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Hypnotic azure eyes held mine captive, circulating ice-cold fright shooting through my veins. The heat of his touch issued tingling straight to the pit of my churning abdomen. It felt like butterflies were fighting for room or battling to escape. My brain, on the other hand, screamed at me to haul ass away from the angry demon. The intensity blazing in his glare caused my nipples to harden as his mouth lowered, pressing lips against my ear.

“You are such pretty fucking prey. Aren’t you?” The honeyed texture in his voice forced my thighs to press together, craving friction. Rhys’ heated breath fanned against the delicate skin below my ear.

“Oh . . . my . . . gods ,” I murmured breathlessly, fighting the tightening in my lower abdomen as need blossomed for the cruel, heartless bastard.

“I can smell your need to be fucked. Is your pussy wet for me, Love?” A shiver started at the base of my skull, slowly vibrating down the length of my spine.

“Rhys . . .” My voice escaped huskily, flooded with pent up need. I raised my hand, placing it over his as he cradled my cheek. “Why did you bring me here?”

“To hunt you down and devour your fucking soul. Why else would I bring you here?”

The wolfish smile he pegged me with wasn’t the least bit friendly.

It was a warning.

One I should’ve listened to.

“You’re in my world now. No worry of harming you or the baby you carry. Here, I can play with you as roughly as I wish to, without hurting your dainty, breakable body.” As if he enjoyed the arousal his dominating presence created, he continued.

Without warning, Rhys shoved me back, slamming me into the wall of the cathedral. His hand dropped from my face, colliding against the wall beside my head. He pressed his knee against my center, forcing a whimper from my lips.

My heartbeat pounded like a drum to an erotic tempo only it knew. Blood rushed to my head, causing it to spin with his nearness. His mouth pressed against my ear, and his teeth teased the tender lobe.

“Such a needy fucking thing.” The huskiness of his tone revealed Rhys was no more immune than I to being this close to one another.

Images of our bodies tangled in sheets, writhing naked together, slowly began flooding into my mind. Our bodies moved at a brutally savage pace of his choosing. I unravel in pleasurable waves of dangerously addictive ecstasy. The sensation of him stretching me open as he thrust hard and evenly into my body, brutally, was everything. The images he currently spoon-fed my mind were addictive. Intoxicating.

“Is that what you need right now from me? To be savaged until your delicate flesh aches from being used?” Fevered breath drifted over my throat, promising to leave me in a pile of sated flesh on the floor. “Is your pretty cunt in need of being fucked?”

“N-n- no! ” It was an outright lie.

There was no way I’d admit how much I craved for him to ruin me. To take what I was too angry to give him. Rather fucked up, but I had needs that hadn’t been satisfied in entirely too long. Maybe it was the hormone overload, but I knew it wasn’t.

I missed his powerful, controlling hands biting into my flesh. I missed his sinful mouth devouring my pussy as if it were the finest dessert he had ever experienced, never able to get enough.

The image playing in my head transformed into something else. It ripped a wanton moan from my kiss swollen lips. Rhys was between my thighs, his devilish mouth devouring my pussy like a crazed beast. Even as the scene played in a vivid, debauched depiction, ghostly fingers teased my suddenly naked thighs.

I looked down and hissed as shadowy hands rubbed down the inside of my thighs. Fiery lips touched, then drifted down my jawline. The multitude of sensations forced my eyes to close against the buffet of pleasure running through my frame.

“I want to feel you beneath me, Remington. To taste that sweet, delicious arousal you create for me as it coats my lips while you scream my name, coming undone for me. You want that too. Don’t you?” he questioned as his mouth hovered against mine. “Tell me to fuck you. Beg me to fuck you until you can’t think past the pleasure humming through your veins.”

A hand lifted, then gripped my jaw until I whimpered from the pressure being applied. Prying my eyelids apart, I gazed into an endless void of obsidian pits. Dark, inky lines stretched from his eyes, slowly flowing down his cheeks to meet with the vines of onyx below his neck.

It felt like Rhys had sprouted limbs, as each inch of my flesh felt electrified, coming alive from his touch. The warmth of his hands against my face told me they hadn’t moved. Still, I could feel his fingers gliding gently down my back.

I arched my spine as his touch slid to my hip, a shadowy thumb trailing over the bone as he teased me. Each place he touched, he lit a match, igniting an inferno of desire that refused to be extinguished by anyone other than him.

