the hunger in her veins to startling new heights, filling her with wicked needs that only Keras could satisfy.
And only when he was like this.
On another blood-heating growl, he dug his fingers into her backside and thrust into her, pressing her to the wall with each brutal meeting of their bodies.
Enyo clung to him, lost in his eyes as he took her, as she surrendered to him. She gripped his nape with one hand and covered her mouth with the other, stifling the moans that burst against her palm with each deep thrust of his length.
Oh gods.
Keras snarled and gripped her harder, flashed fangs that sent another thrill through her as she stared at his mouth, as her mind raced to recall what he had been on the verge of doing on that rooftop.
Staking a claim on her.
She wanted that now, embraced this side of him, found she loved it as much as she loved his softer side.
He pressed closer, pumping her harder and faster, his breath leaving him on feral grunts. He lifted his right hand and yanked her dress down, covered her nipple with his mouth and sucked hard. She cried against her hand as sparks skittered over her breast, the moan muffled but still audible, and Keras growled in response. He sucked harder as he plunged deeper, angled his hips and took her out of her mind.
Enyo moaned with each meeting of their bodies, the sweet slam of his pelvis against her sensitive bead causing waves of tingles that had her desperate for more, had her tightening her grip on his nape and digging her fingers in.
“More.” She let her hand fall from her lips, too far gone to care if anyone heard them, the need inside her too great to deny.
He took her harder, faster still, his hips pistoning and pushing her higher. She reached for release, clenched him and silently begged him for that one push she needed, the one that would send her over the edge into the bliss she could feel just beyond her reach.
Keras snarled low.
Lifted his head.
Sank his fangs into her left shoulder.
Pleasure detonated inside her, had a cry bursting from her lips as her entire body jerked to meet his, as lightning crashed through her and her ears rang. Her thighs quivered violently as Keras kept thrusting, as he held her in place with his fangs and took her.
Possessing her.
She swam in the haze of her climax, aware of his fangs in her, of how possessive his bite was, how he was using it to control her to a degree.
To stake a claim on her.
The darkness in him needed this, and gods, she needed it too.
Heat and sparks rushed through her again as he plunged deep into her and his length pulsed. She quaked with him, breathing hard, lost in the moment and the feel of his fangs in her shoulder.
If she’d had fangs of her own, she would have marked him too.
She settled for digging her nails into his neck as she struggled to come down, as he held her in place with his fangs and remained inside her. She drifted with him, unaware of anything but him.
When he eventually pulled his fangs from her shoulder, he refused to look at her, and cold replaced the warmth as she looked at him, as she felt the war erupting inside him, the emotions that were tearing him apart.
Enyo palmed his cheeks and made him look at her, aware of what he needed to hear.
“Gods, that was incredible.” She smiled for him when he looked as if he didn’t believe her, because she needed him to know she was telling the truth. “Do not get me wrong. I like the steady, controlled side of you, but I like this side of you too. This wild, dark side.”
He still didn’t look as if he believed her.
She gathered her courage, tamped down her nerves, and somehow found the strength to put it out there as she grazed her fingers over his throat.
“If I had fangs like you… I would mark you for all to see.”
On a low growl, he swooped on her mouth and kissed her hard, clutched her to him and stole her breath. She sank into his kiss, savouring it and the emotions she could feel inside him, ones that were warm now, calm and filled with light.
He broke away from her lips and swept his tongue over her shoulder, carefully lifted the strap of her dress and covered the bite mark with it. His hand lingered on it as he lowered her, his gaze fixed there, no trace of red in it now. Only warm emerald that sparkled.
Enyo fixed her dress and then his trousers, and he was still staring at his hand and the point where he had bitten her when she was done. She gently captured his cheek again and kissed him, tried to ignore the heat that began to build in her veins again, demanding an encore.
When she pulled back this time, Keras looked a little dazed.
She opened her mouth to tell him words she hadn’t found the courage to say to him yet.
A female screamed.
Chapter 30
Keras stepped the moment his mother’s harrowing scream reached his ears, sending a chill shooting down his spine. Darkness whirled around him and then parted, and his eyes widened.
His mother stood behind his father, cradling him to her chest as thorny black brambles rose up around them both to form a wall between them and the other occupants of the room. Tears streaked Persephone’s ashen cheeks as she clutched Hades to her, supporting his head on her arm, her hand stroking his face as he grimaced and growled, flashing fangs.
