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"Never," I promised, and meant it with every fiber of my ancient being.

In my long existence, I'd made few promises. The universe had a way of making you regret such things when you lived as long as I had. Promises were shackles, bindings that could be used against you. But with Sierra, the words came easily, naturally, as if my soul had been waiting millennia just to pledge itself to her.

I felt her breathing deepen, her body growing heavier against mine as sleep claimed her. These moments of rest were precious. They were the calm before the storm. Once her heat hit in full force, there would be little time for sleep over the coming days. Her body would demand satisfaction, her newfound powerswould seek expression, and all three of us would be pushed to our limits trying to keep her anchored through it all.

My mind drifted to the prophecy, to what Archer had discovered in those ancient texts. Sierra was special beyond imagining, a nexus of bloodlines that should never have crossed, powers that had never before combined in a single being. The daughter of a nephilim, granddaughter to the Angel of Death himself, with witches' blood running through her maternal line. And an omega, to top it all off, the rarest designation, believed extinct until she came along.

No wonder the Shadow Beast had targeted her. No wonder every supernatural being who encountered her seemed instinctively drawn to her orbit.

Including me. The feared ruler of the Underworld, brought to his knees by a silver-haired witch with too much mouth and not enough fear.

Sierra shifted against me, a small sound of discomfort escaping her lips. Even in sleep, her heat was building, making her restless. Her leg hooked over mine, her small hand fisting in my shirt as if to ensure I wouldn't slip away while she slept.

As if I could.

The truth was, I was bound to her now more thoroughly than any magical oath or contract could have managed. Whether it was the mate bond, the prophecy, or simply the inexorable pull of her spirit against mine, I couldn't say. Perhaps it was all three, weaving together into a connection that transcended explanation.

I pressed another kiss to her temple, inhaling the scent of her damp hair. Beneath the generic soap from the shower, her natural fragrance was intensifying, honey and jasmine giving way to something richer, more complex, with notes that reminded me of lightning strikes and summer storms. Her celestial heritage manifesting in her scent.

Time seemed to slow as I held her, the rhythm of her breathing becoming the only measure that mattered. Outside this room, my kingdom awaited. Demons to command, souls to judge, plots to unravel. None of it seemed important compared to the woman in my arms.

I must have dozed off at some point, lulled by Sierra's steady breathing and the warm weight of her against me. I woke to the exquisite sensation of her hand sliding down my chest, fingers tracing the ridges of my abdomen before slipping lower to brush against the hardness straining against my pants.

"Sierra," I rumbled, my voice thick with sleep and sudden desire.

She was already awake, her eyes fixed on my face as her palm pressed more firmly against my cock. Those eyes. Gods, her eyes. The pupils had expanded until only the thinnest ring of silver remained around the edges, black pools of hunger that seemed bottomless.

"Need you," she whispered, her voice different now, huskier, laden with a desire so raw it was almost tangible in the air between us. "Please, Rowen. I need you inside me."

The last threads of my control frayed as her fingers worked at the fastenings of my pants, her movements clumsy with urgency. I should stop her, should insist we wait for Archer and Callum to return. We'd agreed to face her heat together, as a united front, but the sight of her like this, desperate and aching for me specifically, shredded my resolve.

"Are you sure?" I asked, even as my hips lifted to help her push my pants down.

Her answer was to straddle me in one fluid motion, her naked body poised above mine, her silver hair, now dry and slightly wild, cascading around her shoulders. The position left her completely exposed to my gaze, her full breasts heavingwith each rapid breath, the apex of her thighs glistening with evidence of her arousal.

"I need this," she answered, her hand wrapping around my length, guiding me toward her entrance. "Need you. Before I lose myself completely. While I can still remember who I am, who you are?—"

She sank down onto me without further preamble, taking my full length in one smooth motion that drew matching groans from both our throats. The heat of her was indescribable. Tight, wet, perfect. She enveloped me completely, her inner walls clenching around me like a vice.

"Sierra," I groaned, my hands flying to her hips, steadying her as she began to move. "Fuck."

Her pace was frantic from the start, her body seeking relief from the burning need consuming her. There was no teasing, no building rhythm, just desperate, primal rutting as she chased her pleasure, using my body as the tool to achieve it.

I let her set the pace, my fingers digging into the soft flesh of her hips, sure to leave bruises that would remind her of this moment when she looked in the mirror tomorrow. My tail materialized, lashing behind me with the effort of restraint as I fought the urge to flip her beneath me and pound into her with all the strength my demonic nature could muster.

"That's it," I encouraged as she rode me, her head thrown back, exposing the elegant column of her throat. "Take what you need from me, little omega."

Her movements grew more erratic, less coordinated as her pleasure built. I could feel her approaching the edge, her inner walls fluttering around me in that telltale way. Shifting one hand from her hip, I pressed my thumb against her clit, circling the sensitive bundle of nerves in time with her increasingly frantic bounces.

The effect was immediate and devastating. Sierra cried out, her back arching as her orgasm crashed through her. Her inner muscles clamped down around me in rhythmic pulses, milking my cock as she shook above me. The sight of her coming undone, her face a mask of ecstasy, her silver hair wild around her shoulders, was nearly enough to push me over the edge as well.

Nearly, but not quite. I held back, gritting my teeth against the pleasure threatening to overwhelm me. This wasn't about me. It was about easing her discomfort, about buying her a few more moments of clarity before the full force of her heat consumed her.

As she collapsed against my chest, her body still trembling with aftershocks, I heard the door to our chambers open. Archer and Callum had returned, no doubt drawn by the scent of Sierra's arousal and the sounds of our fucking.

Sierra's head snapped up at their entrance, her eyes immediately finding them where they stood frozen in the doorway. The hunger in her gaze was feral, predatory, despite the orgasm she'd just experienced. If anything, it seemed to have intensified her need rather than sated it.

"Need you," she said, the words more growl than speech as she launched herself from my lap, moving with inhuman speed toward them. "Need all of you."