Chapter 257: Make me remember

Kisses are never this intense.

Then came Theo, and it became explosive.

The moment his lips touched hers, it felt like an electric circuit path had just been connected, but this time the energies were flowing in opposite directions, colliding with each other in the middle.

Ice and fire.

All that pent-up rage had been softened with just one kiss, transforming it into desire in the blink of an eye. And now both eyes were flickering, and he was now fighting against something else entirely.

He swallowed hard, wanting nothing more than to press himself against her and take everything and more that she was offering.

But she was drunk.

And hurt.

And the last thing he would ever do to her was take advantage of a situation to get what he wanted. Especially when it came to her.

"Venom..." He pressed his hands on the bed and pulled away from her lips immediately, drawing in a sharp inhale as he did.

Fuck! That was much harder than he’d anticipated.

"No...," she reached up and cupped his face again, trying to pull him back down.

But he kept resisting, "No, you’re not in your right senses," He didn’t even recognise his own voice anymore, "You need to get some sleep, or else you’re gonna wake up with a headache tomorrow morning," He continued, but it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself than her.

Her thumb softly moved along his face, down the corners of his nose.

She murmured his name, eyes still hooded with sleep as her fingers gently, aching, travelled along the lines and curves of his lips, stubble brushing against her other fingers.

Sylas almost groaned, his hands turning into tight fists. His obvious arm veins popped even more, travelling all the way to his chest and neck.

There was fire in her touch, and since he was cold he felt every atom of that fire shooting through his veins, igniting more of that overwhelming desire to lengths he couldn’t carry anymore.

"Venom," He warned, quickly snatching her arm before he would do something to her, "Don’t—" His hands trembled holding hers, yearning to bring them to his lips.

To kiss

To inhale

To bite.

To do with it everything one could do with these beautiful hands of hers.

Another tear escaped her eyes.

It was almost as if she could feel him, because she could, in a way. The proximity was causing the mate bond to overload with both their emotions, and she could feel it barrelling into her — into her half-conscious state.

And Theo didn’t care about her physical state right now. She only cared about the familiar cold she had missed for so long, praying she would one day open her eyes and find it wrapped around her skin again.

One she had forgotten.

But she hadn’t forgotten at the same time.

"Venom," She heard him purr again.

Then, she felt him move further away from her.

She didn’t want him to.

"Two months, three weeks, two days, seven hours, fifteen minutes and seven seconds,"

Sylas felt his heart stop. He literally did.

His eyes widened far more than they’d ever gone, staring at her moving lips and her running eyes.

She’d opened her eyes. They were still drunk, and they were still very hazy from sleep, but they were a little more aware now.

And they were filled with longing. Her big eyes looked like they were focused on a memory, but he knew she was staring at him. The tears made her eyes shimmer, and her lips were parted just so.

"That is how long you were both gone," She continued, "I know this... because I was always counting. Till the moment...my soul left, and even after it disappeared...I was still counting somehow. And I didn’t stop," She swallowed, a beautiful tear rolling down the side of her face and getting lost in her hair, "Till I left your presences at the battlefield. I heard your voices, and I didn’t know who you were. I just knew...that I could finally stop counting,"

His mouth had gone dry.

His flickering eyes that were storms of desire had become subtle with a humbling feeling, and Sylas had never felt this powerless before anyone before.

Not even when Cain had his hand wrapped around his throat.

He could lift a hand.

He couldn’t breathe.

He couldn’t even feel the tears spilling out of his eyes.

Theo’s thumb moved across his cheek again, "I tried to remember you every day," His eyes fluttered, struggling to remain open, "I couldn’t remember your face. I couldn’t remember your voice. I couldn’t remember what your hands felt like."

Her lips trembled.

"But I remembered the cold," Theo’s fingers slid down his cheek until they found the edge of his jaw, "I missed being cold, and I missed you so much that I started missing things I didn’t even know belonged to you."

Sylas opened his eyes.

She was looking directly at him now.

"I missed you whenever I saw someone with a long coat walking by, or someone with blue eyes. I missed shadows moving when there shouldn’t have been shadows moving. I missed that horrible feeling that someone was watching me whenever I went."

His lips twitched despite himself, "You found that comforting?"

"No." She gently shook her head, "I found you comforting."

His heart seemed to fold in on itself.

"I don’t know what happened to me," she whispered. "I don’t know what you did. I don’t know what I did. I don’t know why my head keeps looking at you and saying..." Her brows pulled together. "Something."

"Something?"

"Something like..." She leaned closer, "home."

Sylas stopped breathing again.

Theo seemed unaware of all she’s been doing to him.

"That’s what you feel like." Her fingers curled weakly into his shirt, "Home."

His control had slipped completely. He wasn’t sure what exact time it had slipped away, but he knew he was just a split second away from reaching for her.

"You’ll forget everything you’ve said right now," He uttered, his teeth clenched, "You’ll forget once the drink wears off and you’re wide awake,"

"I won’t," She said as a matter of fact, "This soul I have now isn’t going anywhere. I’ll... remember,"

"Venom," He called, his claws digging out of his fingers. A second, darker resonance bled beneath his normal voice, as though Erebos were speaking through the same throat.

"I promise,"

That was the last thread.

And it snapped.

Sylas moved before thought could stop him, one hand catching the back of her head as his lips crashed against hers again.

Theo gasped into the kiss, but the sound disappeared between them. This wasn’t the careful kiss he’d fought so desperately to deny her.

This was everything he’d swallowed.

Every night he’d spent missing her. Every time he’d watched her look through him like a stranger. Every fucking second he’d wondered whether the woman he loved would find her way back to him.

His mouth moved against hers with a desperation that made his entire body tremble.

And underneath it, was that voice..

Those voices.

That resonance of Erebos and his wolf rumbled through his throat, turning her name into something almost primal and ancient, "Venom..."

Theo’s fingers tightened in his shirt.

Sylas pulled back only a fraction, his forehead falling against hers, both of them breathless. His eyes flickered violently, "Don’t promise me things you won’t remember."

The somberness in her eyes was gone, "Then..." Her fingers found his face again, "Make me remember."

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