by Emma Dean
Ethan was practically a living reincarnation of legends with his height and the way he could just stare into your soul.
But he only had eyes for her. Why was that?
“Why do you even like me?” Mika asked, genuinely curious. “You could have anyone. Why me?”
Something in his eyes died a little at that question. The chaotic grey turned into a flat silver Mika had only ever seen once, and that had been when he was in her arms dying – bleeding out because of her.
“It’s hard to explain,” Ethan told her with a small smile and a shrug. “But I don’t just like you, I love you.”
“Try,” Mika pressed. “Explain to me why, when you hate everything about my world – when we’re so very different.”
Ethan sobered and somehow Mika felt like he finally understood how important this was to her.
From day one it had been all about her. Even on their date she’d had to push to get him to tell her anything about his life. Had he even told his mother he was dating someone?
Did she care if he hadn’t?
“Well,” Ethan hedged, looking up at one of the trees that reached the glass and steel at the top of the greenhouse, oranges ripe and ready to be plucked. “It wasn’t so much a conscious decision as it was an instinct. Yeah, I recognized what you were from the second you walked into our class. Everything about you screamed money and privilege and my initial reaction was to dismiss you.”
But he hadn’t. He’d flirted and teased that entire first class. “So what changed?” she asked.
The sounds from the city were muffled in the greenhouse. And the sun room wasn’t as hot as the rest of the greenhouse which was warm, but the temperature was regulated so the building didn’t roast in the summer and completely kill all the plants.
Mika appreciated this feeling of being separate from the mansion, from the city…after Morgana it all felt so suffocating and she had no idea how she was ever going to get used to living in the city again.
Not when the island and the temple and the forest felt like the home she’d been searching for all her life.
“This is the part that doesn’t make sense.” Ethan shrugged, smiling slightly. “But you asked.”
Studying him, she could tell he was telling the truth and not trying to be deliberately ambiguous. Mika could hear the steady rhythm of his blood pulsing through his veins. She would know without a doubt if he lied to her – and Ethan knew that too.
“I was drawn to you,” Ethan murmured. He rubbed his thumb over his knuckles and took in a deep breath. “I couldn’t stay away from you no matter how hard I tried. And I really did try.” He laughed then and Mika wished she could read his thoughts just then.
“You were mad at the whole world and suddenly it became my life mission to find out why,” Ethan told her. He brought her hand up and kissed her knuckles and everything about this guy just made her melt, but she held steady.
She needed to know why her – and if Ethan was truly committed to all this insanity then why was he so hesitant about her visiting his home?
Yes, her inevitable summoning was a very real reason to stay in San Francisco at the moment, but that would be done with soon enough and the challenge denied or scheduled.
There would be time before the challenge, before the fall semester began.
“Mika, the more I learned about you the more obsessed I became. I didn’t care that you were volatile and dangerous,” Ethan confessed. “In that sense you were exactly like me – and up to that point in my life no one could ever fully understand what I had done, what I was really like…”
The lightning flashed in his eyes and they were stormy once more. At first Mika had thought Ethan was easygoing, but over the last six months she’d come to realize it was an act, just like hers.
And the more she got to see his strength and nature the more she fell for him. Mika supposed it would make sense that he would think she could understand him best without judgement. But it had taken a while for her to truly see him, and even now he was still holding back.
The silence between them stretched when she didn’t say anything.
“You’re afraid,” she murmured.
Ethan grimaced but he didn’t try to deny it. “A little.”
“That I’ll be disgusted by you, or your life?” she asked, tilting her head slightly, narrowing her eyes as she tried to understand.
“Both?” Ethan laughed but it was humorless. “The people in Santa Fe, they know a version of me that I worry will scare you off – that my mom will think you’re a bad influence on me and that I’ll lose control again.”
Again.
Because Ethan hadn’t told her the entire story about that golem he’d destroyed. The accident with his father had been just that, an accident. But whatever he’d done to take that creature out had been calculated and deliberate.
Mika shivered in appreciation.
Ethan slipped his hand out of hers, for the first time he was misreading her reaction.
Scooting closer to him, she reached out and squeezed his thigh. “I think I’d like to open these crystals in private after all.”
He nodded, mouth in a grim line as if he’d somehow anticipated this. Ethan got to his feet and shrugged again as if to say ‘I knew this would happen.’ “Whatever you need, Mika. I should probably head back to the university anyway.”
Before he could walk away, she grabbed his hand and tugged. “That’s not what I meant. Would you like to come with me?”
Looking up at him only made her shiver again.
Something about the dark look in his eyes turned her on and it always had. The barely-there control had always set her skin on fire and seeing the quiet way Ethan took charge when they were alone together…
It was how she’d peeked behind that curtain.
“Come with you?” Ethan asked, frowning slightly.
“Or after. Either way is fine.” Mika couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face, or the way her nails dug into his skin.
Realization dawned on his face and Ethan’s cheeks colored slightly. “Wow, I totally thought you wanted nothing to do with me anymore.”
