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Derek kneels before me, his body glistening with moisture, his short dark hair spiky and wet, his ocean blue eyes pulling me in. The only thing he wears is a linen towel wrapped around his waist. His expression is cautious, but his gaze is warm, and his eyes quickly trail my body then land once again on my face.

"Are you hurt?" he asks.

“I…I don’t know—”

He moves towards me, closing the distance between us until our bodies are touching. I suck in a breath as I realize just how little stands between our naked flesh. He seems to have the same realization as evidence of his arousal disturbs his towel.

"I heard you scream," he says.

"I screamed? I don't remember screaming. I was taking a shower and just… thinking about everything that's happened. I guess…I don't know. It all went black.”

He raises a hand to cup my face, peering into my eyes. "This is a lot to take in. More than we expected when we hired you. If you regret your choice to work here, to live here, I would understand.” He looks sorrowful…almost ashamed.

Is he giving me an out? A way to leave all this behind?

The Night Firm.

The brothers.

I have no life to return to, but I could start a new life, I suppose. Manage a company in New York like I used to, or maybe travel somewhere else. Maybe focus on my art. Everything would be fine. Normal.

But that’s a lie.

Even if I wanted to leave the Otherworld behind, it would never leave me. Not if I kept having flashes and abilities beyond my control. Not if I knew my brother was out there somewhere, having visions of his own.

I look Derek in the eyes. My body is practically vibrating, being so near him, and I can't help but close the last breath of space between us, my chest now grazing his ever so slightly. "I don't regret my choices," I say. "But I'm not exactly sure what you thought I was when you hired me.” I think of what I did to Jerry. Of what my brother did…my eyes go to the floor, shame and fear warring within me.

"My dad always said to stay in the light," I say. "In lumen et lumen.In the light, of the light. What if…" I pause, unsure how to articulate what I've been feeling. "What if he knew that there was something bad in me? Something dark? What if I'm a danger to the firm? To you?" I ask, for the first time expressing the fear that's been building in me since Jerry's death.

Derek blinks, but instead of answering he leans in and claims my lips with his.

The kiss is so unexpected it takes my body a moment to figure out what to do. How to respond. But then I return his passion with my own, knowing it's been building for some time. Through all our long nights preparing for Dracula's defense, through our talks about life and hopes and dreams, through the days of fear that he and his brothers wouldn't be here after the trial.

He pulls me closer to him, shifting his hand to the back of my head, deepening our embrace as I wrap my arms around his waist and splay my hands across the corded muscles of his naked back. My right palm grazes a wound that hasn't fully healed yet, and though he doesn't flinch, I pull back to look at him, though I regret it the moment our lips are no longer touching. I can still taste him in my mouth. Smokey and minty.

"I’ve wanted to do that for a long time," he says in a husky voice laced with unspent desire. “Ever since you first walked into that interview.”

“Then why didn’t you?” I ask softly.

He laughs, and it's a rich, deep sound that reminds me of waves crashing on a shore and the warmth of the sun on my face. The smell of coconut. The taste of salt.

“I…” His words turn into a painful groan.

"You're still hurt," I say, tracing the wound on his back. A pink slash from his shoulder to his hip.

He nods. “It will heal. I would be much worse without your blood flowing through me. Eve…" he whispers my name with reverence and awe, and it melts my insides. "You saved my life.”

My lips slightly part, my body mesmerized by his voice as I feel his wound throbbing beneath my fingers. “You need more blood.”

His eyes widen. "We have reserves stashed away. I will be fine."

But I can feel his need as if it's my own and I tilt my head, exposing my neck to him in an unspoken invitation. My breath stills as I wait for him to decide.

And when his lips caress the vein pulsing under my flesh, I sigh in pleasure and close my eyes.

It only hurts a moment, as his teeth sink into me, but then I am flooded with ecstasy so intense my legs go weak. Derek clutches me closer to him, holding me upright as he drinks deeply. His arousal rock hard and pressing against my belly through his towel.

It takes everything in me not to shed the barrier between us and claim him. I run my fingers along his back, feeling his wound fade away, and—