Air caught in my throat as his slow exploration continued until it paused at my apex. His shadowy fingers pinched my inner thighs, causing my lips to part as I gasped in shock from the pain he inflicted. It was the only invitation he needed. His mouth crashed against mine, consuming both mouth and mind, extinguishing any hesitation I had.

Rhys’ tongue entered my mouth, seeking and finding my tongue. Dueling against mine, he conquered me without me putting up much of a fight. His hand on the wall held his weight as his other slid down to my hip, lifting my skirt without argument.

My hands lifted, gripping his suit jacket like a lifeline. A single finger pushed through my center, forcing an animalistic growl to bubble up from his chest, only to be swallowed into my lungs. The hiss he expelled caused arousal to rush straight to my opening, begging him to fuck me until I was bruised from it.

As his mouth deserted my lips, he pressed his forehead against mine. Heavily hooded azure eyes held mine, searching them for an answer to his silent question. As if he were staring right into my soul. Rhys’ smile warned me that he’d found his reply there, written over my face. A single finger entered my core, which clamped down hungrily around it, demanding he give it more.

His heated breath caused a frenzy over my overheated flesh. Skilled, soft lips peppered kisses over my cheeks and forehead until he pulled back just far enough to enjoy the flush he’d created over my flesh. After he’d finished taking in how flustered I’d become, a cocky smirk played on his kiss swollen lips.

“Such a tight, messy cunt you offer me,” he crooned in a raspy, gravel filled tone.

“Holy . . . shit! ”

“Bloody hell. I think it wants more. Is that it? Does it need to be stretched and filled until it aches?”

“Please,” I whimpered, unsure if I was asking for more or asking for mercy from him. If I were betting on it, I’d place money on the first choice.

My heartbeat thundered against my ribcage, threatening to break free and fly away. Each thrust of his finger made the white-hot ball of need in my center spread farther, as tiny jolts of pleasure slid straight to my swollen, needy clit.

Dark laughter whispered against my cheek from the amusement he made at my response. I didn’t care what he thought of me, so long as I was able to alleviate the throbbing in my clit.

Crooking his finger, he sank it deep inside of me, pumping it slowly in and out of my body. Then, he skillfully caressed the pad of his finger against the one spot that never failed to ignite every pleasure ending throughout my entire body.

A loud, lusty moan burst from my lips, echoing in my ears as my entire frame shook from the need to find release. My vision threatened to darken as he pushed another finger inside my aching, clenching core.

“Good girl,” he murmured as I began slowly riding his hand. “Such a good fucking girl. My girls so fucking wet and needy for me. Aren’t you? You need to be fucked so bad that I can smell it oozing from your pores.”

I pushed my face into his shoulder, but the hand that was not currently driving me to paradise gripped my throat. Forcing my head back, away from his shoulder, he created a tsking sound with his tongue.

“I want to hear those pretty noises you’re making for me, Love. I want to hear you scream when this messy cunt drips all over my hand. You want to come undone for me. Don’t you?”

“Yes,” I begged, still unsure why I wasn’t stopping him. I knew I should. I knew he didn’t deserve me. But I couldn’t deny myself the pleasure he promised.

He studied the pleasure playing over my face before then, pressing his mouth against the curve of my throat, sucking the skin between his lips. Teeth teased against the flesh, even as his speed increased, fucking faster as he rumbled in approval.

“This pussy’s weeping with invitation to be fucked. Isn’t it?” When I failed to respond, he growled as his fingers scissored within my center. “Answer me.”

“Yes,” I admitted through the tears pricking my eyes. Either from pleasure or shame, I didn’t know.

Without needing to be asked, I spread my thighs farther apart for him to have more access. Slowly, his thumb began to rub small circular patterns against my clit, threatening to send me shooting into the stars.

“How does something so cold burn so fucking hot?” he whispered against my flesh like ice water being dumped over my head.

A strangled cry built in my chest, then burst from my lips. I pushed against his chest, uncaring that I was moments away from combusting into tiny shards of pleasure. Hot tears stung behind my eyes, threatening to fall as shame burned hotter than Hades in July within me.

“Playing hard to get isn’t your strong suit, Remington,” he purred thickly, in a raspy tenor. “You and I both know you want this.”

