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M y heart split in two as I stood in Javier's quarters—joy for my Prime Consort's return warring with the crushing guilt of leaving Gavin behind in that dark cell. I hadn’t spent much time in Javier’s personal quarters when I was a little girl. I had stepped foot in the suite maybe twice, always with Amaya, who Javier had been chosen to serve. The next High Queen of the House of the Moon had always been slated to be his queen.

But that queen wasn’t supposed to be me.

My gaze swept over the sitting room, taking in everything from the furniture to the man standing stoically in loose loungewear in the doorway to the bedroom. Dark, classic pieces befitting a Gothic mansion filled the space, enhanced by silver sigils pulsing gently in the shadows.

Every heartbeat of mine felt like a betrayal. Gavin was trapped in a dungeon cell. I’d abandoned him, yet here I stood, safe and alone with another man. Guilt coiled inside me like a snake within the cage of my ribs. Yet beneath it lurked something unexpected—anticipation. My body hummed with awareness of Javier’s presence even as I mourned Gavin’s sacrifice. What kind of person did that make me?

A pretty damn terrible one, that’s what.

Javier had nearly as many bookcases as Ash, but only half held books. The rest displayed objects straight out of an occult museum. I passed a silver athame and felt it hum through my bones, vibrating against something deep inside me.

I crossed to the fireplace. Behind me, Javier shut the door. I fidgeted with my flowy T-shirt hem while staring into the flames that did nothing for the chill in my core. Gavin’s face haunted me—that resigned determination, quiet acceptance, and something else I couldn’t name without shattering into a million pieces right here on the floor.

“You look well,” Javier said, his voice like gravel covered in silk. He stayed by the door.

For a heartbeat, the reality of him standing there—alive, whole, after believing him lost for so long—hit me with physical force. My vision blurred with unexpected tears, my body swaying slightly before I caught myself. Twenty years of grief collapsed in an instant, leaving me disoriented in its absence.

I choked on a laugh. Well ? I was anything but.

Twenty years gone. Twenty years that had turned me from a frightened child to this woman I barely recognized. I’d mourned him while he suffered in captivity. I had lived while he had spent two decades dying. I had lost every single thing that mattered… But then, so had he.

So, in a sense, I supposed we were both well.

“Gavin figured out what you did with the tincture,” I said. “He reversed it so I could go longer between, uh, communions .” My cheeks burned. “But it was hard before that. I was starving…for a long time. And when Gavin found me and awakened my magic, I needed a lot.” Not just immortal blood. I had needed everything Gavin could give me. More, considering I’d bound three consorts in barely two days.

Gavin’s name stuck in my throat like a fishbone. He had sacrificed nearly everything—for me, for our people—and I couldn’t even properly grieve because he wasn’t dead, just suffering somewhere beyond my reach. Our bond was stretched thin but unbroken, vibrating with pain I couldn’t soothe.

“I’m sorry, Luna,” Javier said from right behind me.

I spun around, my hands clutching my chest, my heart pounding. I didn’t correct him on my name. Didn’t tell him I was Sophie now. To him, I would always be Luna.

“Sorry,” he repeated, that familiar smile flashing briefly. His eyes traced my features. “You look so much like your mother.”

I stared at the floor, at his bare feet inches from mine. My mother’s ghost seemed to stand between us. Would she judge me for wanting Javier while mourning Gavin? For binding multiple consorts in a matter of days? For standing here ready to commune with the man who practically raised me?

“Did you ever commune with—” I swallowed hard, my hands twisting my shirt hem. “With her? With my mom?” I met his eyes for a split second before dropping my gaze, my cheeks burning.

“No,” he said. “Never.” He gripped my hands, stilling them. “It is rare, but there are cases where a queen and one of her consorts have a platonic relationship.”

My eyes snapped to his. “Is that what you want?” My heart turned leaden and sank. Based on the hollow feeling spreading through me, a platonic relationship wasn’t what I wanted with Javier. Not even close.

Fresh guilt followed. Gavin had saved my life, awakened my powers, made me feel things I never knew possible… And now he suffered alone because of me. Because I had needed Javier, my Prime Consort. Yet here I stood, before the same man whose freedom had cost Gavin’s, desperate for him not to reject me. Yearning for his hands on me. His teeth in me.

“You didn’t choose me to be your Prime Consort,” Javier said. “That was meant to be Gavin’s role, but I stole it from him. Stole you from him. Not once, but twice.”

His words cut through me. Javier was my past; Gavin was supposed to be my future. Yet fate had twisted everything inside out.

“You saved me,” I countered softly. “I would have died here, with my mom and Amaya and…everyone.”

“Even so,” Javier said. “I took something never meant for me. I forced you into a bond you didn’t understand and couldn’t have chosen.” He paused. “I don’t expect you to treat me the same as those you did choose.”

“But…I love you,” I whispered, tears gathering on my lashes.

The truth felt both simple and impossibly complex. I’d always loved him, but that love had transformed. He’d been everything: father, teacher, guardian, friend. Now he was something else I couldn’t define but felt unwinding inside me with each breath.

“Love me like a father?” he asked. “Like a brother? Like a friend?”

