Page 116 of Forbidden Empire

Instead of anger flashing in her eyes, she just smiled, something almost gentle about it.

“I’ll be okay, Aidon,” she said. “I promise. You don’t need to worry about me. But thank you for caring.”

I nodded. “Alright then. Let’s do this.”

“Yes. Let’s go. Together. Like we planned.”

I leaned in, crushing my mouth to hers in a hard, hungry kiss before wrenching myself away and reaching for the door.

When all the cars had finally pulled over, we assembled in the shadow of the mountain, the air thick with anticipation. Every man in our group fell silent, waiting.

“We head north,” Ares barked, cutting through the night.

He took command of all three groups, and it was a sight: Thal’s small coalition, dwarfed by Zeno’s army, but together with my own security team. Every man was huge, intimidating, and armed to the teeth—the kind of force that left nothing to chance.

We moved in silence, every step toward Rhea’s compound feeding something wild in my chest. Confidence burned through my veins, hotter than blood, a wildfire swelling as the moon carved silver into the darkness.

Esme kept pace beside me, head high, eyes flashing with a terrible, beautiful certainty. Her mouth was set, unyielding. The only light was the moon, and it made her fierce, almost untouchable.

I had to look away.

I couldn’t let myself slip. Couldn’t falter. Couldn’t drown in the sight of her. Esme, the woman I would destroy worlds for, was caught in the moonlight, surrounded by the storm she embodied. I told myself my job was to protect her, even when she said she didn’t need it.

Even when she looked so fucking gorgeous and unstoppable, striding into danger, all that raw resolve on her face.

And I couldn’t focus on the fact that I’d just called it love. That word. That feeling. Thundering in my chest, a secret I could barely admit to myself.

I shoved it all down, knuckles white on the steering wheel, refusing to let myself glance at Esme and the way her beauty threatened to pull me apart from the inside out. Later, I promised myself.

Later, when the world wasn’t hanging by a thread, I’d let myself drown in her. But right now?

Now I had to focus, keep my pulse steady, my hands sure. Except a vision of her cut through the darkness anyway: sprawled out on my bed, hair wild around her, thighs parted and slick as I drove my cock into her again and again, her moans echoing somewhere deep in my chest.

Fuck. What was she doing to me?

How had she burrowed so deep under my skin, turned my bones to fire and my thoughts to chaos?

I made a vow right then, teeth clenched and jaw aching: if we survived tonight, just barely scraped by, I’d take her out past the city lights tomorrow and fuck her under the moon until I forgot my own name.

But there was no room for that now. Not with so much riding on my back. I shoved the hunger down, locked it tight, and forced every cell in my body to remember what was at stake. I wouldn’t let my weakness cost us everything.

Not Esme. Not any of us.

And she was my weakness. Everyone knew it by now.

Rhea had figured it out even before I’d admitted it to myself, and she’d twisted the knife without hesitation, the way only someone like her could.

She wouldn’t hold back tonight, either. Not even for a second.

That was why I wouldn’t let Esme leave my side. If she slipped too far, Rhea would snatch her up in a heartbeat, and this time, she wouldn’t settle for a warning shot. She’d finish what she'd started. Maybe worse.

The thought made me flinch, muscles tightening. I forced it away, dragging in a breath, shaking my head as though I could rattle the anxiety loose. Couldn’t afford that now. Couldn’t risk it, not with everything on the line.

Not with her on the line.

Fuck. The only thing I loved.

Love. Love. Love.