“Fuck you, Van Helsing. I may need to get off, but you’re not the only dick in this town. If I want to get fucked, I’ll find someone who doesn’t hate me. You don’t fucking deserve me.” The moment the words left my lips, his eyes glazed over into pitch-black pits of darkness.

An icy breeze drifted through the cathedral as the moon vanished behind the clouds, obscuring the chamber in murkiness. His palm collared my throat, tightening on it until I whimpered from both shock and arousal.

Closing my eyes against the monster before me, I waited for his harshly worded retort to bite my ears. Fingers and his thumb bit into my jaw, causing a pinch of pain and fear to ignite as he vibrated with fury.

“I assure you, no one in this town is dumb enough to trespass against me, Love. No one is suicidal enough to touch what belongs to me. You are mine regardless of what I announced. Everyone is fully aware of whom you belong to. If you want to get off, you’ll do it with me or by yourself. No one else is fucking you. I won’t allow it.” The venom saturated each word he issued, promising to leave me poisoned, clinging to life.

I wasn’t listening to the little voice inside my head that made sense. “I assure you that I could find a dick if I so wanted to. I’m not afraid of your big dick energy persona, Rhys. Not everyone here fears you or your knights. The other alphas all respect you. That’s entirely different from being afraid of repercussions.” Rhys’ shoulders rose and fell with each angry, labored breath his lungs issued. His hands had fisted at his sides, clenching as he oozed anger from his pores.

“Careful, Love. I’d hate to prove you wrong. Your sweet, tight cunt wouldn’t survive me or how badly I want to destroy you right now.”

“You don’t own me. Do you hear me? You. Don’t. Own. Me! Not in a way that fucking matters. Not anymore. I’m sure your tiny caveman brain does not grasp that. Let me simplify it for you. It doesn’t matter if you own my silver. Not to me or anyone else. If I want to get fucked, I’ll get it from someone who isn’t repulsed by the blood running through my veins. Blood I never asked for, nor had a say in. Honestly?” I noted the tic in his jaw hammering in perfect harmony with the one below his right eye. “Would I enjoy a few orgasms? I so fucking would.” Stepping close to him, I ran my fingers over his sharply cut jawline.

“I just wouldn’t want them from you. That’s something I can manage by myself. Sure, when you were around, it was merely convenient to let you give them to me. That was all, though.” I was goading him on, but common sense was a thing of the past around him. “The same as me, right? Conveniently there and accessible to fuck.”

Rhys slid his fingers through my hair, wrapping it tightly around his fist. He spun me around, pressing me against the wall. It left me trembling in both anticipation and fear. Resisting his grasp, I whimpered, feeling the hard, heavy erection pressing against my ass. Using his larger frame, he caged me against his hard, sinewy muscles and the unmoving wall.

The heat of his body drifted against the chill of my flesh, warming me. How easy it would be to forget he was my enemy now. My body didn’t understand the change in our dynamics. It didn’t care. It merely needed release. Something Rhys excelled at delivering.

“All you want is dick. Then I can use you just as easily as the next asshole would. You want to be fucked, then discarded like easy pussy? I can fucking use you and ensure you know what it feels like to be used, then thrown away.” The sound of fabric ripping echoed through the church as he tore the gown from my body.

Tears pricked my eyes as everything he’d said crashed down on me at once. A strangled scream escaped my throat as he kicked my feet, forcing my legs to spread painfully apart. His elbow shoved against my shoulder blades, and the other snaked around, gripping my throat to force my head to the side.

“Is this what you want?” he snarled in a layered tone, exposing that his demon was currently raising its head.

Without warning, I threw my head back with more force than I knew I had. Pain jolted through the back of my head, producing a howl of agony from him. A jab to his ribs preceded the sound of air rushing from his throat as I turned and struck him in the groin.

“Don’t ever think you can force me to fuck you! Fuck you! Get out of my fucking head!” The power in my voice vibrated as the entire cathedral began to shake.

Cold, emotionless eyes thinned as he surveyed me, then scanned the shimmering landscape he’d created tonight. I wasn’t sure how I was destroying the dreamscape, but I also didn’t care. I was leaving with or without his permission. He had a homefield advantage over me. I’d be damned if I stayed where he held all the power.

