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“Little Flame?” I say softly, so as not to startle her.

She lifts her eyes until they meet mine, and my stomach rolls at what stares back at me. Dejection. Sadness. The wall I worked to knock down is being rebuilt right before my eyes.

“Are you okay?”

She nods. “Of course.” A fake smile appears on her lips, but she clearly doesn’t realize how well I know her and how closely I’ve studied her. Every expression. Every move she makes. I know what it means without exception.

“Don’t lie to me, Ember. It won’t end well for you.”

Her brow lifts in challenge. “You planning on killing me or something?”

I chuckle. “I was more so thinking of denying your orgasms until you’re a boneless mess before tying you to the bed and leaving you unsatisfied. But if you’re more into murder…”

Her eyes widen, and she shakes her head. “You and Killian lied to me. Why?”

I brush my fingers over the stubble on my chin as I consider my options. I may know her every move, know what she’s feeling at all times, and can read her better than I can myself some days, but Ember is a professional lie detector. She has to be. Which means there’s not much I’ll be able to get past her.

Once she rules my kingdom by my side, it won’t be a problem, because she’ll know everything. But for right now, I have to keep some things close to the chest if I want to protect her.

“There was a security problem, and I imagine Killian didn’t want to alarm you,” I tell her. It’s enough of the truth that it should placate her, but not enough to scare her.

She stares at me for long moments. “What kind of security issue?”

“A threat. On you.”

“On me?” Her brows tug together. “What could they possibly gain from threatening me? I’m no one.”

“You’re not no one,” I growl. “You’re fucking everything.”

She opens her mouth to reply, but I shake my head, effectively cutting her off.

“It seems to be clear as day to everyone except you how enamored I am by you, sweet Ember. And unfortunately, that means you will become a target.”

“I can handle myself.”

“I have no doubt.” And I’ve seen it, not that she knows that, nor will I be divulging that information tonight. “But I want you to know that there’s nothing I won’t do to keep you safe, even when that means you’re unhappy with me.”

Ember rolls her lips together as she holds my eyes, trying to read me and my intentions. If it were anyone else, I have little doubt that she would be able to see straight through them. She’d see the monster lurking behind the pretty face. She’d see how unhinged my obsession with her has become. And she’d see the man who murdered her brother in cold blood. Who should have killed her, but couldn’t.

If she was looking into the eye of any other man, she’d see right down to their soul. But that’s the thing. I don’t have a soul. At least not one that lives inside my body.

Because my little flame has quickly become my heart and my soul. Two things I didn’t think I had until I pulled her out of the burning wreckage that killed her brother.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

EMBER

He’s not lying.

That much I’m absolutely sure of.

And that should probably scare the hell out of me.

“There’s nothing I won’t do to keep you safe, even when that means you’re unhappy with me.”

The words filter through my mind as I stare into his dark eyes, wading through demons that rival even my own. But we’re not at a point where I can question him about them, and we likely won’t ever be.

Because falling for Orion Henderson will be my downfall, and I have no intention of going down like that.