Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140780 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 704(@200wpm)___ 563(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Lucien tugged me toward the door. “Come with me.”
“Wait.” I tried slamming on the brakes. “I can’t just leave him. He needs a blanket, pyjamas—”
“Do you want me to throw you over my shoulder? Because I will.”
“Oh.” I stopped fighting.
He dragged me back to his room so fast, it almost felt as if he summoned those smoky wings and flew.
Chapter Fifty-Five
I KICKED THE DOOR CLOSED, RIGHT in Whisper’s face, leaving him outside with the stone lions.
Heat roared through me, growing worse with every heartbeat.
Dillon.
Something ugly tore loose inside me.
I didn’t trust him.
I didn’t trust myself—
Rook backed away from me, her eyes wide. “Lucien...?”
That bastard had had her for years.
I’d only had her for a few weeks.
Jealousy tore through me. Smoke poured out of my back. Cinders floated around us, looking like fiery snowflakes.
I couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t think.
I burned.
I caught her in three strides, imprisoned her cheeks with my hands, and kissed her punishingly hard.
She gasped as I took her.
She moaned as I licked her.
And she knew.
She knew this wasn’t about sex.
This was deeper than territorial jealousy. This was primal and urgent, and I needed her to calm me down. To balance me out. To help me.
Icy air buffeted me as her power answered mine.
Her skin crackled with frost, and I kissed her harder with a grateful groan.
She kissed me back, gripping my hips and pulling me into her.
Marching her backward, kissing her all the way, I didn’t stop until her back hit one of the carved pillars.
She moaned as I sucked her bottom lip into my mouth.
Fire snapped along my teeth and...I bit her. Not by choice but by something far bigger than me. Something colossally powerful that couldn’t contain itself in this feeble human body—not unless it had her.
The taste of her silver-shine blood filled my mouth—sharp as frost and bright as lightning and every smoky, unstable part of me locked onto her.
If she was right that we’d kept each other alive during the crux of our evolution—if we’d somehow become more than mortal the moment our bones had healed and blood had turned metallic, then...that meant we weren’t just lovers but the very key to our existence.
A furnace heart and an ice heart.
A never-ending ouroboros where we nurtured and fed off each other, staying sane beneath gifts we never should have been given.
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.