“You’re the one saying you can find someone to use. Use me. I’m right fucking here and willing to let you. What’s the matter? Am I not good enough for your messy cunt anymore? Or do you need something more these days? One cock not enough to get your pretty pink flesh off on?” Rhys’ tone removed the cap on my temper. His lips curled into a smug grin, as if he’d aimed to do just that. “Come on, Love. Use my cock to get your needy, desperate cunt off on.”

“You’d like that. Wouldn’t you? Is it you or me who needs fucked? Is that it? Do you need to fuck me, Rhys? Do you miss my pussy? That’s it, isn’t it?” I barely concealed the shock my own words caused from appearing on my face. “I don’t have crayons to draw instructions for you, but I’m sure you could remember how to use me as you did last time. After all, that’s all it was, right? I was merely something you used to get off with.”

When had I become so damn bold?

Maybe because it was a dream, meaning he couldn’t kill me.

His eyes thinned even more, forming angry slits. “I’d be careful baiting a beast you’re ill-equipped to handle right now.” Rhys’ gravelly timbre escaped like sex over silk, seeking to assuage my temper.

“Answer the question.”

“And if I say yes, what then? Do you get on your knees and suck my cock down your greedy throat like a good girl would?” he questioned, desire churning in his stare.

“No. I’d merely point out that you have a hand. I suggest you use it to get off. Though, I doubt even your hand would willingly want to play with you. Go home and slake your hunger on worthless, meaningless feeder pussy, Van Helsing. They’re the only ones who can’t say no to you or your bullshit moods.”

“Withholding the one thing I truly want from you? The rotten apple didn’t fall far from the tree. Did it?”

“Is that the problem? Are you upset I killed her before you could fuck her again, Rhys?” I swallowed past the fire, currently burning against the back of my throat at the way his head tilted as if he were considering his reply carefully.

“I never fucked your mother, Remington. Never. Unlike you, she never found me worthy of touching her. She must’ve had higher standards than her pathetically na?ve daughter.”

A strange sensation washed through me, threatening to send me falling to my knees in relief. I’d been horrified at thinking we’d both been with the same man. It wasn’t as if I’d been able to forget it, either.

“Roslyn didn’t give that until it was earned. You, on the other hand, couldn’t give it up fast enough.”

Sure, I’d told myself a million times over that I didn’t mind knowing he’d been Roslyn’s knight. I’d honestly been sick to my stomach thinking he’d slept with both of us. Rhys saying that they’d never been together caused my head to spin.

“It wasn’t from lack of trying. I assure you. Roslyn promised me the world if I would abide by her demands. If I’d played a dutiful knight and was her good boy and conducted every sick request she issued, then I’d have my chance with her.” He snorted, studying my pained expression. Running his hand over his face, he laughed coldly.

“Let’s just say you were much easier to fuck than your mother ever was. You? You, I could’ve had the moment I met you. It’s sad and pathetic how easily you gave me that pretty pussy.” My hand moved before I realized it, cracking hard and loudly against his cheek.

“Fuck you! I thought you cared about me. My only mistake was in thinking you were different from other men. Silly me, I mistook you for a gentleman. My mistake. I won’t make it twice.”

His head tilted a little as I shivered from the cold. Stepping back, I rubbed my hands over my uncovered arms as he watched me silently. For a second, I thought I’d caught a flash of regret in his eyes, but the cold laughter he released proved I’d been wrong.

“You and I are done. Understand me? I don’t need or want you in my life anymore.” Something cold and foreign slid in place over his face. The deadened look he directed at me sent fear slicing through me, cutting deep.

“You’re having my child.” The tone of his voice was sharp, cutting me to the quick. “It’s a child highly prized within the immortal world. The blood of two ancient races runs through his veins. Yours and mine, making him very powerful indeed. You are part phoenix, but still mortal. That makes you an easy fucking target, even if you’re not the one they’re seeking. Old enemies are coming to the fore because a child who can create and wield weapons to kill immortals is about to be born. A kingmaker , Love. Unlike this world has ever known grows inside of you.” He moved faster than I could follow, causing a shock of air to expel from my parted lips.

Rhys’ hands clamped around my chin as he brought my nose to his. “I may be an asshole, but I can live with that. What can’t I live with, Remi? Someone taking our child to use against our people. Do you want them to use our child like a weapon to harm them? That is why they’re after you. It’s what they intend to do with our baby. I’ll never allow anyone to enslave our baby. Do you understand me?” Rhys’ words caused my pulse to spike with the vision they painted.

