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The cold chill of the war room was a distant memory. There was nothing now but the heat: hot, wet, and fervent. Nothing but Nero and my insatiable need to make him mine. Again. And again. And again.

Soft and sensual, hard and hungry, fast and furious. Together we rode the whirlwind of lust, blood and magic and love and sex fusing together, binding us, connecting us.

“Nero, I…”

“I know,” he said, his grip on me tightening. “Just promise me you’ll come back to me.”

“I’ll always come back to you,” I promised fiercely. “And I’ll always come for you when you need me.”

“Yes, you will,” he said with an easy, arrogant twist of his lips. “And I need you now.” His hands locked around my hips.

I had a snarky comeback armed and ready. It never left my mouth. A fierce surge of pleasure rocked me, and what escaped my lips was a desperate, depraved noise that wasn’t even human. Nero’s mouth came down on mine, devouring me, devastating me, joining us.

I saw everything he saw. Heard everything he heard. Felt everything he felt. We were so tightly linked that I couldn’t separate my own pleasure from his. It was building and building… The pressure inside of us burst like a tidal wave, shattering reality and sending us spiraling into rapture.

I wasn’t sure how long we were lost, convulsing and screaming and quaking, and I didn’t care. As my mind bled back into consciousness, as my thoughts slowly took shape, all I cared about was that Nero and I were a team—forged in love, united by destiny—and together we were going to destroy the Guardians and save our daughter.

CHAPTER 33

FULL CIRCLE

Nero and I headed down to the banquet hall to refuel before the big battle. It would be the biggest battle we had ever fought, the battle to end the Guardians once and for all and make the universe safe for our daughter.

“Are you going to eatallof that?” Nero watched me load my tray full of cake.

“Why? Do you want some too?” I smirked at him.

“No. Cake is not a suitable source of battle fuel,” Nero declared as he added a seventh hamburger to his plate.

“Sure it is,” I argued. “Look, I have all the food groups right here: cheesecake, chocolate cake, red velvet cake, marble cake, apple cake. Hey, that one is even a fruit. And carrot cake for the veggies, of course.”

He lifted a single, slow, skeptical brow.

“Oh, and angel food cake, of course,” I added. “Even you can’t object to that one, Nero. It hasangelin the name.”

“I did try to persuade Nyx that the Legion should make greater efforts to restrict the use of the termangel,” he said.

“Angel food cake has been around for a lot longer than angels on Earth,” I pointed out.

“Blasphemy,” Ivy chuckled as I sat down next to her.

“Indeed,” Nero said, except he sounded totally serious. He took the seat between me and Li.

“Hungry, Leda?” Drake’s eyes panned across the shrine of desserts on my plate.

“Ravenous.” I cut off the pointy tip of the cheesecake slice and stuffed it into my mouth. “Blood rituals take a lot out of you, you know.”

“So does getting down and dirty for two whole hours in the war room,” Alec whispered to Drake, but not quietly enough.

I glared at him.

“Hey, I’m just saying what everyone’s thinking,” Alec told me as Angel rubbed herself against my legs.

“No one is thinking that.” I tossed my begging cat a chunk of the chocolate cake, and she meowed in appreciation.

Alec grinned at me. “Of course everyone is thinking that. You guys aren’t exactly subtle. I’m pretty sure the whole castle was shaking at one point.”

I sighed. “I’m so glad you’re not my problem anymore, Alec.”