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“It doesn’t matter what yousayyou want. It only matters what Iknowyou want. And… if you need me to use force… I would be more than thrilled to.”

“Force?” she whispered, her chest on fire with every wallop of her heartbeat. “You can’t…”

“I can,” he corrected instantly, lust filling the space between them till the air crackled with it.

Pretty sure it was theknowinghow right he was that created a brand-new shiny panic switch. And her debilitating hunger for exactly what he offered is what flipped it. There was no time to pray what her last second, hair-brained idea would cost her, there was only tackling the fire across from her before it burned her alive.

The Fourth King

Reuban surfaced through a thick fog in his mind to Bellatore talking to somebody, explaining something about not worrying. “I won’t allow them to hurt you more than is absolutely necessary.”

Who was she talking to? Where… the hell was he?

As one part of his mind blindly groped for a thing he needed to remember, his back began to itch along the seal embedded on his skin and soul.

His memory jolted.

The Kings.

His fusion to them.

The itch changed into a hot tingle that quickly turned agonizing. He bit down on his own teeth, seething out groans as the spiritual binding to the Kings overcame him again. Only different. More.

What was happening?

He gasped down lungful’s of air as a vision of a naked Bellatore brought a familiar darkness that coated Reuban’s tongue. He knew this power. And he knew to fear it, judging by the panic rising in him as it snaked along his tastebuds like a sinister lover.

Lust.

Oh fuck.

That lust.

It seeped into his blood next and coated his cells and bones before whispering the soul-changing words…“Quartus Rex.”

Holy fuck.

Fourth King.

Holy, holy fuck, what was happening?

The unknown thing he’d reached for earlier was suddenly in his grip and opening its power to him. A howling wind and fire swirled in his blood along with the most decadent desire that now pounded in his balls and cock.

This power located the once impenetrable wall protecting the Bellatore and cut right through it like butter, forcing her naughty, angelic foot to slam down on the brakes.

He made his way up onto the back seat as his lungs filled with wind and his eyes glowed with fire, locking onto his target now turned in her seat, staring at him in shock.

“Sit,” he ordered when she tried to leave the vehicle.

Her immediate obedience and gasp told him just how strong this power was, now snarling through him. He climbed out the back of the SUV and got into the passenger seat as her treachery came before him, burning his mind.

“You’re a King,” she whispered, confused and shocked.

He finally looked at her, unable to see anything but her sin even while wondering why he kept thinking of it in that way.

“You kissed me,” he said, surprised to hear his voice calm while chaos screamed inside him.

“What is your name?” she demanded.