Hades' Cursed Luna novel Chapter 98

Hades

Her sudden touch still lingered on on my throbbing length. It made it hard to think. The abstinence that I had undergone since Danielle’s death had taken its toll on me. But I did not spend months in a cold dungeon for weeks on end to falter because I could not release. It did not matter how essential sex was to Lycans. But ever since she entered my life, my restraints had been slipping. Sinfully indulging in her blood and seeing her with Kael had broken the chains that I had used to hold my urges. Every nerve screamed at me to claim her. Cerberus’ claws were out, snarling and poised for capture.

Her touch was my undoing. The brief contact of her hand on me had set my blood on fire, melting the iron will I’d built over years of restraint. My control that I had honed through decades of discipline and loss, splintered like fragile glass. I was losing my mind. I knew that my abstinence was not logical and it would come at a cost. Fate was a cold-hearted bitch.

I glared down at her, my breath heaving, my body trembling with the effort to hold back. Her turquoise eyes, bright and fierce, stared back at me, challenging me, daring me. They shimmered like storm-lit oceans, pulling me under even as I fought to stay afloat. Her crimson hair clung to her wet skin, cascading down her shoulders and framing her flushed face. She looked like temptation incarnate, a flame dancing in the wind, beautiful, wild, and utterly unattainable.

"Do you know what you’re doing to me?" I growled, the words rough and low, barely recognizable as my own. My hands slammed against the wall on either side of her, trapping her in a cage of my strength, though it was a thinly veiled effort to keep myself from devouring her.

She flinched but then her eyes narrowed, her lips curving into a smirk that sent a fresh wave of need surging through me. "You are holding back," she said, her voice breathy but steady, like she was taunting the beast clawing to be free within me.

"Red," I snarled, my lips curling back to reveal the tips of my fangs. I leaned in, close enough that the warmth of her breath mingled with mine, close enough to smell the intoxicating mix of her scent—lavender, wild honey mingled with the maddening heat of arousal.

My claws dug into the tile, cracks spidering out beneath my fingers as I fought to rein in the primal instincts roaring to life. She had no idea how thin the line was. How close I was to losing the last shred of restraint I clung to.

"You want me," she whispered, her voice soft yet laced with steel. Her stubborness was maddening, her bravery intoxicating. I knew her will as well as I knew my own wrath but this was not her. It was something entirely different. She would never do this. Ellen could taunt me unto ending her life, she could stand toe-to-toe with me but this version of her was unprecedented. How many masks did she wear? "Show me," she whispered, her voice slithering into my ears. "Show me how much you want me."

I stared at her, my chest heaving as her words echoed in my mind. Show me. The beast inside me howled at the challenge, demanding I claim her, mark her, make her mine in every way.

But she didn’t understand. She didn’t know the depth of the hunger that consumed me. It wasn’t just desire; it was something darker, deeper, primal. Something that went beyond physical need and into the very core of who I was.

Her words sliced through the thin thread of control I had left. "How does it feel," she murmured, her voice soft yet dripping with challenge, "to be on the receiving end and be unable to do anything?"

She raised her hand, her palm brushing against my cheek, her touch gentle, soothing, and maddening all at once. My eyes closed involuntarily as I leaned into her hand, betraying myself. I couldn’t stop the low growl rumbling in my chest, part warning, part plea. Her touch was tender, yet it burned, igniting every nerve and unraveling every restraint I had meticulously built over decades.

Cerberus roared within me, his claws scraping at the fragile wall separating us. Take her. Claim her. Make her ours. His voice was deafening, filled with a need that mirrored my own but was infinitely more primal. The beast didn’t care about restraint or honor. It only cared about possession, about marking what it wanted and eliminating anything that dared to stand in the way.

Her thumb traced the line of my jaw, her eyes locked on mine, fearless despite the storm brewing in them. That turquoise gaze held me captive, seeing past the monster clawing to the surface, daring to see the man beneath.

"Red," I growled, my voice barely human, thick with the duality of the man and beast warring within me. "Don’t."

Her lips curved into the faintest of smiles, not mockery but understanding, as though she knew exactly what she was doing to me. And that was the final straw.

The control I had clung to shattered like glass, shards piercing through me as Cerberus pounced, his hunger and mine merging into one overwhelming force.

A snarl tore from my throat as I seized her wrists, pinning them above her head against the wall. My body pressed against hers, every inch of me trembling with barely contained power. "You don’t know what you’ve done," I growled, my voice a menacing mix of man and beast.

Her breath hitched, her chest rising and falling against mine, but she didn’t look away. "Then show me," she whispered, the words like gasoline on the fire raging inside me.

I bent my head, my nose brushing against her temple as I inhaled her scent deeply, greedily. My teeth clenched, fangs elongating as my lips ghosted over her ear. "You’re playing with a beast, Ellen," I rasped, my voice raw with need and warning. "And beasts don’t play fair." If only she knew.

She tilted her head, her lips mere inches from mine, her breath warm and sweet. "Then stop holding back," she said, her voice barely more than a whisper but carrying the weight of a command.

The last shred of reason snapped. My mouth crashed against hers, claiming her in a kiss that was anything but gentle. It was desperate, hungry, filled with all the longing and pain and need I’d suppressed for far too long. Her lips parted under mine, and I didn’t hesitate, delving deeper, taking more, tasting her like she was the only thing keeping me alive.