Chapter 131

Neil

I didn’t say anything for a long moment. Then, I sighed.

“There's nothing exactly to fix. I just don't know how to have the conversation,” I said. “I just… I don’t want to scare her ever.”

“Then show her she has nothing to be scared of. And I'm pretty sure the other half of that conversation is like, hey Renee, I think your boyfriend would look good bent over a couch.”

I snorted. "You've been hanging out with Arielle too much."

"Invite her to watch. When's the last time you got laid anyway? That's part of your problem. At least that's what Dad would say. I lost the bet on who was going to host the intervention. So I have to represent us all. It's kind of fun." He smirked.

I rubbed my face with both hands. “You’re a romantic idiot. And if you start trying to jump on me from the upstairs banister, I'm going to let you fall.”

“Maybe,” he said, standing up. “And I'm way too big for that. Go talk to your girlfriend about screwing her and her boyfriend.”

He winked and walked out.

The room fell quiet again.

I stared at the black screen of my laptop until my phone vibrated.

Renee: Are you awake?

My heart stuttered.

Me: Yeah. You okay?

Renee: We need to talk now.

I was already grabbing my coat.

“Going to get your girl?” Someone called from the hallway.

The building was quiet when I arrived. It was kind of thrilling to be invited to her actual place. Even more thrilling that her security knew me on sight. I didn't even have to sign in. They buzzed in immediately and stuck me in the private elevator.

I watched the city float down beneath me, and she shook my head. I wasn't going to the penthouse, I could tell that much, but the fact that she lived in this particular building told me a lot.

When the door to the right floor, I was standing in a little hallway just outside a door. I didn't even knock before the door flew open. She stood on the other side in a deep green robe. Her hair was loose and wet around her shoulders, eyes wide and unsure.

But she didn’t say anything.

She just stepped back, letting me in.

“Renee?” I asked carefully, voice low. “You okay?”

She nodded, shut the door behind me, then turned around.

And pulled her robe open at the collar, revealing the skin above her heart.

There, glowing faintly in the low light, was the same mark etched across my back: the scythe and the hollow moon.

I stared.

"What is going on Neil?"

I stepped closer, my hand hovering near her collarbone but not quite touching.

“It…” I swallowed.

I couldn't believe that it was there. Couldn't believe the elation, the confusion, the worry and all the other emotions that followed afterwards either. The one thing I did feel was this surge of possessiveness. Dark. And vicious surging up. I wanted to touch her, wanted to pull her close. But I refrained forcing my hand down and forcing myself to step back from her vial felt heavy, but it wasn't burning in my pocket any longer.

If I had any doubts, they were gone now.

“Neil?"

Renee

Neil was still staring at my chest.

Not in a crude way None. His gaze was fixed on the glowing mark I’d shown him, the faint light of the Goddess’ Wrathe still pulsing just over my heart .

His eyes shimmered with something unreadable. Longing, protectiveness, magic, maybe all of it. His eyes were turnig that reptilian, bloody red.

Then his jaw tensed.

A low, rumbling sound stirred deep in his throat, so primal and possessive that it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

“Where’s Dominic?” he asked suddenly, his voice tighter than I’d expected.

I blinked. “What?”

“Where is he right now?”

“I—Neil, why does that matter? This is about us.”

He shook his head once, sharply. “No. Not just us.”

He pulled his phone from his pocket.

“Neil—stop—”

“Sit down.”

His tone cracked through the air like a whip.

It wasn’t loud. It wasn’t even harsh.

It was commanding.

Authoritative in a way that lit a fire in my gut, and I hated how much I liked it. He didn’t raise his voice. He didn’t snarl. It wasn't compulsion either, but it was an order.

Every part of me obeyed… and maybe it was because I wanted to but mostly because he seemed so serious. My body moved before my mouth could argue, and I found myself lowering to the couch with a pout.

Neil gave me a look as he dialed.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he muttered, pacing to the far wall.

“Like what?” I asked, my voice pitched somewhere between teasing and flustered.

“Like you’re undressing me with your eyes.”

“I wasn’t.”

He turned to glance back at me, smirking. “Don’t lie.”

I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms, which only made the robe slip a little further down my shoulder.

Neil growled again and turned away. “Behave.”

I wanted to tease him again, but I was kind of scared I wouldn’t survive it… and that maybe I didn't want to. This humming My blood is having him so close was new and exciting and I liked it. I really liked it. I want more of it and I never thought of myself as playful or teasing but. It was fun. Feeling how riled up he was.

Wait. Feeling?

My eyes burned with tears as the realization struck me. Because, yes, I was feeling how riled up he was. Feeling his frustration, feeling his happiness, his joy, his possessiveness and how hard it was for him to keep away from me.

It was exhilarating.

Touching and overwhelming, too.

This had to be that salty resonance she was talking about…

He disappeared into the hallway to take the call, and I shifted on the couch, staring down at the mark.

Fated and marked by the Goddess…

But… what about Dominic? Neil clearly knew something I didn't.

A few minutes later, Neil came back in.

His jaw was still tight, but he was less stormcloud and more summer thunder.

He sat down across from me, elbows on his knees. “He's on his way.”

“Dominic?”

Neil nodded, brushing his damp curls back from his forehead.

“I want to see if you have a mark,” I said before I could stop myself.

He raised a brow. “You asking me to take my shirt off?”

I flushed. “Yes?”

Neil’s grin spread like fire across his face. He pulled his shirt over his head slowly, definitely teasing me, and dropped it over the arm of the couch.

I scanned his chest, every muscle coiled and perfect. There was nothing on his front, nothing glowing or marked.

My shoulders sagged. “Nothing.” I glanced at him and narrowed my eyes. " You knew that already, didn't you?"

"I did. That doesn't mean I would ever refuse your request for me to take my shirt off.” He smiled, his eyes lighting up that bright, bloody red but happy I could feel it. “There's just the one."

"You could have just… said so."

"Where's the fun in that?" He cocked his head. "But what's that expression for? You're… doubting."

I pressed my lips together. “I was hoping…”

Neil looked over his shoulder. “For what?”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “Maybe a match. A sign that I wasn’t just…” I gestured vaguely at myself. “Some reassurances.”

He licked his lips. And it went straight to my gut. “I could give you plenty of reassurances. Right now. If you'd like. Dominic can join when he gets here."

Before I could argue, Neil’s phone lit up again. Dominic’s name.

He answered and immediately put it on speaker.

“Renee's here,” Neil said before Dominic could even ask.

“Since when are you two phone buddies?” I asked, sitting back with a raised brow.

“Since I spent the night at his mom’s house,” Dominic replied dryly. “She sent me home with four containers of stew and one of those potions that smells like death but works miracles for exhaustion.”

“She likes you,” Neil said. "That's more than a lot of people can say."

“She's…. quite the woman.”

I snorted.

“I believe this is the point where I tell you that Renee has my mark on her chest, ” Neil said.

Dominic said nothing for a long moment. "You're being a little shit."

"Maybe, but also honest. Your wealth of information at the moment. You know anything about why a mark would change?"

"Change?"

"It used to be a crescent."

"… waning or waxing?"

I blinked. "Uh… what?"

"Crescent to the left or the right?" Neil asked.

"The right."

"Ringing any bells, Bearer of Benevolence?" Neil asked.

Dominic hissed and Neil smirked.

"The Mark of Judgement," Dominic said. "And… I have that mark on my chest… but there's something else.”