My chin trembled. “Like you .” I turned away, pulling free and retreating to the far side of the fireplace. “But I understand if you prefer a platonic relationship,” I said, hugging myself. Why did it feel like I was losing him all over again when I’d only just found him?

Gavin’s last kiss haunted my lips. Every touch from Javier felt like a blessing and a betrayal simultaneously. Was this what it meant to be a queen? Holding contradictions without shattering, loving so many so deeply, feeling joy and grief at once?

“I didn’t say that.” Javier stood behind me again. His hands settled on my shoulders, thumbs tracing my neck. He brushed my damp hair aside, and I felt the whisper of his lips over my carotid, the faint brush of teeth.

My pulse thrummed, my blood calling to him. I tilted my head, silently offering my neck. Even as heat rushed through me, my heart ached for Gavin.

The queen in me knew this was necessary. Each bond strengthened me. Gavin himself had urged me to complete these connections, and his sacrifice would be meaningless if I didn’t use this opportunity to embrace my power. But the part of me that was still Sophie Matthews from Seattle whispered this was wrong, that happiness was undeserved while he remained a prisoner.

Javier stepped forward, his body pressing flush against my back, one hand settling on my abdomen. A low growl reverberated through his chest as he grazed his teeth over my skin once more. I covered his hand with mine, threading our fingers together. His other hand curved around my neck, cradling my jaw. When his teeth cut through my skin, the initial sharp bite of pain transformed into blissful euphoria between one heartbeat and the next.

Guilt dissolved, burned away by the fire in my blood. This wasn’t betraying Gavin. It was honoring his sacrifice. I would become strong enough to save him. The queen in me embraced this truth while the woman mourned.

I gripped Javier’s hand tighter, pressing back until I felt his growing hardness. His fingers flexed around mine, his erection pressing into my lower back. He’d said platonic was possible, not that he wanted it.

And neither did I.

I dragged his hand lower, toward the place throbbing with need—for him. Close enough for him to understand what I wanted, but not all the way. His choice, not mine. I wouldn’t force his hand while bloodlust clouded his judgment.

His fingertips dug into my pubic bone, close enough to make my clit pulse but nowhere near enough to ease the ache between my thighs. He tore his mouth from my neck, nuzzling my damp hair while holding me tight. The bite wound tingled as he initiated healing with a smear of his own immortal blood.

“Sophie,” he said, breath ragged. “It’s been a very long time since I—”

He’d fed while I showered, but I hadn’t sensed lust through our weakened bond. He really hadn’t taken more than blood since returning? What about with the other queens? The thought flashed through my mind. Had he shared more with them than blood? The thought tied my stomach in knots.

“I can’t guarantee I’ll be gentle,” he warned.

My thighs squeezed together at the suggestion. “That’s fine,” I rasped and turned in his hold.

His features were tense, his pupils blown wide in his rich brown eyes, his lips stained red with my blood.

“Gentle isn’t really my thing,” I said, my gaze shifting from his eyes to his lips and back.

Half-truth. Each connection pulled different needs from me—Gavin, Bastian, Ash. With Javier, I sensed he needed control, reclaiming power after years without it. And maybe I needed to surrender control after days of impossible decisions.

His jaw clenched, his hand fisting my shirt. “What is your thing?” he asked roughly.

“Right now?” I pressed closer. “You.” I licked my lips. “Are you recovered enough for me to…” My focus dropped to his neck.

My salivary glands tingled in anticipation. But after everything—his imprisonment, torture, and feeding over a dozen queens for so long—was he ready for a full communion ? I reached through our bond but hit a wall, blocking me from his thoughts and feelings.

His throat bobbed as he nodded.

“Do you want me to?” I asked. “I would understand if—”

“Yes,” he said, the word clawing up his throat. “Do it.” Almost a plea.

Heart pounding in time with the throb between my legs, I traced his pulse point. His fist pressed me closer, his hardness digging into my belly. I leaned in, tasting him with my tongue, imagining his blood’s flavor. I couldn’t remember his taste. It had been so long.

I bit down, teeth digging deeper until skin broke and his immortal blood entered my mouth.

My taste buds exploded—sweet raspberries dipped in bitter dark chocolate. I groaned, pulling more of him into me. He wrapped his arms around me, lifting my feet off the floor. As his blood flowed into me, I felt our shared history, the magic binding us deeper than blood.

This was memory made liquid. Childhood laughter. Reading on the floor together. Band-Aids on skinned knees. A shoulder to cry on. Endless sacrifice and worry and fear. And love.

And now desire. An all-consuming need to give himself to me in a completely new way.

Through the haze of passion, Gavin’s face appeared in my mind—not accusatory, but resigned. Understanding. His final words echoed in my mind: I will return to you. A promise I’d hold on to, a vow I’d make damn sure came true.

For now, though, this moment belonged to Javier and me. Healing old wounds. Forging new bonds.

I gripped his shoulders tight as he carried me across the room, pushing open a door with his back to bring me into his bedroom. I released my bite as he laid me on the bed, lifting my hips so he could drag my leggings and underwear down my legs in one smooth motion. His hands glided up my thighs, pushing my knees apart.