“Quite the opposite,” Mika told him, gathering the book. “Can you get my crystals?”
Ethan grabbed the tray and followed after her. Mika brushed by Ms. Jenkinson with a grin that could have rivaled Lucien’s. “We’ll take that up in my room actually,” she said, grabbing two plates. “Thank you!”
The look of disbelief and embarrassment when Ms. Jenkinson got the idea made Mika laugh.
She wasn’t ashamed of Ethan. His lack of high society status was something she didn’t give two shits about. And she needed to prove to him that the part of himself he was so afraid of wouldn’t scare her off either.
Because Mika wanted Ethan to be hers.
Forever.
8
Mika set down the book on her desk and turned to face Ethan who was standing in the doorway with a dumbfounded look on his face. It occurred to her then that he’d never seen her room before.
And it was definitely something else.
With so few of them living in the house she had one of the largest bedrooms. It was big enough to fit her queen-sized bed comfortably, her desk, a chair, the walk-in closet, and attached bathroom with plenty of floor space to throw a dance party if she wanted.
Mika kicked off her shoes and slowly started unbuttoning her shirt.
Sometimes she felt like a sex freak, but ever since losing her true virginity, Mika had felt this insatiable need and she didn’t know if it was because she had three, sometimes four guys after her, or if she would have been like this with Matthew.
It didn’t really matter either way.
“What did you have in mind?” Ethan asked, watching her like a hawk as he set the crystals on the small entryway table next to the door. Her room was larger than most studios.
Tossing her shirt on the chair she slid off her shorts next so she was in nothing but her bra a
nd underwear. Then Mika got down on her knees and waited.
“Mika…” Ethan licked his lips and she could see he was already turned on. “What are you trying to do?”
“Do your worst,” she told him. “I won’t break.”
The storm in his eyes darkened and Mika could see the flash of lightning. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” Ethan murmured, but he took a step forward.
She lifted up her chin in defiance. “I dare you.”
“I don’t think you understand, Mika,” Ethan said, finally reaching her. His hand caressed her hair and then he yanked to expose more of her throat to him. “I could hurt you in ways you couldn’t even imagine. And…I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She knew he meant the rape, but already she was panting and her underwear was soaked just from that little display of power. “I don’t believe you.”
Ire sparked in Ethan’s eyes but he smiled slightly. “You agree to anything I want?”
She swallowed as the anticipation washed through her, making her clench her thighs together as if that would keep him from noticing how badly she wanted this, how wet she was.
“I agree.”
“If you even so much as think the word stop, this little game is over,” Ethan warned her, tightening his grip on her hair. “Do you understand me?”
Licking her lips she whispered that she understood. His grip on her hair was too tight for her to nod, but it felt so good.
Ethan released her, clearly satisfied that they were both on the same page. “I may lose control.”
“I want you to.”
Mika desperately wanted to reach out and undo his pants so she could take his raging hard on into her mouth, but she got the distinct impression that’s not what Ethan wanted.
He sat down on her easy chair and slowly slid off his shoes. “Face me.”
So she scooted ever so slightly until her knees were pointed at him.
Mika watched him watch her and the air seemed to spark with electricity.
Then Ethan stripped off his shirt, showing off those muscles that his clothes usually hid. He was like a ripped lumberjack or something with all his flannel and that beard.
The urge to lick him from head to toe was nearly impossible to resist, but she waited. This was all him.
“Tell me, have you slept with the raven?” Ethan asked with a slight smile as he reached for his belt.
Her cheeks heated. This was not what she had expected at all. “No, I haven’t.”
“Do you want to?”
Fates, she’d barely had time to think about this herself. “I think so.” Corbin was definitely gorgeous, but he was a raven and there were too many feelings between them to just fuck.
“Lucien told me the two of you have been…intimate.” The small smile on Ethan’s face was killing her.
He didn’t sound jealous, or mean, or petty. He sounded…intrigued.
“Yes,” she breathed, clenching her thighs together as Ethan’s cock sprang out when he unzipped his pants. Mika could see the veins from here and a glistening drop at the tip.
“When was the last time?” Ethan asked.
Fates, this was awkward. And somehow hot. “This morning.”
“Gave him a reason to keep coming back I see.” Ethan gripped the base of his cock but otherwise didn’t move. “Tell me, did you take him or did he take you?”
Pressing her hands into her thighs she took a breath. But her nipples were hard and obvious through the black lace. Her underwear was damp enough to be embarrassing and the pulsing ache between her legs felt so good, and yet left her wanting—needing more.
“I took him,” she confessed.
“Tell me exactly how.” Ethan looked like a king sitting on her chair, dick in his hand, staring at her like she was the only person in the world. “I want to imagine it.”
Mika didn’t know if she should continue to kneel, or if he wanted her to come closer, but she decided it would be best if she simply waited to be told what to do.
And the idea that she didn’t have to worry about anything right now, that she was safe with Ethan and he would take care of them both…
All the stress from the last few weeks fell away and she sighed in relief. Ethan picked up on it too and licked his lips as the lightning flashed again.
