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When he meets my gaze again, I turn my head, offering my throat. “I want it.”

He groans, his lips hot on my skin. “I’ll hurt you.”

“I know,” I whisper.

That’s all it takes. With the force of a blow, he strikes. Hot pain streaks along my neck, and I cry out and grab onto his arms. He doesn’t let go, a growl in his throat as he thrusts harder. The pain morphs into something else. Something scorching and delicious. I cry out, delirious in the euphoria of it, the pain and desire. My blood pumps out a beat of more, more, more, MORE.

He angles his thrusts, hitting my clit just right with every movement, every roll of his hips meeting mine. He pulls at my throat, sucking and licking as I hold onto him, my entire world folding in on itself over and over again until it’s nothing more than a tight square. When he locks his fangs into my throat and grabs my wrists, pinning them to the bed, the tight confines of my pleasure explode outward. I come on a strangled moan, my pussy throbbing through each wave of my orgasm, the release washing over me and through me. I moan and writhe, my body incapable of processing it, the sheer deliciousness of it. Valen holds me down, his fangs embedded just as deeply as his thick cock. I’m trapped in this bliss, locked in animal pleasure.

With a hard thrust, he grunts, and I feel his cock kicking inside me. My walls tighten around him, taking everything he gives with greedy aftershocks of pleasure. It’s too much, it’s not enough. It’severything. I close my eyes, my body going languid, my mind floating on a sea of nothing.

Another sting at my throat. Then I feel his fingers there. And then I’m lost in him as he flips us over so that I’m lying on top of him. When his cock slips from me, I wince at the sudden loss.

With a yank, he throws the blanket over us.

Both of us silent, I simply try to catch my breath. He runs his fingers through my hair, then trails them down my back. Over and over again, stroking me into a comfortable oblivion. His touch, so vicious and so gentle. Both at the same time. He’s a contradiction. But I’ve just given him my body, this monster who I know I can’t trust.

He’s a contradiction, but maybe I am, too.

* * *

I waketo him stroking along my skin, his fingers following the curve of my side. Back and forth, almost lazily.

The night comes back to me in vivid detail, and I reach up to feel my neck.

“Healed.” He runs his fingertips down my back to the curve of my ass.

“How?” I open my eyes and look up at him.

The look in his eyes. No longer predator and prey. It’s almost … reverent. The sheer possessiveness of it, of his touch, has me resting my cheek on his chest again. That’s when I realize we’re not in my bedroom.

Disorientation makes me wary. I move to slide off him, but his hand comes down on the small of my back.

“Don’t.” He sighs.

“Where are we?”

“My apartment.”

“When did we get here?”

“You don’t remember screaming my name in this bed?” His arrogance is still intact, but he doesn’t stop petting me.

“Yes, but I thought …” He must’ve carried me down here so quickly that I didn’t even register it. Holy shit.

“You’re where you belong.” He spreads his palm across my back. “With me.”

“What about the gargoyles? Aren’t they looking for me?” Against my better judgment, I let my eyes close. I breathe him in, his touch sending shivers and goosebumps across my skin.

“Gargoyles?” He lets out a small sharp laugh. “You mean the wardens. They’re dead. The moment I discovered they’d abandoned you to the mob …”Stroke, strooooooke. “Well, let’s say that the Army won’t be finding pieces of them anywhere.”

“Won’t Gregor, I don’t know, be mad you killed them?”

“Maybe, but he’s far more interested in your work than their lives. I’ll take the risk.”

“You’re so warm.” I tuck my hands beneath his back. I should be leaving, doing the walk of shame up to my place. My rational mind knows it. I just can’t seem to act on it. “What do I taste like?”

He plays with my hair, his fingers sifting the strands. “You taste like mine.”