Ascension Read Free Page B

control, and drew strength from him. His power seeped into her hands and crept up her arms until it suffused her entire body, sending a heady rush through her.
    “You’re hungry,” Taig murmured in a voice laden with sensuality.
    No denial left her lips. Right now, she was more than hungry. Kissing him had been a mistake. It had given her a taste and made her remember how things had been, and how he had made her feel. Her magic had latched onto those memories and it didn’t want to let go. She held his hand tighter and stole everything that she could from him in an effort to calm herself and restore the balance of power inside her. Taig had once provided her with a substitute before she had found her balance in Charlie.
    His own power.
    His blood.
    “It’ll cost you extra,” Taig said and she realised she was staring at the scars on his forearm.
    She took her hands away from his, unwilling to pay the price he was asking for his help, let alone the price he would place on his blood now. What he had once given to her freely would now cost her everything. He would make her pay dearly for it just to spite her, and part of her couldn’t blame him for doing such a thing. She could understand why he would think that she deserved such punishment.
    He gently brushed her long dark hair behind her ear, his touch comforting and speaking volumes, telling her that the desire she felt wasn’t one-sided. He was still attracted to her.
    “He didn’t look after you properly.”
    Lealandra didn’t have an answer to that accusation. Charlie had neglected her need for sustenance through blood. He had thought he had been doing the right thing, when in reality it had been nothing short of torture.
    “He said I didn’t need it,” she said in a small voice and then straightened and found her strength. She didn’t want Taig to see her weak. It had been her decision to leave him and go with Charlie and the coven. She had to accept that and the things that had happened. She had to take responsibility and stick to her decision, even when she now felt it had been a terrible mistake. “You know he didn’t believe in that kind of thing. None at the coven do.”
    Taig laughed and toyed with the two empty shot glasses. “He was more of a fool than I thought.”
    His laughter died in an instant when his eyes locked with hers. Their fathomless black depths sparkled with intensity. Her breath shortened and her palms sweated with anticipation. She subconsciously leaned forwards, eager to be close to him, desiring to feel his hands on her again and have him continue to look at her with such need and hunger.
    “I should never have let him take you.” His expression darkened with his frown, his lips compressing into a thin line that conveyed the anger flowing from him and through her.
    Lealandra got the better of herself and picked up her own shot of whisky and downed it. The fire as it slipped down into her stomach did nothing to dampen her desire or boost her courage.
    “You didn’t have a choice.” She leaned back into the seat with a false smile that covered her fear and her feelings.
    He shifted forward and stared into the far reaches of her soul. His eyes lightened. The black melted to reveal a red inferno that flickered and licked around the wide chasm of his pupils. She drew a deep steadying breath, refusing to let him fluster her.
    “Believe me,” Taig said on a sneer, “if I’d decided not to let him take you, he wouldn’t have. He would’ve died a lot sooner.”
    That was no idle threat. A sweep of pin-pricks chased across her back and down her arms, and a wave of fury swept over her, so intense that her magic retreated, bowing to Taig’s superior force of nature. As powerful as she was, she was no match for him when he was angry.
    Taig rarely let his demonic side come out to play and she had only witnessed the gruesome aftermath when he had, but it had given her a glimpse of the devastation of which he was