“I’ll be your fucking villain if that’s what’s needed to protect our child. You may not want me in your life, but you fucking need me. I won’t stand aside and allow you to be taken, then murdered, and discarded like trash. That’s what they’d do to you the moment you gave birth.” Rhys’ palm pressed against my cheek, where tears streamed unchecked down my face.

“We don’t have to like one another, but we do have to ensure our child’s safety. After all, it’s our fucking job to ensure nothing happens until it is old enough to protect itself from the brutality of this world,” he growled with determination simmering within the bottomless depths of his stare.

“Tell me you aren’t stupid enough to think your family is powerful enough to fight off knights who’ve spent thousands of years preparing for this fight. Knights, whose sole purpose was to wait for a child created from a union of our bloodlines to exist, to strike hard and fast before vanishing into the shadows again. They’ve had centuries to prepare and plan. I’ve had almost as long to prepare, maybe even longer. How long have you and your siblings had to strategize how to protect our child, Love? Don’t be stupid. Don’t play games with our child’s life. You’re not fucking stupid. Na?ve, sure. But not stupid. Come with me and let me protect you. Let me protect both of you before it’s too late.”

“Now you want to admit it’s our child. Now you want to be protective of it?” I waited for him to reply, but he examined my face before grumbling. “Fine, then at least tell me who the hell they are , Rhys?” I demanded, but he shook his head with a look of disappointment pinching over his face. He let his hands fall from me, then stepped back as his features became devoid of emotion. “Why won’t you just tell me who is after our child?”

“Telling you who they are won’t help you. I’m offering you the protection of me, my people, and my knights. Hell, I’m offering you the backing of every fucking house that will willingly stand between you and the assholes intending to end your life and you still won’t listen to reason. If you refuse my protection, then I’ll choose for you.”

“You don’t get to make any decisions for me anymore. I can protect myself. I’ve been doing it for years on my own without needing you or anyone else to save me. I’ve managed to stay alive without you for three months, almost four.” It chaffed my ass that I even felt the need to explain myself to him.

I’d been saving myself from handsy assholes and fending off immortals in Seattle on my own for years! Back then, I didn’t have half the magical capabilities that I have now.

“Like you handled it last night? If I hadn’t been there, you’d be in a cell right now. They’d hold you until your child’s life was viable outside of the womb. The moment it was, you’d become irrelevant to them, Remington.” The message he was conveying was almost believable. Almost.

“You expect me to believe that? You’re telling me they’ve just been waiting for centuries for a union of our bloodlines to create a life together? Tell me, Rhys, what have they been doing in their spare time? Crocheting baby blankets? Or building cribs?” I was done being played by him, or anyone else, for that matter.

Did I think someone was hunting me? Abso fucking lutely.

Were they knights? Yes.

But I’d heard them when they hadn’t known I’d been listening. One of the Van Helsings sent them to my house. As far as I knew, it was the one person currently trying to convince me of other beings after me? He was the only person who wanted me gone.

“I doubt they’d care for his comfort. He’d merely be a tool they unleashed on their enemies, both old and new.” His blasé tone had my eyebrow hiking up on my forehead.

“You’re exhausting,” I muttered, with pain beginning in my temples.

His snort forced my anger to rise like a campfire being stoked back to life. “If it were just your life at stake, I’d let you play your stupid games. That isn’t the case, though. Our child’s life is on the line here.”

“My child, Rhys Van Helsing. If you recall, you didn’t want me or the life we created together.” With my arms folded across my chest, I glared as he approached, putting a hand to my throat. His thumb pushed my chin up as he bowed his head, glaring into my wide, panic-stricken stare. Tears rolled down my cheeks, issuing a growl from his lips.

Rhys drew air into his lungs slowly, as if fighting against emotion. Silently, he kissed away the tears as if he craved the taste of salt they offered him. Maybe even the pain they were created from.

Face softening, he released a heavy breath. “I am not perfect, Love. No matter what was said in anger, you carry my child,” he whispered as he lowered his lips, dragging them against mine purposefully.

My tongue darted out to wet my lips. I fought to remember what we’d been arguing about with him this close to me. “Rhys,” I moaned out with bated breath. His name escaped like a fevered plea, desperate and needy.

