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I refrained from flicking my smug gaze to the other man, choosing instead to maintain eye contact with the only one of us here that mattered.

‘What?’ she asked breathlessly, and my heart skipped and jumped inside my chest like an excitable fucking puppy at the fact that I was able to coax such a reaction from her.

‘I won’t touch you again, ghost girl. Not until you beg me to.’

I stepped back to level the man with a contemplative look. He was practically vibrating with rage, but that wasn’t all I saw flash behind his dark blue eyes. He was enjoying this, even if he wasn’t quite ready to admit it.

Interesting…

‘You can keep your little boyfriend,’ I offered, quite magnanimously, considering the circumstances. ‘But only if you behave.’

She made a sound in the back of her throat that was both affronted and turned on. ‘ Excuse me?’

I grinned, the expression less one of happiness and more a baring of my teeth. A warning she would do well to heed.

‘You heard me, ghost girl. You came apart on my cock once already, but once will never be enough. You’re mine . And I’m willing to share, but only if you behave.’

Both Kali and the ghost man wore mirroring expressions, their mouths opening and closing on silent gasps as they attempted to process the rules I had just implemented.

Their gobsmacked expressions quickly transformed, however, when my words finally hit.

Kali looked ready to tear me a new asshole, though the fire in her eyes was a combination of both her rage and her desire.

She was stunned into silence as they battled it out inside her mind, so I gave her a moment to figure out which one to choose by settling my attention back on the man.

He was glaring at me now, his eyes darkening to an even deeper blue that reminded me of the darkest depths of the ocean.

I could tell that this man was just as vast, just as dangerous if he chose to be, but I had only seen the surface of what this man was capable of.

He was strong. He was worthy of his role in her existence, if the speed at which he had recovered from the unsanctioned burial was any indication.

Perhaps – and this thought caught me off guard even more than my sudden interest in Kali had at first… but perhaps I could have more than one companion. Could it be possible that fate had gifted me not only a lover, but a friend?

A family?

The concept was foreign, and, quite frankly, terrifying.

I hadn’t wanted a family since the one I had tried to build in life had come crumbling down around me.

But Kali wasn’t Victoria, and her ghost friend wasn’t James.

I didn’t feel like they would betray me, but was I truly ready to take that risk? Would I ever be?

I knew that my window of opportunity would close if I didn’t take it now.

I could build a family, no longer have to wonder this realm alone, and find purpose and companionship with them both.

Or, I could let them go, keep my heart closed off to the potential of being crushed yet again, and spend eternity with nothing and no one but myself and my shadows.

It had been enough for me thus far… but had it?

The answer was clearer now than it had ever been. No. I had merely been existing, my thoughts and actions stuck in the rut of kill, grow my power, and repeat. After this taste of what it would be like to no longer be alone, it wasn’t enough. Not anymore.

But something was still holding me back. There was still one more wall that refused to fall, one that even Kali had failed to penetrate. Could I give her the chance to break it down, to burrow herself into my core where she would stay for the rest of eternity? Could he?

Only time could tell.

‘Why?’ the man asked, shocking me enough that I had to force my expression to remain neutral and my feet to remain in place.

‘Why what?’

He folded his thickly corded arms across his broad chest, and I couldn’t help but admire the sheer strength he emanated.

I imagined the way they would flex as he used them to bring her pleasure, how they would look as he wrapped them around her smaller frame.

The sight of them together was already stunning, but without clothes?

It was a beautiful vision, one I hoped I could see one day soon.

He would be a good match for my ghost girl, indeed.

‘Why do you want her? Why Kali? I’m pretty sure I already asked that, and you just told me to leave, but I’m not going anywhere. So, why?’

A part of me chafed at being questioned, but a larger part admired his gumption.

He was wary, that much I could see. He wasn’t a stupid man, but his concern over being around the most dangerous predator in this realm was overridden by his protectiveness, and I couldn’t help but admire him all the more for it.

He wasn’t backing down in the face of adversity, and a spark of respect flickered to life.

I wasn’t one for making concessions, but I saw no reason not to answer his question. Man to man, I could at least afford him that.

The words tore from deep inside my blackened soul. ‘She is everything.’

I watched from the corner of my eye as Kali’s stance relaxed, her expression softening as my confession struck her where it mattered most. It was an admission I had even struggled to acknowledge to myself, and I wasn’t ready for its impact.

I couldn’t watch their reactions when my own was a swirling vortex of fears and insecurities that had long since been buried, yet were now forced back to the surface.

I didn’t want them. I was stronger than them. I was better .

Except, they didn’t go away. They threatened to crush me to dust and then whisk me away in a tornado of destruction.

I couldn’t be here.

I couldn’t do this.

Kali’s mouth opened, ready to respond, but I had already let my shadows drag me away somewhere safe, somewhere far away and secluded, so I could file down the jagged edges of my emotional wounds and piece myself back together without an audience.

I needed to be stronger than this. I needed to overcome the scars of my past before I could ever fully accept them, or for them to accept me. If that was what I chose, I still hadn’t decided.

But my most concerning vulnerability was a lot more pathetically personal. I couldn’t allow either of them to see me so weak. So pathetic. So dismally unworthy.

Victoria’s words pushed forth, the memory of her voice, the sneer as she looked down upon me, the glee in her eyes as her laugh reverberated off the walls of my skull.

It was a sound that hadn’t plagued me since I’d taken my revenge, but it came back now with so much force I couldn’t stop it no matter how hard I tried.

I felt sick. It hit me like a knife to the heart , a reminder of the man I had once been.

The words she had uttered right before she’d destroyed me.

Who could ever want a vile, worthless coward like you?