Our kiss turned reckless and breathless as I sucked her taste right into my soul.

She moaned as I hunted her tongue with mine, fighting me to suck my lip into her mouth...just like I’d done to her.

My eyes flared as she bit me.

Hard.

Hard enough to break the skin and release golden-tinted blood.

Copper and ash tainted our kiss but then...her blood mingled with mine and—

A shockwave tore through us.

That tether around my heart twanged as if she’d hit it with a sledgehammer.

I collapsed against her, trapping her against the pillar as the world stopped. Dust motes literally froze as if heaven itself stopped breathing.

And then, time caught up and imploded.

We turned into frenzied creatures, needing to connect, to join.

Spinning her around, I locked my mouth on her neck as I grabbed handfuls of my mother’s dress, hoisting it up her perfect frost-glittering legs. A huge snowflake spread out like an intricate carpet beneath her feet, lacing outward to crawl up the walls.

Holding onto the pillar, she stepped a little wider, welcoming me to take.

The power inside me opened its eyes and I couldn’t stop the roar of fire as it poured free.

Fumbling with my trousers, I unzipped, unsheathed, and ducked to position myself directly where I needed her.

“If I don’t anchor myself inside you right now, I’m going to burn this mountain down.”

“Do it,” she moaned, resting her forehead against the frozen pillar. Her hips arched as my arm wrapped tight around her waist. My other hand slammed above her head.

She filled my heart to catastrophic levels. She made me hard and jealous, ruthless and afraid, and I didn’t know if I wanted to wrap her in clouds and place her on a pedestal or strip her down and make her bleed.

And when I mounted her—when our bodies became one and she shuddered in my arms—I felt...whole.

Complete.

Our pulses synchronised.

Our hearts fell into fated balance.

Looking over her shoulder, her gaze locked on my mouth. I lowered my head and captured her lips, kissing her deep and slow as my hips rocked into hers.

“If anyone ever tries to take you away from me,” I growled into our kiss. “I’ll burn the world to ash.”

Her lips twitched into a smile. “Then don’t let them take me.”

I kissed her like I was trying to devour her. I fucked her like I was trying to trap an angel in my hell. Raw, unbridled fury poured through me; the room vanished with black smoke.

Her coldness soaked into my burning marrow, her skin like winter, and that inescapable bond solidified and strengthened—adding yet another layer, another unbreakable vow.

Arching her hips, she impaled herself deeper onto me and I lost myself entirely.

We set a rhythm that threatened to break us into pieces.

And when she came, I fell off that cliff with her.

Only to burn all over again.

* * * * *

We turned ravenous that night.

Each time we collapsed, we had mere moments before reaching for each other again.

I forgot that I’d locked Whisper outside and couldn’t think of a single thing apart from her.

It was the best fucking night of my life.

Chapter Fifty-Six

“LUCIEN? YOU AWAKE?” Something sharp pinched my side.

My arms wrapped tightly around Rook as she struggled to get free. “Stop that.”

“We can’t spend another day in bed.” She pinched me again. “The sun is up.”

“Are you seriously saying you got enough sleep?” Cracking open my eyes, I squinted at the blazing sun doing its best to incinerate my bedroom. “I’m exhausted.”

“But wasn’t it the best?” She pressed snowy kisses along my shoulder, making a delicious shiver shoot down my back. She snuggled against me again, and every corner of my heart collapsed.

She was the only one.

The only one who would ever tame me.

I would do fucking anything to protect her.

My hands balled as my thoughts grew dark.

If my enemies so much as looked at her, I wouldn’t just kill them—I would pull out their tendons, smash apart their bones, flay off their skin, and eat their hearts raw.

“You’re smoking and random images of bloody hearts are popping into my head.” She frowned as she shifted away. “Whatever you’re thinking...stop it.”

I chuckled and shoved away my bloodlust.

Whisper grunted as if he agreed.

At some point, after we’d destroyed each other for the sixth or seventh time, we’d let Whisper inside, apologised profusely to the grumpy panther, then all piled into bed together.

Smacking a kiss on my cheek, she said, “I’m going to take a shower and find Dillon.”

That woke me up.

Rolling onto my back, I dragged her with me, bare skin to bare skin, hot to cold.

Her fingers strayed down my belly, toying with the hair leading straight south.

I held my breath as her fingers kept walking but then she froze with a sharp little breath. “Shit.”

“Shit?” I locked gazes with her even as I grew hard just from the anticipation of her touching me. Seemed I was making up for all those celibate years where I refused to touch a woman just in case I made her—

“Fuck.” I shot upright. “How the hell did we not think of this before?”

Because I knew she thought the exact same thing as me. She was probably the reason why the thought popped into my head—picking up on her worries, and fuck me...what was I thinking?

“It’s not...” I squeezed the back of my neck, doing my best to be tactful. “It’s not that I don’t want a future with you, Rook...I just.” I swallowed hard. “I can’t have children. Neither can you. Not until we know what we are.”

She nodded frantically. “Oh, I know. And I one thousand percent agree. After everything that’s happened...we definitely cannot have a child. Not now. Maybe not ever.”

I ignored the faintest pinch in my heart.

I’d spent twenty-nine years abhorrently disgusted with the idea of having any offspring, yet hearing her say never...

“You know...” Rook tapped her finger against her lips. “We just discovered our blood is corrosive separately and regenerative together. We either have a fifty percent chance we would never get pregnant or—”

“A fifty percent chance that you already are,” I cut in. “Do we assume the corrosive blood prevents conception? Or does the whole ‘we create life when combined’ situation suggest strongly that we need to abstain?”

“Abstain?” Her nose wrinkled. “Eh...no. We’re not abstaining, thank you very much.”

I kissed her forehead and climbed out of bed.

Her eyes immediately dropped between my legs.

“Stop looking at me like that.”

“Like what?” She blinked innocently.

“Like your abstinence can’t last more than two seconds.”

“I clearly remember saying I didn’t want to abstain.”

“Then I guess we need to come up with a solution. And quickly.” Heading toward the bathroom, I said over my shoulder, “Uncle Wen mentioned Auntie Mei has been studying TCM. She’ll know of some herb or tonic that can act as protection.”

“TCM?”

“Traditional Chinese Medicine.”

“Oh—”

A thundering roar rattled the windowpanes as a machine suddenly flew overhead.

“What on earth?” Rook grabbed the blankets from the bed and darted to the circular outlook that peered down the entire valley. “Oh my God, he wasn’t lying.”

Whisper leapt to his feet, prowling to stand watch with her.

Another helicopter swooped overhead, its rotors loud and battering the sky. A third one joined the cacophony, their engines sending thunder echoing around Ashfall Cliff.

My temper sparked.

Heat coiled under my skin, preparing for violence.

Turning to face me, Rook grinned. “Dillon did say he had reinforcements coming. I guess they’ve arrived.”