“Not yours. Not mine. Ours. That child you carry is a piece of both of us. The one we created together by choice, knowing it might fucking happen on Beltane.” His feverish lips drifted over my jawline toward my ear, causing goosebumps to spread over my flesh. “I don’t give a fuck what I said in a moment of fury. I claim you and our unborn child right fucking here, right fucking now.” Hope flared within my chest. I needed to hear him say he wanted us. Not that claiming us on a whim would change anything.

“Why?” The single word left my lips no louder than a whisper. Rhys’ nose brushed against my cheek as his lips reached my ear. “Why claim us now?”

“Because it’s my right to do so, Remington. I claim both my silver and my unborn child. If you won’t concede and allow me to protect you both, then you leave me no other choice but to make you do the right thing here. I warned you not to make me your enemy, sweet girl.”

“You think you can reach me? I think you’re severely underestimating us, Van Helsing.” The mere thought of him trying to get past our defenses was cute. If I knew Winchester, and I did, she’d have this place locked down like Fort Knox.

Rhys’ fiery mouth drifted down my throat, trailing to the exposed curve of my shoulder leisurely. His tongue snaked out, then drew something over the hollow space of my collarbone.

“I think you’re very fucking na?ve if you think I cannot reach you right now.” Lips brushed. Teeth grazed. Feverish breath burned against my flesh hungrily. “Are you going to come with me, or are you going to make this much harder than it needs to be?”

A breathy moan escaped my lips as the hand collaring my throat pressed against it harder. I wasn’t even sure of what he said anymore. Rhys’ touch was altering my brain chemistry. I wasn’t sure he fully comprehended the power he held over me. My only thought was of the delicious sensation his hand tightening against my throat caused as intense pressure built between my thighs.

“Harder?” What was I asking for right now? Was I really asking him to press harder? Or did I mean something else? “I choose harder, Rhys.” Because when was harder ever not the right answer? Obviously, I’d go with it as my answer.

“I miss the feeling of you on my lips, Love. Soon enough, you’ll be doing that for me. Won’t you?”

“Sure, whatever,” I whispered while chasing after his mouth with need running violently rampant through my entire system. As if he’d somehow lit a fuse igniting between my thighs. He’d turned my need into a weapon, one he held control of.

The husky laughter escaping from his devilishly wicked lips dusted over my hyper-sensitive flesh. The hand holding my jaw twisted at the same time his fingers threaded through my thick, unruly curls. Rhys used it to force my head exactly where he wanted it.

In the position he’d placed me, it left me entirely at his mercy with my neck held to the side, vulnerable to his ravenous mouth. The way he used my hair to control me was both erotic and intense. But the way his lips continued their dark, wicked dance on my throat, aroused me deeper than I’d thought was ever possible.

“Rhys,” I called his name out as a red-hot heat spread between my thighs. It caused a pulse to start at my apex, one that threatened to erupt without him ever needing to touch me there . Proof of his incubi power. A power he wasn’t currently using against me. “Fucking hell.”

“I warned you that I wouldn’t play fair if you made me your enemy. Didn’t I? If you want to make me into a monster, Love? I’ll gladly play the part. Remember, this is what you asked for. This is the only choice you left me with.”

Pleasure jerked through every inch of my body at once. Painful pleasure that forced an animalistic sound to erupt from my lips. Pain and pleasure warred for dominance over my mind. Rhys’ dark, inky visage flooded my thoughts, savagely forcing me to bend to his will.

“No,” I muttered breathlessly between the urge to come apart and the fear that cut through everything else. “Get the fuck out of my head!” I snarled as flames consumed the oxygen in the room.

Rhys’ sharp intake of breath was the only sign he’d realized I intended to raze the dreamscape to escape him. If it didn’t work, the lack of oxygen within the bedroom would be a failsafe in waking up.

“Have it your way then, my Love. You’ll be the most exquisite prey I’ve ever captured. Fair warning, though. If I catch you, I won’t be the one in control anymore. Don’t expect mercy if you force me to walk into this chateau and take you from them. If I were you, I’d come to your senses and do the right thing before they catch you.”

His warning echoed around my mind as I jerked upright on the settee before the fireplace. Pulling oxygen into my starved lungs, I stared at the coals glowing from what was left of the logs. Patting myself down everywhere he’d touched, I noticed the welts and handprints left behind from the dreamscape.

