Page 7

Working on Vhex feels like digging ropes out of a volcano and trying to fix the smoking holes by braiding them with spiderwebs. Meanwhile, both our souls bubble like over-toasted marshmallows.

I don’t know if I’m working too slowly or too well.

Either way, Vhex wants more.

His silks keep twisting out of my grip and trying to weave our souls into a permanent bond.

“Stop that,” I growl, yanking his horn. “Otherwise, I’ll stop, and you’ll just have to burn.”

“No.” His silks fall in line.

He’s submitting for now, but I may as well be rubbing a dragon’s belly.

Yes, he approves of my attention.

He’s still the one with the claws.

“That’s my good Sentinel.” I stroke the velvet ridges of his horn, trying to ignore the pink shimmer in his upturned eyes.

“Guide.” Vhex squeezes the tops of my thighs, just underneath the curve of my ass.

My stomach flips.

I have to work faster.

I drag Vhex’s horn and tilt his face.

We need a kiss, but I have to control the pace.

I take Vhex’s lips so gently, pretending we have all the time in the world.

Slow.

Calm.

Praying that Vhex doesn’t sense the vampiric malice seething up between the floorboards.

We connect deeper with every sweep of my tongue.

Vhex always wants more.

I just want him to sit fucking still .

I rub his jaw as I smooth his wounds. The flames and agony never end, but I’m not the kind of Guide who stops halfway.

Vhex’s head tips back with the force of my kiss.

There has to be a semi-functioning man somewhere in there.

I grip his nape like I can squeeze him out.

Vhex moans so softly, it’s less a sound and more a gasp that I eat with my tongue.

A hard pulse almost folds me in half.

I freeze, startled by the strength of my body’s response.

My scalp prickles.

This attraction is way too fucking strong.

Vhex’s tone deepens to a more rumbly demand. His silks tighten as his palms cup my ass.

He’s determined to grab me everywhere he can.

“Easy.” I grip Vhex’s horn, stopping him from turning toward the prickle in the air.

I hope I’ve done enough to keep him stable.

Now, it’s someone else’s turn.

Shadows pool in the balcony hole.

I split off as many silks as I can steal from Vhex. I need them to deal with the vampire forming out of the darkness.

Remington unfolds from the void with my blood crusted to his chin. The hole in his wing smokes around its shrinking edge. I wince as I plug into the fiery pain gnawing at the slow-healing wound near his spine.

No wonder it took him so long to rise.

Vhex nailed him harder than I thought.

“Come here.” I crook my silks, offering my glow to feed his thirsty soul.

His eyes yawn in scary-empty pits.

There’s no more red, even at the edges—the man is gone.

I swallow a throb of his thirst that’s strong enough to choke me across the room.

Remington isn’t Vhex, jumping to obey my commands.

He’s going to make me work.

I need more of his skin.

“Come to me, Sentinel.” I release Vhex’s chin to free a hand.

When he snarls, I drag his horn, muffling his protests in my stomach. The move distracts him.

Then Vhex distracts me , rubbing his horn between my breasts.

I gasp.

When my silks flinch, Remington flashes forward with flexed claws.

Shit .

I quickly twist my silks into a spear.

It’s sharp, but it glows with all the light I have.

There’s a lot less than there used to be. Remington still takes the bait.

He lets me pierce his defenses.

I release the tip of the silk-spear, spinning thousands of silks straight into Remington’s soul.

Kevan’s soul was the shivery kind of cold. Spooky and dry.

Remington feels more like an icy rush—plunging through whitewater rapids in a night-black cave.

A cold connection feathers between us as our silks twine.

His thirst strains my throat. “You’re all in knots.”

His soul is so tangled, I can only start on the surface.

My touch is gentle, but Remington hisses, resisting my care.

“I’m not going to hurt you. And you’re not going to hurt me,” I say for him as much as myself. “Don’t you want more of my blood?”

His fangs pop. “Guide.”

Yeah. I know.

I need to work on their rampage vocabulary.

“Give me your hand.” I stretch sideways, trying to keep him away from Vhex.

I’m sensing a pattern, because Remington doesn’t listen.

He only does what he wants, dragging my hand to his fangs with icy fingers.

“No more biting.” Coaxing with silks, I lure him to move closer until I can reach his throbbing throat.

Remington swallows against my palm.

Does a muscle pulse need to feel that fucking good?

I pull him down to me until our foreheads bump.

His eyes are black, black, black .

They spin because he wants to suck me in.

I stare deep and never flinch. “You need me more than I need you.”

His silks and shadows flare, then flatten to his body.

It’s a start.

“Come back and join me in reality.” I hold his gaze. “Look at your office. Look at your base, Major.”

“No.” His magic rebels and his claws tighten at my wrist.

“ Yes ,” I insist, digging nails into his throat. “Talk to me. Help me clean up this mess. I know you’re in there, Remington.”

“Remy,” he growls into my blood.

“Remy,” I repeat, totally not breathlessly at all .

He’s in worse condition than Vhex, who’s busy humming into my ribcage. I can barely spare enough soul to keep them both from flaming out.

Yet my stubborn ass has to win this contest.

Just to prove I can.

I’m worth keeping.

I really, really am.

Feeling Remy’s hot breath, I tilt my lips.

His silks bite tight.

So do his claws.

I can’t feel pain when his hunger hits, hollowing me out.

My stomach twists in an agonizing knot. I gasp at Remy’s mouth, fighting waves of ice and pain that rake my throat.

But I’m so good at keeping the hurt out of my voice. It doesn’t even shake as I stare deep into Remy’s predatory eyes. “Work with me. You’ll feel better faster.”

I massage his energy until my aura bathes my skin in blue.

Eventually, his wings and claws retract.

His black veins fade, and my care shifts his skin from marbled to pale, white flesh. Remy’s human brows and cheekbones are just as deadly sharp. His eyes regain their original red.

I sense reason starting to flicker in that head.

“Show me what you need,” I murmur as I rub his throat.

I hope it’s a blowjob and a bag of blood.

Something easy to give.

Remy doesn’t offer an answer, and I don’t have to dig to find out why.

There are no lies between souls.

I’m holding back too much. Hurrying when I need to be patient. Frustrated instead of offering the real vulnerability that would signal it’s safe for him to open his soul to me.

I’ve never offered my real, unguarded self to anyone but Kevan.

Look how that turned out.

The deepest thing I’m ready to share with Remy is that last half triangle of a ham sandwich that I ate on the train.

I swallow a repeat of honey glaze.

This is going to suck.

With more force than actual submission, I invite his icy soul to peek inside my heart.

I don’t want to know what he sees in there. Maybe a basement full of cobwebs and trampled good intentions.

When I focus on him, I choke. This time, the pinch in my throat has nothing to do with blood.

Remington Azrid is lonely .

His soul echoes deep, dark, and empty, with no light to be found and no hope that anything will change.

Honestly? Same .

I curl my fingers in Remy’s hair to stop the shake in my hands. “Remy. I need you to come back to me.”

Something flickers in his depths.

Remington tilts his face to mine like an underworld sunflower. I feel his wonder and disbelief. Then his silks spear in an all-too-familiar grab that melts my spine.

He wants me.

My blood, my body, my soul.

Everything.

All of me.

And he even thinks that he’s sincere.