My blood heats as a fiery ember sparks in my veins. I can sense her like the tide senses the moon. Her gravity draws me around and, when our gazes connect, the breathtaking sight of her makes the dead muscle caged inside my chest beat.

A light breeze carries Halen’s consuming scent my way to further entrap me, shocking me sober.

She’s showered and wearing clean clothes. Her dark hair is styled in loose waves around her shoulders. The pale strands frame the side of her face. She’s wearing a light coating of makeup. She had to make herself “presentable” for the meetings.

She looked just as goddamn perfect to me last night, bathed in our essences and covered in filth.

Her gait is hindered as she walks onto the bridge. She’s favoring her left leg, her arm wrapped around her midsection. I imagine the number of contusions and injuries she’s nursing, and the fierce need to carry her to bed and work her pain into pleasure grips me.

As she draws closer, I make out the bruising along her neck that she’s tried to conceal under makeup. Knowing not all of the marks were put there by me sets my jaw. I fought the demand to slit Landry’s throat as he strangled her, but that would have interfered.

Gaze aimed on the worn boards of the bridge, she says, “We need to talk.”

I suppress the urge to touch her, force her eyes on me. “Let’s go to the hotel,” I say.

On instinct, her eyes clash with mine, and I see the fear banked there. She tucks her hair behind her ear. “We’ll talk out here.”

A bite of anger snaps at my patience, but I relent. I eat the distance between us to bring her as close to me as this setting will allow.

She reactively takes a step back. “Kallum…”

“What’s the verdict?” I ask her. “I know you’re not scared to go for the jugular, so are we working together to save your precious victims, or—”

“You didn’t run,” she says, inhaling deeply to stabilize her uneven breaths.

“I don’t run,” I say. “Especially from what is already mine.”

“So I took that into account,” she continues, evading my statement, “along with your behavior on this case. Your expertise to locate the offender was valuable, and although that expertise could potentially help to locate the victims—”

“Tear the Band-Aid off,” I interrupt her.

Inadvertently, her gaze drops to the bandage wrapping my hand. A hard shiver rolls through her body, and she crosses her arms. The sight of the rope burns abrading her wrists assaults me with a deviant desire.

She nods in the direction of the two hovering agents in the park. “They’ll be leaving soon to escort you to the airport where you’ll be transported back to Briar,” she says in a rush. “Dr. Torres is making the necessary arrangements for your transfer to a new facility, as the contract for your services to the FBI stated.”

“And the other?” I probe, my guttural voice raking the air between us.

She shakes her head, refusing to look at me for long. “Once the victims are located, I’ll turn myself in and request a full investigation to be launched into Wellington’s murder. I would petition the judge for your immediate release, as it was my profile and testimony that was responsible for having you committed—” her gaze pins me “—but your confession as an accomplice, along with the likelihood that the investigation will bring to light that all this is an attempt by a highly unstable person with motive for revenge—”

A harsh chuckle escapes to cut her off. I nod once, wiping my bandaged hand over my mouth. “I understand, Halen. No need to justify your denial to me.”

She clears her throat. “It’s just best if you remain detained until the full truth is uncovered.”

Halen turns to leave, and I grab her wrist. “My turn.”

A heated current arcs between us. No matter what muted color she tries to paint our connection, our canvas is splashed in red, and her soul is every bit as dark as mine.

“What about what you feel for me, little Halen?” I ask, noting the acceleration of her pulse against my fingers. “Can you logic that away, too?”

Her breathing shallows. “I can’t,” she admits. “But it’s not an area I’ll be exploring further. My feelings have no bearing on this case.”

“Then what about my feelings? What I’ve sacrificed?” I demand. “My feelings for you have no bearing either?”

“You can’t feel,” she says, her words slashing sharp as a blade. “You’re a sociopath, Kallum. You’re simply feeding off me like a leech. There’s a difference.”

She snatches her wrist free, and I’m relieved to see some spark of emotion flare in her eyes.

“Why do you think killers kill?” she asks, her voice strained. “To get the adrenaline rush, to break through the desensitized layer shrouding their emotions so they can feel anything at all.”

“I’ve never felt more alive than with you,” I say honestly. “And I never contemplated taking a life until you , Halen.”

She shakes her head repeatedly, her body trembling. “Where’s the evidence, Kallum?”

A cruel smile slants my mouth. Oh, how fucking ironic . “You’re right, Halen. No physical evidence, no crime. Right?”

Her features fall as realization of what she’s said registers.

Admittedly, that was a cheap shot on my part. But I have been incarcerated for over six months all because of her profile based on circumstantial evidence.

Let’s just say, where Halen is concerned, if there is such evidence tying her to the crime, it would make sense that someone with the means to hold on to said evidence would keep it safely hidden.

A well-constructed contingency plan is another thing I hold in high regard.

However, Halen doesn’t need all the details right now, just as she stated about the locals not requiring all the details to name their suspect. Details can get muddled. The mind can only process so much at once.

“I want you to think about this.” Before I let her escape, I take her arm and purposely graze my fingertips over the sleeve covering her forearm. “You inked your own sigil in script and you recite your affirmation every day,” I say. “Where do you think your subconscious picked up on that?”

Her forced swallow looks painful. “Not everything needs a connection, Kallum. Sometimes, it’s just our humanity.”

I huff a sardonic breath. “There have been too many coincidences in this case drawing parallels to us. That’s the universe bringing us together.”

“And I wonder how much of those parallels and coincidences are influenced or even orchestrated by you. Six months is a lot of idle time for someone with the means to feed their delusions and obsessions.”

“I love your witty devil references.”

She touches my hand, and I feel her fiery current through the bandage. “I think you’re sick, Kallum,” she says, her silvery gaze bleeding into mine. “But I think I might be sick, too. I hope you’ll utilize your doctors instead of torturing them this time around to really seek help.”

I am sick for damn sure.

But the only doctor who can remedy this sickness is pulling away from me.

“That’s pretty patronizing coming from you, sweetness,” I say, “but, you need to believe the lies, even believe you didn’t love every second of fucking the villain, so you can do this now.” I lick my lips, then push in close. Her broken breaths coast across my neck, and I wonder how long I can stave off the hunger.

“Maybe you’re right,” she says, putting distance between us. “But it’s even more reason for me to stay the hell away from you, Professor Locke.”

As she turns away, I glance at the agents to gauge their distance.

I stalk forward and step in front of her path. Grasping her jaw, I look down into her beautiful face, those hazel eyes wide with fear and want. “You had your chance to walk away from me once, and the goddamn universe brought us back together. Now, there’s no way I’m ever letting you go. We are the duality, Halen.”