Queen of Death

Chapter 1

Here we go :)

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Solana

"You're Nightshade."

Before tonight, my mother was the only other person on the planet who knew that I am Nightshade. Not even the crew at Caligo know. They're under the impression that in exchange for being the buffer between Nightshade and the client, Nightshade protects them from any and all harm. Though that is true, they just don't know that it's me. I'm the one that keeps them safe. I'm the one that scares away the monsters in the dark.

Ace hovers over my body, both of us naked, baring ourselves to one another. He looks at me with a mixed expression, one where his facial expressions don't match his eyes. His brows pinch together and his nose scrunches up just enough to be perceived by my enhanced vision, like he's angry or offended. Angry at himself for not realizing sooner, angry that he allowed himself to feel something for someone like me, angry at me for leading him on a wild goose chase.

But his eyes hold a kinder emotion. His pupils dilate and shrink like gentle waves, in and out, wide then narrow. They focus on me and expand once again like he's seeing me clearly for the first time.

"I am," I say evenly, eyeing him warily.

"You're not going to bother denying it?" He's surprised by my blunt-force honesty and with good reason. I haven't made it easy to know me.

I shrug noncommittally, "I thought you said Death has no secrets?"

"I thought you said you weren't beholden to our rules?" His voice vibrates through me like a honeybee.

"And I thought you didn't want me to stay...but I was wrong." I manage to free my eyes from his gaze, dropping them to admire the ink on his arms. "Unless that's changed?" I can barely whisper the words, afraid to speak them because the truth is I don't want this to change anything between us.

"This changes everything," he says as he moves to sit up. I roll onto my back, willing myself to stare at the ceiling. Anything to keep me from having to watch him walk away. I'm startled when his hard, warm body presses against mine, settling between my legs, and caging me between his herculean arms. "This changes everything because now I'm definitely not letting you out of my sight."

Without giving me time to react he brings his lips to mine, immediately sweeping out his tongue demanding entrance which I automatically grant. I didn't realize how worried I truly was until the rush of relief flooded through me and I let out a half-laugh, half-sob against his mouth.

His lips blaze a fiery path over my jaw and down my neck. I protest weakly when he begins working his way down to my breasts, down my stomach, heading further south with every kiss, but he swats my hands away and surprises me when he heads left for my hip. Ace traces every line of my namesake flower with his tongue, nipping and biting at my flesh where it's most sensitive.

"Shouldn't that mean you don't need to worry about me as much?" I'm practically panting from his lingual torture.

His teeth sink into the stem of the flower on my thigh and my eyes roll all the way back into my head, my body feels liquified.

He's bitten me a few times, almost like he's trying to satiate the urge to claim me without actually marking me yet.

Ace lays back down beside me and pulls me tightly against his chest, dropping a kiss to the top of my head and releasing a long sigh. "Someone wants you dead, and someone else wants Nightshade dead. I'm not taking any chances now that I know how many people are hunting you."