Page 26 of Ravaged Soul

“Right.” Her lips round to form the sound. “What if I still need you?”

“What you need is to go back to sleep.”

“You first,” she sasses back.

This is my fault. The moment I gave rise to those illegal thoughts streaming through my mind while she fought me, I opened the floodgates. I gave permission to release the intense pressure practically exploding between us.

It’s only grown since then, her distant stare blazing with longing while I’ve avoided her. Even with Tom gone and the full weight of Sabre’s power unleashed to search for him, I’m constantly aware of her. She’s a huge distraction.

“You can’t stop yourself.” I sigh around my tight throat. “Can you?”

“I need this nightmare to end,” she admits. “Even if only for a moment.”

“It will end, Em. It’ll end when we bring Tom home.”

“And when will that be?”

My throat constricts. God, how I want to comfort her. I need to fix this. But I can’t lie to Ember; she deserves far better than that. Until Tom is within my grasp, I won’t risk breaking her trust.

“You can’t answer because you don’t know when it will end. We’re up against an army, and my brother…” Her voice catches, filling me with heartache. “He’s caught in the middle of the war.”

“I know, love.”

“Then for one solitary second… Please, Warner. Don’t think. Just make it all stop. Make me forget. Take it all away from me.”

Her heartfelt begging pulls at my internal organs and twists them into an excruciating knot. God, she is my fatal weakness. Everything about Ember invites me to get on my knees and give her whatever the hell she wants or needs to endure this mess.

“I have to go,” I spit the awful words out.

“You’re the one who told me to show you that I want this,” Ember hisses. “How much I wantus.I thought I did that in the ring.”

“But that was before.”

“Before what? My brother got kidnapped?”

Gut lurching, I try to avoid her attentive stare. “Yes.”

“So what changed?”

“It’s my job to keep a level head so I can find him.”

“I’m not stopping you!” she snaps in pure aggravation.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I can’t keep a level head when you’re around. Fuck, I can’t even think straight when you’re in the bloody room. All I want is to grab hold of you and never let go again.”

Ember braces her hands on my shoulders, frenzied eyes attacking me like she wants to rip the skin from my bones toburrow inside my carcass. Fuck, I’d let her. Anything to wipe that pained expression away.

Then the thought of what her brother would say creeps back in, and it’s like being stabbed in the chest with the knife of reality all over again. The constant mental back and forth is wearing me to the bone.

“Fact is, I shouldn’t be in this bed with my best friend’s baby sister. It’s my job to protect you. To protect everyone. And I’m failing.”

“You can’t shoulder the burden for everyone,” she argues. “If you’d just let me in?—”

“Like you do?”

She visibly winces. “That isn’t fair.”

“But it’s true. This is my job, Em. I’m the team leader. When people get hurt on my watch, it’s my responsibility to make it right. I can’t be selfish.”