“I was still asleep when he came to say goodbye,” she said softly. “When he wrapped his body around mine…”
“Wait, take off your underwear.” Ethan flicked a finger at her and she sat up and slid them down, fingers trembling. “Now widen your knees.”
Again she did so without question, even though her underwear would only allow her to go so far. But Ethan could see her regardless by the way his pupils dilated and his chest rose and fell quicker.
“Now, tell me.”
So she explained to him how she’d pressed back into Lucien.
Ethan gripped his cock harder and precum slid down the shaft as she spoke. Mika was just as turned on and desperate too. She could feel the wetness dripping, and her knees strained at the underwear as she tried to spread her legs farther apart for some kind of relief, to silently beg Ethan to do something about all this.
When she finished she was practically panting, and her nails had dug into her thighs so hard she’d drawn blood.
Ethan smiled then and crooked his finger. “Come here and take me just like you did him.”
Mika stood and her legs felt wobbly. She started to slide the underwear down and Ethan shook his head.
“No leave it on.”
So she took small steps forward until she was right between his legs. Mika slid his pants down just like she had for Lucien and the two events started to become one in her head.
When his pants pooled at his ankles, she climbed on top of Ethan and angled herself so he was pressed right against where she needed him most. All it took was a little push and he slid inside.
Mika sank down on him and moaned as he filled her just as Lucien had that morning. And when she held Ethan’s gaze she knew he knew she was thinking about that.
She nearly came right then and there.
“His hands were here,” she whispered, moving Ethan’s hands to her hips.
Ethan held her gaze as she started to rock against him.
Mika wondered as she rode him, hands on his shoulders and ankles tied together by her underwear, if this was some kind of game to make her wonder what it would be like to have both of them together just like they’d offered the night before.
She rode him hard and Ethan’s hands gripped tight in all the same places Lucien had. Mika could feel it by the slight pain from the bruising earlier. All it did was make her more desperate.
Never once did he blink or look away as she rode him – as she came, screaming for him. Nails digging into his shoulders hard enough the scent of his blood filled her room along with hers.
When she finally came down from the orgasm Mika stared at Ethan incredulously, panting and sweating.
He hadn’t orgasmed, just watched her have hers.
Then Ethan smiled at her and Mika’s heart leapt into her throat.
In one smooth motion, Ethan lifted her like she weighed nothing at all and stepped out of his pants. He walked over to the nearest wall and set her down. Ethan spun her around and placed her hands against the wall.
Without a word he entered her from behind.
“I’m going to take you hard, pull your hair, hold you tight, and fuck you until I can’t stand anymore. All you have to do is breathe the word and I’ll stop.”
Mika nodded and a split second later her scalp stung as he yanked back on her hair. Ethan thrust into her hard enough she could have sworn he’d pushed right into her uterus.
He leaned over her, still thrusting, still pulling hard enough to sting. “I’m going to rearrange your organs and the next time Lucien fucks you, he’ll know I’ve been there.”
Mika groaned and pushed back into him, urging him on. “Harder,” she managed, daring h
im yet again. “I barely feel you.”
His dark chuckle had her right on the edge again and Ethan gripped her throat, releasing her hair. The possessive hold made her eyes roll into the back of her head and Mika held on tight as he took her without mercy.
Every time his hips met hers it was exquisite and sharp. But her body begged for more until she was actually begging out loud and she could feel Ethan was close.
He released her throat and slammed into her one last time, yelling what might have been her name, and she came so hard she nearly blacked out.
Before she could collapse from how badly her legs were shaking, Ethan picked her up and carried her to her bed. “You held back,” she muttered, leaning against his chest.
“Much less than usual,” he said with a chuckle. “It’ll take some time but I’ll work on it.”
“Good.” Mika snuggled up to him and rested her head on his chest. “You’re kinky.”
Ethan snorted and stroked her hair. “Not like you’re any less kinky than I am.”
Mika smiled into his chest and ran her hand over his stomach. “True, but you surprised me.”
She let him hold her for a while longer, enjoying the way he stroked her back. It was soothing enough Mika felt like she could fall asleep. But she didn’t have the time for a nap.
Kissing his neck she breathed him in deep before rolling away and heading to the bathroom. Mika would never get over how good Ethan smelled. “I’m going to rinse off. You still up for a bit of blood magic?”
Ethan put his arm behind his head as he watched her, smiling that possessive smile that made her knees weak all over again. “Always.”
9
“Ready?” she asked.
Ethan nodded, double checking the incantation. “I don’t know what this says but I’m positive I copied it correctly.”
Mika took the slip of paper with perfectly neat words lined up in a language so old only a handful actually knew it. Thankfully she’d studied Old Irish a little and it wasn’t impossible to muddle through with a few of her family’s dictionaries, but Selene’s charm that deciphered languages was sent by the Fates. Mika had never been so grateful that Selene was of Irish descent.
