Page 68 of The Bound Zodiac

The world went very quiet. Even the fire seemed to hush, the crackle of logs fading under the weight of a couple dozen stares.

Eris’s hands came up, settling on my hips. Heat poured through the thin fabric of my leggings. He looked up at me, eyes burning.

I kissed him hard.

His mouth was hot and tasted like whisky and cedar smoke. I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him closer, tilting my head, deepening the kiss until his tongue swept against mine and my whole body went liquid. He groaned into my mouth, and the sound vibrated through my chest and straight down between my legs.

The fire crackled. Someone—Lydia, probably—let out a low, appreciative whistle. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. Eris’s beard scraped against my chin, so rough and perfect, and his hands slid from my hips to the small of my back, pressing me flush against him.

I kissed him like I was starving, and his mouth moved against mine with a hunger that matched my own, and the bond between us screamed, every thread blazing white-hot with want and relief. Finally, finally, finally.

Someone started counting. “Nine Mississippi. Ten Mississippi⁠—”

I broke the kiss just long enough to gasp, “Shut the fuck up, Tye,” and then crashed back into Eris, biting his lower lip hard enough to make him growl. His hands slid under my shirt, palms scorching against my bare skin, and I arched into him, chasing the heat.

“—forty-seven Mississippi, forty-eight⁠—”

The group erupted. Catcalls, whistles, Lydia screaming “FUCKING FINALLY GEEZ!”

I pulled back, breathless, lips swollen, and looked down at Eris. His eyes were blown wide, copper burning with a light that had nothing to do with the fire. His chest was heaving, and his hands were still under my shirt, gripping my waist.

“Worth the wait,” I murmured, and his grip tightened.

He stood in one fluid motion, sweeping me up into his arms like I weighed nothing, and I yelped, clinging to his shoulders. The group went absolutely feral, Tye wolf-whistling, Percy making some stupid immature comment I couldn’t hear over the blood roaring in my ears.

Eris didn’t say a word. He just turned and walked away from the fire, carrying me, and I buried my face against his neck, laughing into his skin as the sounds of our friends faded behind us.

He walked fast, his strides long and purposeful, carrying me deeper into the woods. The firelight shrank to a distant orange glow between the trees, and then disappeared entirely, replaced by silver moonlight filtering through the canopy. The air cooled against my flushed skin, and I shivered, pressing closer to the furnace of his body.

“Where are we going?” I breathed against his throat.

“Somewhere I can fuck you properly,” he said, and his voice was so rough that my stomach dropped clean through the forest floor.

He carried me until the sounds of the bonfire were nothing but a distant murmur and the only light came from the moon. Finally, he stopped. We were in a small clearing, ringed by ancient oaks, the ground soft with moss and fallen leaves. Moonlight spilled through a break in the canopy, painting everything in shades of silver and shadow.

Eris set me down, but didn’t let go. His hands were on my face, tilting it up, and he kissed me again, slower this time, deeper. I melted into him, fingers fisting in the front of his shirt, pulling him closer.

“Jupiter,” he whispered against my lips. “Tell me you want this. Tell me I’m not dreaming.”

I grinned, and he kissed me hard, his mouth swallowing the sound I made as his hands slid down to my hips and gripped. He walked me backward until my shoulders met the rough bark of an oak, and I gasped as he lifted me, pinning me against the trunk, my legs wrapping around his waist.

“I’ve waited so long,” he murmured against my throat, and I could feel the tremor in his arms, the restraint he was barely holding onto. “Months, Jupiter. Months of watching you and wanting you and not being able to fucking touch you.”

I rolled my hips against him, and the hard length of him pressed against my center through his jeans, and we both groaned. “Then stop waiting,” I breathed.

Then he was lowering me to the ground, the moss soft and cool beneath my back. I sank into it, the forest floor cradling me as Eris hovered over me, his copper hair falling in his eyes.

“Look at me, lass,” he said gruffly. I did. His eyes were glowing, copper irises burning like embers. “I want to give you everything. Every part of me. All at once. Can I⁠—”

“Yes,” I said, before he could even finish the question. “I trust you, Eris...”

The air beside him shimmered and split, and a second Eris stepped out of the haze of light. A perfect duplicate, same copper hair, same burning eyes, same broad shoulders and scarred hands.

“Holy fucking fuck…”

The original Eris knelt between my thighs, his hands sliding up my legs, pushing my shirt up. His duplicate moved to my side, his fingers threading into my hair, tilting my face toward his.

“Is this even legal?” I found myself asking deliriously. Eris chuckled.