Untouchable Darkness (The Dark Ones Saga 2)

Not lust.

But something else, something more important, more raw.

“Control the flame,” he whispered again.

“What if I don’t want to?” I pulled back just enough to gaze at his full lips and attack again.

“Then you’ll destroy the forest.”

“Burn it to the ground.” I gasped as his hands moved to my hips, slowly lifting my shirt. My eyes blurred as th

e vision around us changed. Suddenly we were in a cabin, it felt warm, but maybe it was just the kissing.

Cassius tore at my shirt, dropping it to the ground. With a gasp I launched myself into his open arms as he muttered a curse.

I had no idea what I was doing—why he was letting me, or if it was a dream, reality. I had no sense of time.

Only him.

Cassius.

I breathed out his name as icicles formed in front of me only to disappear from the heat of his kiss.

Was I a completely selfish person? To want him so bad? In any way possible? That even if he was merely offering me a kiss, only to ignore me later, possibly fight me for his life—I would take it?

Ever since becoming what I was, the line between right and wrong had been blurred into lines that didn’t quite go straight, they weren’t completely left or right. And at times, when I felt like I was making the right choice, the line would simply right itself, going straight again.

Was that what life would always be like? A series of squiggly lines that made no sense until after my decision was made? And how was that fair?

“Humans…” Cassius kissed down my neck and then flipped over my arm as the blue veins made tiny little lines down my wrist to my fingertips. “The majority of humans are born with an innate knowledge of right and wrong. Angels aren’t born, they are created. And created only with a duty. At least, that’s what was believed. Until they became… jealous.”

“Jealous?” I whispered as he continued drawing circles on my wrist. My shirt was gone, as was his. Every part of his stomach was thick with bulging muscle, his chest was the same. He might be human—but he still had the body of some mythological god. Maybe that was why people tried to falsely worship him and the rest of the immortals. They didn’t know any better? To them beautiful was to be worshiped.

When a lot of times, beauty was to be feared.

At least in the immortal realm.

“I wish I could still hear your thoughts,” Cassius whispered. “And I’m sorry for getting carried away, I simply…” He shrugged. “I wanted to taste.”

“Was it worth nearly freezing to death?” I asked.

He chuckled darkly then kissed me again. “Yes.”

Good answer.

He moved me toward the fire, grabbing a blanket in the process. Though I wasn’t cold, I knew it was about chivalry, nothing else, he was covering me, though he stayed beautifully shirtless as he sat on the floor opposite me.

“Jealous,” Cassius answered. “I won’t go into details, but the issue now stands. Dark Ones have duty first, the curse of being both human and Angel second, and then lastly, they have… one of the worst of human emotions I should think.”

“Sadness?”

“Loss. As if placed in a giant maze but never told the way out. We serve, we do our duty, we serve some more, and are never promised mates, never promised a life outside of the duty we are given. While our human counterparts live and are able to die, and the immortals we watch over, have mates, children. We watch. Always.” Cassius cursed. “We watch.”

“A Dark One has never mated? Never had a family?”

“No,” he snapped. “To mate with a Dark One is choosing to take upon yourself thousands of years worth of pain… to know a Dark One is to know darkness. Why would I—or anyone else—want to wish that upon someone I care about? Besides, two Dark Ones could very well destroy one another and then where would we be?”

“War?” I guessed.