Nyx sniffs the air, and I know he can smell how Lumi and my smell have intertwined. He can smell her sex on my fingertips. He doesn’t know how far we’ve taken things, just that things have progressed between us. He can smell it. See it in the way she doesn’t pull away from me as I stand with my arm draped around her shoulders. And then, because I can’t help myself, I lean in and plant a kiss on Lumi’s lips.
I’m not sure how she’s going to react to kissing in front of Nyx, but I need to kiss her. For myself. For her. For him. I need to claim her.She’s mine, mine, mine!I want to shout.
To my surprise, she’s beyond receptive to my kiss, parting her lips like she needs my tongue to save her. My tongue dips inside, and I kiss her in a not-so-sweet way. A little aggressively, a little possessively, I mark her as mine with my tongue deep in her mouth, my hands wrapping around her body until I pull the softest, sweetest moan from her throat.
Then I stop. Her eyes are a daze, and she takes a slow breath, her eyes on me, not him. For a second, I think I’ve won. I’ve gotten the girl.
“Really? You think you can take her from me with a single kiss?”comes Nyx’s voice in my head.
I pull Lumi tighter to me.“Yea, I do. She’s standing by my side, not yours. And you saw the look on her face when I kissed her.”
“You didn’t fuck her last night,”he says calmly, like he’s just pulled the trigger on the bullet that he knows will kill me.
“Of course I did.”
“You. Didn’t. Fuck. Her…You. Haven’t. Fucked. Her. Since. Me.”
I growl.
Lumi looks at me curiously, but I just shake my head.
Nyx looks from her to me.“It’s not enough.”
“Fucking her isn’t the only way to her heart.”
“No, but if she can still remember me. Still thinks about me when you kiss her, it’s because you haven’t fucked her senseless. You’re the most powerful witch I’ve ever seen. Use that magic, make it the most romantic, magical night of her life. Pretend you have three dicks. I don’t know—but you need to pull out all the stops when you get her in your bed again.”
“You weren’t that memorable. She was almost there last night until these damn markings showed up. Another night and she’ll never think about you again.”
Nyx huffs.“I’ll believe that when I see it.”
“What about you? You aren’t doing your part enough.”
He chuckles.“I’ve played my part perfectly. I am doing what it takes. Do you fucking smell me?”
I do, he smells like sex—untamed, filthy sex. The kind you get after fucking all night long, not just one time. And Amora, she’s covered in his scent. There is no faking that. No pretending. No, almost going there, but pulling back at the last second. They are fucking like the feral animals they are.
“Hands, now,” Lumi says, interrupting us.
Nyx and I both frown, but the way she says it is all alpha-like. There is no arguing with her.
I hold up my hand for everyone to see. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone has entered Nyx’s living room now.
The markings that link me to Nyx are so clearly drawn on the back of my hand.
Lumi holds out her hands next. A snowflake on one, a crescent moon on the other.
We both look at Nyx, who begrudgingly holds up his hand, palm facing us.
I roll my eyes, and then he dramatically turns it.
Someone gasps when he reveals the snowflake.
“So explain to me like I’m an idiot what this could mean, because to me it looks like Lumi’s mate is Ambrose. Nyx’s mate is Lumi. But Ambrose’s mate is Nyx? How does that fucking make sense?” Brax asks.
“The markings don’t mean they are mates. But it could be a clue from the gods about their fates,” Riven says.
Silence stretches as if no one wants to speak about how our fates might be intertwined. But it’s obvious that they are. Suddenly, everyone’s heads turn at the same time as we all sense them coming.