“What happened?” Keras’s gaze leaped to Thanatos and then his brother Ares.
Both men wore grim expressions, but Thanatos’s silver eyes flickered ethereal blue.
“Eris,” the god of death growled, his black eyebrows knitted hard.
He glanced at his mother.
Nyx glared at him. “I knew nothing of this.”
“Nothing of what?” Keras bit out, haemorrhaging patience.
“Fucking Eris attacked Dad,” Valen snarled and lightning chased over his fingertips. Those arcs of electricity crackled brighter as he swiftly turned to his right, his golden eyes flashing dangerously.
Enyo held up her hands the moment she manifested.
Valen backed down.
Her jade eyes shifted from his brother to his parents and widened. “Oh gods! What happened?”
Keras still hadn’t gotten the answer to that question himself, and he wanted to know what the hell was going on, because it looked a lot like Eris had attempted to kill his father.
Cold snaked down his spine and curled around his heart.
“She’s with the enemy,” he whispered, a shiver cascading over his skin beneath his clothes as he said that and that feeling cemented inside him. He looked around the room, and barely leashed the growl that rose up his throat as he realised that it wasn’t only Eris who was now missing from the celebration. “The others are working with her?”
Nyx’s voice gained a sharp edge as she looked at Hades. “I did not know. My own damned spawn rising up against us. I will destroy them all, I swear it, my god-king.”
His father shifted pain-filled crimson eyes to her, his chest heaving as he laboured for breath.
“Please, you must let us near him,” Megan said, reaching for Persephone and then snatching her hand back when the brambles shot towards her.
Ares gripped her upper arms and held her back, stopping her from making another attempt to reach their mother. Persephone’s mothering instincts had always been strong, a protective streak that ran as deep in her as it did in Hades. It was going to take more than just Megan to convince his mother to let anyone near Hades now, when he was vulnerable.
“We can help.” Cassandra rounded the table and came to stand beside Megan. She lifted her hand and colourful light encircled it, ribbons that chased around her fingers. “Together we can heal him.”
“I want their heads,” Hades roared and tried to push out of Persephone’s arms. He made it only a few inches before he sagged back against her, bre
athing harder than before.
And shaking.
The sight of his father injured, visibly weakening before his eyes, tugged at the darkness inside Keras, pulling it to the fore so swiftly he didn’t have a chance to tamp it down. It stole control from him, whispering insidious words in his mind, clawing at his heart.
Because this was his fault.
He had left his father unguarded.
“Keras,” Enyo whispered and he shunned her as she reached a hand out to him, flicked a glare at it that warned her not to touch him.
This was her fault too.
He had been distracted by her.
He had been distracted by her and his father had paid for it, and gods help this world if he died.
“What happened?” he growled again.
Ares locked gazes with him, a bleak look filling his dark eyes even as they flickered with fire. “Eris wished to speak with him and he allowed it, and the next thing I knew, she had stabbed him. Thankfully Father sensed her intent or something, because he moved and she missed her target, only nailed him in the shoulder rather than the heart. Fucking bitch.”
Keras looked their father over as he tightly gripped the arms of his chair, his teeth gritted as his face twisted in pain.
His green gaze fixed on the slick patch on his father’s right shoulder.
He stepped to the other side and the brambles snapped at him, attempting to drive him back. He refused to go, flinched as they slashed his face.
Persephone jerked to face him, her green eyes enormous as they fixed on the cut darting across his left cheek.
“Let me near him, Mother.” He implored her with his eyes, spoke gently to her in the hope it would reach her and offer her comfort.
She wasn’t alone.
She didn’t have to protect Hades all by herself.
He would destroy anyone who sought to harm his father.
Shadows snaked from beneath his feet and slithered over the brambles, entwining with them. As they made contact, her pain and fear rolled into him, stole his breath and had tears filling his eyes.
She feared the worst.
“He will not die. But we must treat him. If my suspicions are correct, then he must be seen to immediately. Let me near him. Let me see.” Keras lifted his right hand slowly, trying not to spook his mother by moving too fast, rousing her instincts to protect Hades from a possible attack.
Keras: Guardians of Hades Series Book 7 Page 33