The next morning—or whatever passed for morning in the Abyss—Seris awoke with the mark burning hotter than ever.
Every movement, every heartbeat, every thought pulsed with Mason's presence. The bond had reacted to the battle, to her defiance, to her first true use of power.
She touched it lightly, feeling the warmth, the pull, the invisible thread connecting her to Mason.
"You are changing," his voice whispered in her mind, calm but sharp. "Stronger. Darker. Defiant. Dangerous. Perfect."
"I am not yours!" she snapped, though a shiver ran down her spine.
"You are mine," he said simply, the words curling into her thoughts like smoke. "And you will learn it. You will feel it. You will crave it."
Seris swallowed, heart hammering. Fear, desire, anger, and something darker twisted together inside her. She hated him, and yet… a part of her could not resist the pull.
The Abyss waited. Shadows moved. And the game between them—the predator and the prey, the lover and the captive, the god and the mortal—had only just begun.