Page 103 of Contested Crown

But did I trust him that much? The answer was on me as fast as I could ask it. Yes. I trusted him. Yes, I knew that it was stupid and dangerous, but I also knew that Cade was the missing part of me that yearned for… I cut the thought off because it was too soon for any of the endings that sentence had.

“Pass the magic through me.” I stared at him.

He wet his lips, the pink flick of tongue so fast that I barely saw it. I wanted him with an urgency I’d never felt before. What was this feeling? This feeling that left me yearning for him at even the slightest suggestion, like we were both starving and this was the only way to satiate our hunger?

It was bad, too bad, too much. I wanted to lean over and press him back against the building wall, press my lips against his, claim him, but I also yearned to have his hand at my throat, his collar around my neck.

What was that? The desire to be in charge but also dominated? How could I hold both inside myself?

Cade’s breath caught in his throat, as though he could sense the direction of my thoughts. “All right. Not here.”

He pulled me down the street, into the alley next to the building Jay had entered. With his hand on my wrist, pulling me along, something in me answered, as though he was binding me down, pressing this on me, even though I was the one who’d asked.

The building was boarded up, notices stapled to the plywood indicating it was going to be torn down and renovated. The exterior was covered with graffiti, spiraling like vines over its brick-and-mortar exterior.

Cade backed us as far into the alley as he could, until we were tucked behind a pile of empty boxes, old newspaper pages strewn around us. He looked up at me.

“Are you sure? I’m still not sure what it’s taking.” But he was lying. We both knew.

“I have more than enough life… wolf… whatever it is. I have more than enough, and we need a safe way in.” I raised both eyebrows.

“What if itistaking your life?” Cade asked sharply. “What if I take too much and kill you?”

“Will you?” I asked. “Do you think you could?”

I meant it reassuring, but I found myself genuinely curious. Could he take more of me than I could give? Would I let him?

“I might,” Cade said, frowning. His blue eyes went stormy, troubled by the thought. “I could hurt you.”

“You won’t,” I told him.

He looked at me, eyes as sharp as knives. Slowly, he shook his head. He wouldn’t.

Cade reached out his hand, pressing it to my chest. His black tattoos crawled down his arm, the blades pressing into my skin, and I felt pressure as they dug into me, but nothing broke the skin.

Then Cade pulled back, and it felt like a sucking sensation, pulling something out of me. Maybe this was better than a collar, giving him all I had, giving him the part of me that had always beenmine.

His breath shuddered, as though he could feel the submission, and he looked at me with wonder. His lips dropped open, a soft sigh that left me partially lost, needing more, needing?—

I lowered my head, kissing him, grabbing his face between my palms and giving in. He fisted my sweatshirt, grounding me, pulling it tight across my shoulders. Through it all, we were two ends of a taut rope, keeping each other upright.

When I pulled back, Cade swallowed. “Check if you can still shift.”

Dropping my hands, I reached for my wolf and felt it there, the magic he’d given me earlier humming on my skin, giving me the power I needed to access both halves of myself.

“Yes,” I said. “Let’s get moving. I don’t want to get caught here if they come out. Also, we might miss the villain monologue.”

“How do you know they’re going to be monologuing?” Cade asked.

“Are you kidding?” I gestured to the building. “This is a perfect villain lair. An abandoned building, no one allowed in. I bet they have like twelve henchmen just waiting around to beat us before we get to the final boss battle.”

Cade made an amused noise and shook his head. “This might hurt.”

He was still smiling, but I could see the tension on his face, the strain as he looked at me. I grabbed his hand, squeezing his fingers.

“It didn’t hurt the last time you teleported us,” I said. “I didn’t feel anything.”

Cade frowned. “But this is more magic even than that. And we haven’t done anything like this since House Bartlett.”