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I blink fast. This feels like a dream.

It feels as if I was never kidnapped – like I’m still in my bedroom, fast asleep, and that these last few days have all been conjured up in my imagination. I half-expect to wake up in my bed – momentarily uncertain as to what is real and what is fiction.

But if what Brennan tells me is true, it might as well all have been a dream.

Brennan is talking about giving up and turning himself in – submitting to Aurelian Law Enforcement for their supposedly ‘heinous crimes.’ Crimes to whichIwas the victim – and yet I’d not trade the memory of them for anything.

These three are not Rogue Aurelians – the cold-hearted warriors who’ve knowingly and deliberately cast aside the morality and decency of their Empire.

Otho, Brennan, and Lazar are men who made a bad decision, driven by inexperience and skewed by passion. I know that none of them have been able to think clearly since they first encountered me – by the Gods, I haven’t been able to, either – and that kidnapping me was most definitelynotjust about securing those Orb-Deposits.

But despite their innocence, Brennan and his battle-brothers are going to submit to the consequences of their supposed crimes – sacrificing themselves rather than risk putting me in danger.

Their sense of duty and honor is admirable – but some part of me just wishes Brennan would be bold – that he’d snatch me up and take me in his Reaver – fleeing with his battle-brothers, and facing pursuit forever, but declaring his devotion to me – and pulling me from my old life forever.

I always wished for a handsome rogue to set me free. I never expected three of them.

“I can’t.”

Brennan blinks. He hadn’t asked me anything.

“I can’t,” I repeat. “Ican’tgo back to how things were before I met you. You’ve set me free. Don’t return me to the cage.”

My own words stun me.

I’d nearly died while trying to escape these three. I’d thought they were amateurs back then, who wouldn’t be able to keep me safe.

Now I finally trust them – understand them - they’re threatening to put me right back where I was in the first place, and give up their freedom to avoid putting me in harm’s way.

And what harm? The potential for over-zealous Aurelian Law Enforcement officers to catch me in the crossfire? Young bloods who fire first and look later? I’ve never felt so safe and protected as I do amid these three Aurelians. I’ve never felt so elevated – lifted from a simple, sheltered girl to a woman three warriors feel is worth being imprisoned for.

Brennan stands over me. He’s over seven-foot of towering, protective strength – and something magical that I never had the chance to experience; and I’m now terrified I never will.

Suddenly, images flash into my mind and I’m overwhelmed by them. I ache to feel the pure protection of his arms wrapped around me. I want him to make me feel safer than ever before, even as I become completely and utterly vulnerable to him…

…the moment I spread my legs and let himenterme.

But the closer Brennan approaches me, the farther I feel from him.

“I can’t keep you safe, Natali. I’m sorry. We never should have…”

His words cease the moment I step forward, and remove the last few inches that had stretched between us. All distance is gone now, as I place my hand gently against his broad chest.

I touch the light armor – shielding that has protected him against pincer claws and the darting tails of venom-filled Scorp, and who knows what other manner of danger. He could have died a thousand times on his way to me – taken from me before I was even born, as Otho could have been when he’d received that huge wound across his skull.

But he didn’t die. Nor did Otho. Fate brought them to me – all three of them. I can’t believe it would be so cruel as to take them away again so quickly.

And then, I can suddenly feel the darkness in Brennan.

I look up and see a change in his expression, and it’s almost like I can feel what he’s feeling. He feels like he’s doneeverythingfor his Empire – even the things he wasn’t openly supposed to do.

He’s betrayed his honor in the pursuit of Orbs for his Queen – knowing that his own honor was worth the sacrifice. It was nothing to him – nothing compared to the value of his work in ensuring the survival of the Aurelian species in the coming storm.

He’s done terrible things – but only ever in the service of his Empire. He’s never broken the rules or the law for selfish reasons – for himself…

…but now, he’s thinking about it.

Right or wrong, he feels a connection with me; one that I can’t pretend isn’t burning like lava within my own veins. It’s as if we’re meant to crossed paths this way…