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“So, is there any other reason you think it’s too soon? Do you need time to feel . . . more comfortable with me? To know more about me?”

I shake my head. I don’t need time. “I trust you. You know that.”

His voice hardens. “It’s your health then. The LS.”

“I’m scared,” I admit, guilt twisting in my chest as I watch ash drift across the counter like snow. He just burned his past for me, and I can’t even promise him a future.

“Baby, I know.” He reaches for me. “You’ve got me, no matter what.”

“I can’t be that selfish.”

“Christ, Luciana.” He drops to one knee, and my heart stutters to a halt. His green eyes bore into mine, blazing with an intensity that leaves me trembling. “I’m fucking dying to make you mine. Anything you want is yours, baby. Anything. All I ask is that you give up your fear.”

Scalding tears blur my vision as my trembling fingers slide into his hair. “I don’t know, Cade.”

His hands, rough and callused, settle on my bare hips beneath the thin fabric of his shirt.

“You want to go back to Chicago. You want your family’s legacy protected.”

It’s not a question. Of course, I want those things.

His head falls gently against my abdomen as his arms tighten around me, anchoring me to him. His voice breaks as he murmurs, “I’ll take that seat for you.”

I gasp. “Cade, I—I can’t ask you to give up your home. The Reaper Druids need their president—”

“Luciana. Have you not heard a single word I’ve said? Wherever you go, I’ll go. Whatever you need, I’ll be.”

Fresh tears stream down my cheeks, hot and unrelenting. This man—this unyielding storm—offering to reshape his entire world around me.

“Ask me again in a few weeks,” I choke out, trying to buy time enough time to give him what he deserves.

“Luciana—”

“One week then,” I blurt, my voice trembling. “Cade, give me one—”

“—Gia Romano,“ he interrupts, wielding my full name like a whip.

“Caden, I swear I’ll have an answer for you in three days.”

He arches a brow. “You mean you’ll have areportfor me in three days.”

I can’t deny it. I need him to know what he’s getting into—need him to understand the cost of loving me.

He tilts his head back, his jaw tightening as his eyes take on a hard edge.

“Alright. Here’s how it’ll go—we’ll have forever, or however long we get. But I won’t ask you again.” His voice roughens, each word rasping against my skin. “And if down the line you get tested, and that somehow changes how you feel about getting married, I don’t want to know.Ever.”

A spark ignites low in my belly as I absorb the force of his will. Even kneeling before me, he strips me bare, pushing me to the edge of submission, commanding me in a way only Cade can.

“Don’t give me ultimatums, Cade,” I manage, cursing the breathless tremor in my voice.

“Baby, I won’t need to if only you’d let me love you the way you deserve. Unconditionally. Unreservedly. Irrevocably.”

Fresh tears blur my vision, his words battering through every last one of my defenses. I clutch his face between my hands, desperate to hold onto something solid. “God, you don’t fight fair.”

“Hell fucking no.” His lips curve into the barest hint of a smirk, but his eyes remain resolute. “Now, will you marry me or not?”

I’m cornered, but the truth is, I don’t want an escape. How can it be selfish if he’s asking—begging—me to trust that his love is stronger than my fear?