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The climax crashed through him—violent, holy, complete. He surged into her with a growl torn from marrow, pouring everything into her body.

He held her tight, every muscle rigid as his orgasm stole the breath from his lungs. The bond cinched, anchoring itself in the joining of blood and flesh. And when the tremors slowed and his breath returned, he felt it. She had taken him. All of him.

A knock shook the door, bringing Kaos’s shield over every inch of Jaxi. He used his wings to lift her and laid her on the couch as another knock followed—harder. Faster.

“Who is it?” she whispered to him.

He pressed his lips on hers. “Don’t move. I have hidden you from human eyes.”

He hurried to the door and placed his hand on the surface, dread eating through his blood. Four beyond the barrier. Bonded to him.

He yanked it open to Kildare, Krave, Kross and Kollaborator, all standing there with alarmed expressions. He stepped out and shut the door.

“Raviel sent us,” Kildare said lowly.

“I bonded with her,” Kaos confessed, his panic surging. “I couldn’t stop.”

“What do you mean you couldn’t stop?” Kollaborator wondered.

He looked at none of them. “I mean when I tried to stop, I did the opposite.”

“Why did you show her your true form?” Kildare demanded, anger mixed with the gravity in his ruby gaze.

His gaze snapped to his. “She called me forth when she said my name. After you and I spoke, I got back here as Kohl and found her at the wall, paint brush in hand. Staring at what she’d painted.” His breaths quaked at the memory. “She painted me and her. She stood with her back to me, facing someone orsomething. She said, ‘I know his name.’ And she spoke it. It was as if she unlocked the door between realms and pulled me right in.”

“Who is this woman again?” Kollaborator demanded in strained awe.

“Raviel’s pick,” Kildare said. “He summoned us to get over here immediately. Your bond didn’t just flare, it detonated a bomb that reached Nominous.”

“Nominous,” Kaos said, searching his mind for the meaning.

“His name means ‘the one who unmakes.’” Kross's low words jerked Kaos’s powers.

“That flare you triggered,” Krave said, low and sharp, “wasn’t just a signal—it was a rupture in the Pattern. Nominous is the enforcer of said Pattern, cleaning up anything that doesn’t fit the rules. It doesn’t care about why or who, it just unbinds.”

“Explain that,” Kaos’s Rage demanded.

“Tears apart any bond or creation that breaks the First Design,” Krave said. “Your burst with Jaxi set off a major alarm.”

Kollaborator stepped closer, his breath carrying power that cut through tension. “Listen. Nominous doesn’t play favorites,” he said with quiet urgency. “It’s pure function, enforcing the Pattern without bias. When it detects an anomaly—especially something born from human creativity mixed with divine power—it moves quickly, decisively.” He glanced toward the studio door. “What you two made didn’t just bend rules, it punched a hole in the laws of existence.”

“Then let him come,” Kaos realized, looking at them. “Let him unbind us.”

“You don’t understand, brother,” Kildare urged quietly, the red in his eyes ominous. “He’s not coming to untie your love knot. He’s coming to untie your existence from your being. Possibly both of you.”

His words drove a stake of terror though his gut. “What do I do?” he demanded.

“Raviel is coming,” Kross informed softly. “We’ll be dealt a hand to play.”

“And we’ll need to play it quickly,” Krave warned.

“Why?” Kaos hurried.

Kollaborator put his hand on Kaos’s shoulder. “We have a narrow window before Nominous arrives.”

The divine dose of peace he forced into him felt like war.

“How narrow?” Kaos breathed.