Page 23 of Crazy as Hell

When he finally broke the kiss, Viktor kept her close enough to feel her breath against his lips. One kiss wasn’t enough to satisfy the hunger inside of him. If anything, it only teased his appetite. Now, it was a beast demanding to be appeased. But he forced himself to keep it leashed for the moment.

He had some questions that really couldn’t wait.

Viktor rested his forehead against hers, and for several seconds, neither of them spoke. When he finally opened his eyes, he was stunned to see that her eyes were glowing brightly, flickering like green flames.

“Your eyes…”

She sighed. “Are they glowing again? They do that occasionally.”

That confused the hell out of him. “But I still can’t sense your magic.”

“I told you, I’m a freak of nature.”

Naomi sighed again and glanced at the floor in a silent request to be put down. Since he had no intention of letting go of her, he carried her over to the closest sofa and sat down. He thought she would protest, but she just settled on his lap like she was happy exactly where she was. He shivered as she absently played with the ends of his hair, rubbing the short strands between her fingers.

“So, we have met before.”

“Sure have, Aurelius.”

That startled a laugh out of him. “Okay, I am thoroughly convinced. You must know a lot about me, then.”

“Not really. We just met during my last cycle, and it was kind of brief.”

“You said we had been captured by the demi-goddess you killed? By the way, thanks for saving us back in the woods.”

“My pleasure. The first time we met, you and your buddy were hanging over a pit of devil fire, while the rest of the captives were locked away in cages. Psycho Sybil sealed us into her dungeon, leaving us with no way for us to get out. As you can imagine, it wasn’t really an ideal time for us to get to know one another.”

“And you died to reset everything?”

Even thinking about that made his heart ache.

“Well, I was already dying since I broke through their portal while it was closing. And then there were dozens of guards waiting when we arrived. We had to fight through them to find Sybil’s super-secret torture chamber, but the others didn’t make it. Once I found you, we were trapped. Basically, it was a complete clusterfuck. So, I figured it would be best to just start over.”

His head throbbed as he tried to imagine what she was describing. Traveling through a collapsing portal could completely tear someone to pieces. And even if she knew she could reset everything by dying, the courage it took to make such a sacrifice was awe-inspiring.

He pulled one of her hands down, resting it on his chest. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

She shrugged it off. “That’s okay. I’m used to it.”

He really didn’t like hearing that, but understood that he couldn’t even begin to comprehend what she had been through. That’s why he needed more information about the death loop. He wanted to figure out how to protect her. He also needed to help her break whatever curse she was under.

He was startled when he felt a slight burning sensation on his chest. He tugged at the collar of his armor, thinking something might have fallen inside back when they were in the woods, then realized how improbable that was. The burning intensified until he couldn’t ignore it anymore.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. It feels like something is burning me.”

Naomi wasted no time. Waving a hand, she got rid of his armor. She was momentarily distracted by the sight of his bare body before her. He really was fucking amazing. All thick, hard muscle, and smooth golden skin. She wanted to spend the next few hours simply admiring him, but she got distracted when she caught sight of the mark on his chest.

Her eyes widened as she studied the faint silvery outline of an ancient symbol on his chest. It wasn’t just any symbol. It was a mating mark, and it was in the exact spot where she had blasted her magic at him during the last cycle.

“What is that?” Viktor asked, frowning down at it.

“I think it’s the mating mark I left on you before I died.”

“But…that’s impossible!”

“It should be, but there it is.” She poked him with a finger to emphasize the point. “Actually, I don’t think it’s the real mark. It’s more like an impression or a faded version of the mark. But it shouldn’t be visible at all since I never marked you in this life.”