Page 82 of Tempt

“No.” My voice is a raspy whisper.

His eyes fill with tears. “Why don’t you trust me?”

This conversation…it’s not a dream. It’s a memory. Those words unlocked my tongue, and I told him things no human had any business knowing. And then they took him from me as though they knew he was my weakness.

I blink, and he’s on his knees, bleeding from his nose and his mouth. I blink, and he’s looking at me with reddened eyes and betrayal on his face. I blink, and he’s blaming me, even as they put me in chains.

I am responsible for his death. I whispered secrets into his ear, and they ended his life, and all for what? My eyes are hot with unshed tears, and as I try to close my hands around Kori, suddenly there’s nothing but air.

Why is this happening now? Why must I feel this all over again? What could possibly be the point when⁠—

‘Eissa…’

My name is not spoken aloud. It erupts in my head—more meaning than sound. Not just what I am called, but something else. Something important.

Bonded.

VySytheh.

My Luca.

eighteen

EISSA

I wake with a gasp, my breath hitching in my chest as a roll of anxiety ripples through me. My hearts are beating out of sync, and the only thing keeping me grounded to the bed is the weight of Luca’s body pinning me down.

It is nowhere near morning, but I can feel the moons are low on the horizon. Luca has moved completely on top of me, his body stretched against mine, and if it were not for that very thing, I might have torn the mattress to shreds with my claws as I attempted to shake myself out of the old memory.

But my Luca is here. He is pressed against me, his single, fragile human heart beating against my chest, and that alone calms me. The memory begins to fade, along with all the pain that comes with thinking about Kori. Luca has questions about him, and he will want answers soon, but for now, I will avoid them in favor of this.

Of holding him. Of touching him.

It’s the worst kind of torture imaginable. Because here I can feel him, can smell him. I can sense every part of him.

He is sleeping soundly, but I know he is dreaming of me. Of what he wants me to do to him. Of what he wants to do to me. It has made the urge to rut him, to breed him, almost painful.

I know my time is coming, that there will be nothing I can do to stop it when it does, but I want to protect him from it. From what my body could do to his.

Even the idea of it, of his hole opening up and swallowing me entirely, makes something inside of me heat in a way I have never felt before.

He grunts and twists, his hard cock pushing against my stomach as he tries to get comfortable. He would be better off lying in the bed beside me, but he made his way up onto me while sleeping, and I did not have the hearts to push him from me.

So I let him, unable to deny this.

And it is excruciating. The kind of thing I have never felt. A desire to have but unable to give in. To want to take, but knowing it would result in something far worse than death.

It was never like that with Kori. It was never this soft, this tender. It was always a give and take—something he wanted for something I wanted. Luca has often presented it this way, but that’s not how he feels deep down. He has tried to hide his innermost thoughts from me, but he can’t.

We are bonded, connected. It takes so little prodding to slip into his mind and sift through everything he’s been thinking since we met. And he wants me. He wants me as I am: a scarred, lonely, sad monster.

Every fiber of my being wants to give in. Every inch of me wants to pin him to the wall by his throat, sink my fangs into his pretty neck, and make him mine forever—permanently bonded and bitten.

I can’t, of course. Not yet. Not until I figure out if the rebellion we’re slowly building will be able to make a move before the council schedules a time for me to create a new Vyastil. But now that I have my VySytheh, my rut is unpredictable.

I should have had four second-moon cycles to figure out our next step and recruit others who understand that the Royal House and the council must fall in order to make real change for the Vyastil. But now that Luca has touched me, now that I have tasted him, I have lost all control.

My rut could come now. It could come tomorrow. It will not be easily scheduled like they expect. And I’m not sure if the Council will be alerted when it happens, but if they are, I will have to flee with Luca, and my cover will be broken. I will be known for what I am, and without strong leadership in our newborn rebellion, it will fall apart.