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I didn’t even get the chance to catch my breath before he was there, his magic still live on his hands. He fisted his hand in my hair and jerked my head down, and I realized then that he was using his power to match my physical strength, as he then wrenched at the back of my leg, ripping it out from under me.

It had me crashing to my knees before him, and I hissed as it yanked some of my hair out in the process.

“Motherfucker,” I gritted out.

Maintaining his brutal fisted grip in my hair, he used it to hold me at his mercy as he ground his cock through his pants over my face. His very hard cock.

He stilled and held against my cheek, pushing painfully and making me grunt.

“Do you think I wanted to do any of that? To magically drug you, to physically restrain you? Do you think I wanted you unconscious while all of that was going on? While I had to remain here and fight against the urge screaming through my veins to teleport up to the Guardian Compound again? To see for myself that they were okay? To raise hell on fucking earth that they’d been put in harm’s way in the first place?”

He glared harshly at me, but he couldn’t fool me any more with that mask. I could see the emotion behind it. Hell, it was even bleeding into his rage-filled words as well.

“But you didn’t give me a choice, did you? You were so enraged when you heard the news of the attack that you went to shift right away, intending to decimate, to blow everything and everyone in your path to hell just to get to Ari and Nyx. I know you were worked up and what we saw in the vault had already impacted you greatly.Butyou could have listened to me, you could have found a way to take a beat.” He gestured angrily at the lab behind him. “We could have been working onthat?We could have been assisting that way instead of me sitting on my fucking hands, because I couldn’t work on furthering the failsafe to combat Cassius’ threat withoutyou.I needed your Primal Celestial Resonance ability andIcan’t recreate that. It’s a unique phenomenon. No magic can replicate that. Not to mention, I’ve made absolutely no headway breaking the actual Celestial bargain forced upon Ariana.”

I felt sick. His upset pouring into me, feeling it all from him as he snapped in a way that Kai Hunter just… didn’t.

It had all been compounding for him and he’d been holding it together through everything, trying to tether us.

But even the almightiest being could only take so much.

I stared up at him as he panted down at me, a fierce expression twisting his gorgeous features.

I strained against his grip, managing to turn my head, and then I darted out my tongue and licked his cock through his pants.

He jolted and his grip loosened enough for me to angle my mouth until I was sucking at his shaft, nibbling and licking.

He groaned, his hand leaving my hair and slapping to the stone above to steady himself.

“You were all alone. Feeling helpless.”

He jerked away out of my reach, releasing me entirely.

I slowly pushed back to my feet. “I hear you. I get why you did it. And, more importantly, I understand why you felt that youhadto do it.”

He stared at me, his eyes flickering unsteadily, like he was hesitant to believe it.

“And I’msorry.” I closed the distance between us and grasped his shoulder. “I’m sorry I left you alone with all of that. It won’t happen again.”

He was quiet and contemplative for several moments, and I looked over his shoulder to see that Nyx was no longer lounging back casually. He was standing, right therewithus, watching carefully, hope sparking in his eyes that Kai wouldn’t just shut down now that he’d let all of that out.

And then Kai lifted his hand and started stroking my fingers on his shoulder. “How can you be so sure?”

“Because I won’t allow myself to hit that point again. I’ll ensure that I see reason first. It’s part of my nature to react to situations like that with might and violence—with devastating action.” I smiled and turned my hand so that I was then clasping his and holding our joined hands down between us. “But like I was told earlier, we have the ability to rise above our natures, to be more. I can do that. I know I can.” I squeezed his fingers withthe conviction rolling through me. “I can do it foryou.For our foursome.”

Emotion welled in his eyes, and then he was throwing an arm around me and dragging me against him.

Nyx was there in the next moment, too, wrapping himself around us.

“Well done,”I heard him whisper to Kai.“I’m proud of you. More than you know.”

A familiar scent caught my attention just before I fully sank into the moment with them, and I looked to see Ariana strolling on in a second later, beaming out at us as she witnessed our closeness, comradery, and, honestly, the love.

Nyx and Kai felt my movement and noticed her standing there too.

Holding out a hand, Nyx said, “Come here, our heroic queen.”

She didn’t hesitate for a second before rushing over to us.