A violent shudder of need rushed from head to toe as I continually inhaled greedily. A familiar scent flooded my senses, draining the color from my face, leaving me ashen. A breeze within the room issued Rhys’ masculine scent drifting through it. The woodsy, masculine aftershave hovered thickly around me as I scanned the room for any sign of him inside it.

My eyes zeroed in on the window, which I’d left open. It hadn’t been open when I’d drifted off to sleep. Had it? Wouldn’t I have felt the cold in the chamber if it had been? Checking for anything unusual, I paled.

On the bed, perched on a pillow, sat a single red rose. It caused my heartbeat to spike to a dangerous cadence as the realization that he’d been inside my bedroom sank in. The breath in my lungs stalled, unable to exit past the panic constricting my throat.

I stood and walked unsteadily to the bed, picking up the long stem rose. My breath whooshed out on a single word as a thorn pricked my finger.

“Fuck,” I whispered breathlessly. “Fuck!”

With my eyes on the blood flowing from my pale flesh, I shifted my gaze to the window. Slowly ambling closer, I peered out into the cloudless night.

There, between two of the large fire pyres, Rhys stood, no longer dressed in a Tom Ford suit that had hugged his muscular frame like a lover’s embrace. He’d removed the jacket and rolled up the sleeves of the expensive, crisp undershirt. It revealed colorful tattoos from his wrists to his elbow, looking sinister as the firelight kissed the ink.

“Shit— shit —shit,” I said on an exhale as goosebumps pricked over my flesh, spreading until the hair on my nape rose. “ Motherfucker! ” How in the hell had he breached the wards and runes guarding the house?

A more foreboding thought was, if he’d done so, could the others hunting me breach them as easily? It left a deeply seated fear chiseling at my bones. My hands dropped to cradle the precious being I carried protectively.

Rhys watched me from below, a knowing smile spreading across his handsome mouth. Raising two fingers to his lips, he blew me a kiss before turning on his heel and vanishing in a cloud of shimmering dark smoke. My jaw dropped as my brain tried to compute what my eyes had just seen. Putting that piece of information aside for later, I resumed panicking.

Holy fucking shit.

Rhys Van Helsing had been inside the Silversmith chateau and no one other than me had even been the wiser of his presence here. That was horrifying on so many levels that I couldn’t begin to count them.

No wonder they’d murdered us so easily before. They were like Puff the Magic Dragon, but instead of being oversized fucking lizards, they were shadow and smoke. Okay, technically, they were just the fumes the dragon blew, which made the entire comparison seem off, but semantics.

I collapsed to the floor in front of the window, pressing my back against it while tears streamed down my face.

I was so fucked .

My family couldn’t protect me. Rhys made sure I was very aware of that. I’d put all my eggs in the same basket on this being a safe place for me to hide. But if they couldn’t keep one incubus male out, then how would they keep the order of knights who were unquestionably intending to either murder or capture me out?

Easy.

They couldn’t.

Their wards couldn’t, either.

It meant that eventually, I’d be forced to go with Rhys. He knew what we were up against, but more so, he knew how to keep them out.

By being here, I was placing my family in danger. One they weren’t prepared to face. I couldn’t place my family in danger. I just wouldn’t do that to them. They deserved a chance to rise and become a recognized house again. I was the thing standing between them and that happening.

Rhys refused their request to become a house. He’d refused every application because of our history. If I bartered with him, would he allow them to become a house again? Could I even barter with him?

If my temper would sit the fuck down, then I could think beyond my pain. I’d have to swallow my pride to ask him first. That meant I needed him to return to me in a dreamscape. I’d be lucky if I hadn’t fucked that up by showing him that I held enough power to push him from my mind with flames.

What was a girl to do? The choice was easier to think about than to set forward toward. I could either swallow my damn pride and admit Rhys’ right or place all those I love in peril.

A few problems stood in the way of doing that, though. One, I didn’t know who within the Van Helsing line wanted me dead or my child taken and enslaved. Until I did, I’d be placing myself in danger within their house. Two, Winchester would lose her mind if I told her I didn’t think she could keep me safe here.

Neither one sounded easy, but I’d have to choose one or the other soon. I couldn’t do either of them until the sun came up. That meant I had hours to kill tonight because sleep wasn’t a possibility anymore. Not with Rhys waiting for me in my dreams.