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The tips of my fingers teased the hard ridge of his cock. He shuddered, choking on his breath for a moment. There was something beautifully powerful knowing I could tear away his control the way he’d shattered mine. One touch, and Kage’s breaths sharpened, his muscles twitched like he might snap in two if I went on.

All his restraint and cunning was slipping between my fingers the more I touched and teased. I leaned up on the furs, keeping my mouth brushing his, and hooked my thumbs along the waistline of his pants and tugged until they were half off his hips, revealing the smooth tip of his cock.

Outside, a shrill shriek rattled the walls of the hut.

Kage went still. He peered through a few gaps in the wood laths. “How?”

“What?”

All at once, he began gathering the clothes we’d discarded. “We need to return to the cottage.”

“Kage.” I rearranged my skirt and gathered my boots. “What is it?”

“Immorti.”

“What the hell is that?”

He ignored me and scooped an arm around my waist, pulling me close against his side. “When we open the door, you run, Adira. Hear me? You run until you reach the cottage.”

“You’re scaring me.”

“Good.” He didn’t blink. “Lock yourself in, do not open the cottage door, no matter what you hear.”

“Kage.”

He squinted into the night for one heartbeat and his grip tightened on my arm. In the next breath, he shouted, “Go!”

The door flung open. Night was as thick as smoke.I abandoned my boots, tried to keep hold on Kage’s hand as we sprinted forward, but the bastard yanked it away.

When I paused to turn into him, Kage shoved me. “Don’t stop. Go. Go!”

I wished I had never turned around.

From the gnarled roots and knobby trees surrounding the cottage, figures appeared. Pale as moth wings, skin peeling back on their skulls, like a hand gripped excess flesh and pulled it taught. Square, blackened teeth, hooded eyes that held no light. They clicked and curled fingers with long, jagged nails as long as the knitting needles my old school counselor used to poke into her messy buns.

A scream split the night. From me or the creature nearest to us, it wasn’t clear.

The thing dropped its jaw, like it was nothing more than a rusted hinge, wailed into the night and sprinted forward.

“Adira! Go, now!” Kage swiped his hand over his body. The creature cracked and snapped, spindly bones fractured and bent. Its neck hinged, the heavy skull falling backward.

More came. More rushed from the darkness. I struck the door, fumbling with the lock, and spilled inside the cottage.

I braced against the door, gasping, the tang of blood burned the back of my throat. Roars and snarls shattered the peace of this place. Tears scorched behind my eyes when I heard Kage’s deep, throaty curse.

He was alone, facing dozens of those . . . things.

Unable to find my footing, I scrambled toward the bedroom where the queen lay sleeping. It was a lovely room, filled with scents of silky blossoms and honey and sage. One of the windows was cracked, and a toothy beast had snared a glimpse of the unguarded people inside.

Another screech and the skeletal creature raced for the window. I didn’t think, didn’t pause, and slammed the pane closed as its long, rotted fingers slid inside. Tips from the second knuckle clattered like falling coins onto the wood floor.

A putrid sort of smell rose from the discarded fingers, scorchingthe back of my throat. The creature screamed its agony and sprinted back to the shadows of the trees.

There, fifteen feet away, Kage cut down the imposters with his bone magic in one swipe, his blade the next. Skulls shattered, then the point of steel ripped out the chests.

They never seemed to stop.

He was alone.