I’d have thought I would be past blushing after everything I’d done with the others, but seeing Javier look at me like I was a feast and he was starving made heat rush to my face. Then his mouth was on me. I arched into him, and everything else vanished. Just sensation. Just this.

I dug my fingers into his hair, pulling him closer. He lapped at my entrance, then shifted higher to my clit. He tongued the exposed head while digging in his teeth just enough to break skin.

“Holy fuck,” I gasped as pain mixed with pleasure in a way that made me see stars. He sucked hard, pulling more blood to my nether regions, and the pleasure narrowed to a pinprick, then exploded outward, rocking through my body in waves. I’d never climaxed so fast.

Fresh tingles told me he’d coated the shallow wound in his blood even as he teased my clit, sending delicious aftershocks jolting through me.

He pushed up my shirt as he climbed onto the bed, gripping me around my ribcage to lift and toss me further back on the mattress. I raised my arms, letting him drag off my shirt and sweater as one. He gripped my bra and yanked, tearing it in two. Kneeling between my legs, he stared down at me, his super-heated gaze roving up and down my body as he yanked his shirt off, then pushed down his drawstring pants, revealing his lack of underwear and releasing his proud erection.

I drank him in. Broad chest covered in glowing sigils and dark hair. Taut abdomen. The thick length jutting out from between his legs.

Javier kicked off his pants and took hold of my hips, lifting my ass off the bed. He dragged my soaked slit along his hard length, using me as his personal lubricant, then angled the head of his cock at my entrance and thrust forward, plunging in deep. My fingers dug into the comforter. I threw my head back, soaking in the harsh sensation of suddenly being so full.

He bowed his head, his breaths coming faster as his fingertips dug into my hips, and held me impaled on his cock. He was still for so long that I feared something was wrong.

“Javier?” I asked softly, reaching up to touch the side of his face. “Are you all right?”

He raised his head, and I sucked in a breath when I saw the tears staining his cheeks. Sex with me had never before made a man cry.

But this wasn’t just sex. This was reconciliation. Reunion. This was a man who had lost everything to find his way back to the one person he had sacrificed everything to save. Twenty years of suffering finding release in a single moment.

I captured a tear with my thumb and searched his intense gaze. “Javi?”

He turned his face into my hand and grazed his teeth over my palm. “It’s a bit overwhelming,” he said roughly.

Guilt tightened my throat—not for Gavin this time, but for Javier. All those years I’d lived my life while he suffered in darkness. All that time I’d believed him dead, never searching, never questioning.

“Come here,” I said, tugging on his shoulder.

He leaned forward, covering my body with his, the motion pulling him out of me partway, only to push back in as he stretched out between my legs.

I shuddered, taking a shaky breath. “If you need to go slow, then go slow,” I said, grazing my nails up and down either side of his neck. “If you need to fuck me hard, then fuck me hard.” I searched his eyes, seeing the shadows threatening to drown out his desire. “I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”

I couldn’t erase his past. Couldn’t undo his suffering or mine. But I could offer him this—a present where he wasn’t alone, a future where he belonged.

I lifted my head and lightly pressed my lips against his. Our first kiss. And despite his cock buried inside me, it was sweet and innocent. Somehow more intimate than what we were already doing.

I broke away, resting my head back on the bed, watching his expression. He licked his lips, then bent his neck, claiming my mouth. This time, there was nothing innocent in the kiss. I opened to him, letting him in, our tongues seeking.

His hips shifted, drawing back before thrusting forward again. I groaned at the renewed invasion. Each thrust came harder, faster, rougher until his body slammed into me with bruising intensity, pushing me toward a second climax as magic welled in my chest.

Making a sound between a groan and a growl, Javier broke our kiss and dragged his lips down over my jaw to my neck. I arched my head back, offering him a better angle. Even the thought of him biting me had my insides fluttering. He sliced his teeth over his thumb and slid it into my mouth, lighting me up with his decadent blood. At that exact moment, he dug his teeth into my neck.

My eyes rolled back as my internal muscles seized. I clenched my thighs around him as silver moonlight exploded out of me, showering us in my magic. Bliss radiated from my core, deepened by the ache from the rough joining, and I dug my nails into his back, shuddering beneath him.

In that moment, I existed beyond thought. Beyond guilt. Beyond the tangle of emotions suffocating me. Just this—bodies connected, blood bonded, power exchanged. I wasn’t torn between consorts or divided by loyalties. Just whole. Complete.

Yet even as ecstasy consumed me, a vow formed: I would become strong enough to save them all. I would harness this power and use it to reclaim what was stolen. Gavin would not be abandoned. The imprisoned queens would not be forgotten.

Javier pulled his thumb from my mouth and broke away from my neck as he slammed into me one last time, covering my mouth with his. His kiss tasted of his blood mixed with mine—intoxicating, right, like we had always been meant to mix together.

And maybe we had been. As our blood mingled on our tongues, I felt the wall between us crumbling, our bond strengthening, his emotions washing through me—relief, joy, devotion, protection, and beneath it all, a fierce love that had sustained him through decades of darkness.

I welcomed it all.