Page 114 of Blood Day: Part Two

I was going to make her leave all the horrors of her entire damn existence behind. Because I intended to take her to a new place of being, introduce her soul to the future, and ensure she was ready to face whatever awaited us in Khalid Region.

This could be our final few hours together.

Or it might just be the beginning of our true destiny.

I refused to consider the former and instead indulged in the latter. Because Lily provoked a foreign hope inside me, one I felt dwindling in her own heart.

Blood Day had changed her.

The lycan camp had manufactured a dark reality that had shattered my sweet flower’s sense of purpose.

So I would stoke the little flame left inside her and ensure it burned as hot as an inferno when we finished.

I caught her by her nape and pulled her toward me, my gaze capturing hers.I’m going to remind you that you’re mine, love. My Lily. My flower. I’m going to make you bloom again.

She shivered, causing her scent to sweeten to my senses.

She was excited and scared and overwhelmed, creating an intoxicating mix for the predator within me. I wanted to devour her. Claim her. Destroy her, just to watch her grow again. And then give her stronger roots to stand on.

Tell me what you want, Lily,I said, holding her just inside the en-suite bathroom. Khalid had been right about the shower—it was an impressive size.Shall we start there, love? With me stripping you and washing every inch of you with my bare hands?

Yes,she breathed.I can still feel their presence on my skin. Like claws digging into my soul, reminding me where I’m supposed to be right now.

You’re supposed to be with me,I corrected her. “Because you’re mine.”

“Prove it,” she dared, a hint of fire flickering in her blue-green irises. “Make me yours again.”

“You were never not mine,” I promised her. “That much is very clear to me now.”

But even more than that, I was hers. And I’d been hers since the first moment I’d laid eyes on her.

She’d changed everything just by breathing. Her air had become mine and mine had become hers, marrying our souls before our hearts had ever had a chance to beat.

I let her feel the ferocity of my emotions as I took her mouth, my tongue immediately seeking entry and finding her more than willing to accept.

Because we were perfect together.

Combustible.

Passionate.

Untouchable.

I ran my palms over her, removing her jeans and her sweater while her hands divested me of my clothes, leaving us naked against each other. It was a dance of limbs and fingers, emboldened and intensified by our need for one another.

But this wasn’t about sex.

This was about touching each other. Remembering the feel ofus.Reveling in our joining. Memorizing and claiming each other on the surface, while our spirits intimately connected on another plane.

Energy hummed between us, making me feel alive as I deepened our kiss.

She moaned in response, her mind flaring with wants and desires and a need to just be here with me, to exist in the solace of our bond.

No more Blood Day. No more lycans. No more prospect of the moon chase. I’d saved her, and her roots were firmly grounded in reality now, even if it all felt like a dream to her.

I grasped her hips and walked her backward into the shower. The water came on automatically, pelting my back with cold spikes. But I didn’t care. It was worth it to curl myself around Lily and protect her from the chilly temperature.

She practically melted into me, absorbing my warmth and my strength, and simply existed with me in the moment.