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K ai didn’t need to be told twice. She was hot on his trail when he walked out of the glass room and breezed through the antechamber and out the door.

She had to double-time it a little, not because his pace was brisk like the last time, but because his strides were twice as long as hers.

Even with her long legs, she had to practically skip to keep up with him.

Out in fading purple light and the coolness of the day, she didn’t consider where Aodh would have taken them, so she was only vaguely stunned when he walked into the entrance that led to his suites and took the stairs.

Kai figured he had just decided to let Morlie rest in his room. She felt a little bad about putting him out of his space until her sister was well enough to travel, but she couldn’t worry as long as Morlie returned to a hundred percent.

However, instead of making a right, he went left. As they approached, the door was pulled open.

“Everything is ready, Mckenna.” Tana stood there.

Stopping at the entrance briefly, Kai glanced over her shoulder at the other door. She’d noticed the other hall when she first arrived but hadn’t considered it much since. Now following behind him, she wondered about the place he’d brought them to.

“Hello, Kai.” Tana smiled at her and shut the heavy stone door before quickly stepping around her to Aodh, who had already arrived at the bed on the other side of the open-concept space.

The place was much smaller than Aodh’s massive suite. The ceiling was still way above their heads, but the windows that filled the room with sunlight were a standard size, and from what she could see, there wasn’t a landing beyond any of them.

“Whose place is this?” Kai had an urgency in her to get to her sister, whom Aodh placed in the center of the small bed—only compared to the one in the suite next door.

“Ours,” Aodh claimed his full height once again.

“This is the Mckenna building. Everything in it is part of his dwelling.” Tana bustled around the bed, pulling the covers up around Morlie, fluffing her pillows, and ensuring she was comfortable.

Kai chose to ignore Aodh’s comment. They would still need to have a more candid conversation shortly. “Thank you for letting us stay here until Morlie recovers.” She sat on the edge of the bed next to her sister.

“There is food for Morlie when she wakes. I’ve already made the bath water.

It is scalding now, but it should be the perfect temperature for her delicate skin when you need it.

There is a robe in the bathroom and clothing in the closet when she is ready to leave the room.

” Tana paused beside her. “Make sure your sister consumes a lot of liquid. The healing smog can be a little dehydrating to humans.”

“Thank you for everything, Tana.” Kai smiled at the older woman.

Tana waved it away. “It is my position to serve the Mckenna and, by extension, his family, too.”

Family . Nope. Nope. Nope. She and Morlie were family, but she would keep that comment to herself.

“Still, I appreciate it.”

Tana nodded as she walked toward Aodh, who leaned against the wall across from the foot of the bed. “Anything else, Mckenna?”

“That will be all,” he told his attendant but was looking at Kai.

“Okay.” Tana glanced over her shoulder. “I will return later to check on you both.”

Kai watched the gray-haired woman cross the room in a snap and leave. Now that her sister was settled and sleeping again, there wasn’t much for Kai to do until she awoke, but still, she remained by her side.

Partly, because it had been a long time since she’d been able to be close to Morlie, she didn’t want to go far, but also, she was hoping that Aodh would get the hint he wasn’t needed here and leave.

When he remained stoic and silent, she became agitated.

She could feel his intense gaze on her. It took a lot of mental strength not to focus on her body’s constant response to him, even now, but she refused to give it space.

She knew where it led, and she had to give all her attention to care for her sister, even if she had to wrangle her body to submit.

“We should be fine.” She kept her tone light as she finally looked at the mammoth, who leaned against the wall.

Meeting his bold gaze caused her body to quiver.

She reined it in. The man was almost too gorgeous to exist. Like the fantastical tales people told each other about angels in heaven.

No one she knew had ever seen one, but Kai was sure they would appear like Aodh if they had.

She continued, “I am grateful for everything you have done for Morlie. Even this place.” She took it all in. Fixing her eyes on the suite was more manageable than meeting his gaze. “My sister should be up and moving in the next few days. So, we shouldn’t need to use this space longer than that.”

There we go. Kai added another layer of stone to the wall.

She bit the inside of her bottom lip to keep from smiling at the ease with which she had handled expressing her thoughts.

Maybe not as candid as she’d have to be later, but he had to get the message.

‘It’s been great getting tangled in sheets with you, but we have both fulfilled our end of the bargain, and my sister and I will be out. ’

“Come here, Kai.”

Gulp. Aodh’s tone was low, but it had that resonance where mountains seemed to be moving around again.

“What?”

He assumed his full height but didn’t repeat himself.

Damn it . Kai’s heart began to pound. She glanced at her sister, expecting to see that the noise had awakened Morlie. But her sister slept soundly.

“Kai. I do not repeat myself.”

She exited the bed and paused to stiffen her spine and raise her chin. She wanted to make sure Aodh understood that she may be coming to him, but she wouldn’t be intimidated by the dragon-shifter of a man.

She stopped two feet away from him.

“You rang?” she doubted Aodh would get the old Addams Family TV show reference she’d seen in the Dispatch’s archive room, but she did her best to keep their interaction light. Humor was always good for that because she knew the result if she didn’t.

Ignoring her jest, Aodh took one step and closed the gap between them.

“You are mine.”

A liquid fire of need poured along her body, scorching her from the crown of her head to the pads of her feet, causing her toes to curl into the floor. Oh, hell. She swallowed back the sigh. “I belong to myself—”

“I know being with your sister and helping her over the next few hours is important,” he continued. “But I will only give you this one night apart from me.”

“But...but—” She inhaled, hating that the man’s nearness and words caused her tongue to trip all over her words. Kai balled her fists and gritted her teeth. “I’ve fulfilled my part in our agreement.” She gestured toward the bed. “We both have.”

“Agreement?” He moved closer. Since there wasn’t much space left, he stepped wide and placed both his feet on the outside of hers, fitting her in the wedge he had made between his legs. Their bodies pressed tight.

A roasted-cinnamon scent surrounded her, filling her nose and seeping into her very pores, shortening her breath. Panting. The smell caused her to pant as it teased her senses and strummed her core.

She didn’t only feel the wetness that had pooled in her sex since she woke but felt it spreading over the inside of her thighs as she pressed them together, trying to stop the flow and ache.

Her labia were swollen and throbbing with each of her heartbeats.

However, it was Aodh’s long, hard cock imprinted on her belly that had her knees ready to buckle.

“Somehow, you were under the impression your vow had an expiration date.”

“‘Vow?’” That sounded more permanent than agreement, more like a lifelong commitment. People who married made vows, clergy in churches took vows, and those following the monk sect took vows, but she did not—had not.

“Yes. When you agreed to give me everything, you became my life. Vowed to be mine through eternity.”

Oh, hell. What did I do?

Even as his words vexed her, she could not deny comprehending the knowledge that made her heart swell and take over every available space in her chest. No one had ever cared for her or wanted her to belong to them for more than a night of noncommittal sex.

Perhaps they ended up pregnant and got a government bonus if they were lucky.

Still, that rarely led to a permanent relationship between two parents.

But nothing like what Aodh was declaring.

She licked her lips, her anxiety drying out her mouth. “Aodh. We should discuss this once Morlie is fully out of the woods.”

“No discussion needed. You have this night. After that, you will return to me.” He brushed his fingers from her cheek and continued along her neck.

But he didn’t stop there. He trailed those thick, blunt digits between the open flaps of her jacket until he was slipping them under the bodice of the soft, loose gown.

The seduction of his touch glided over the delicate, sensitive skin between her breasts.

Her nipples drew taut. The urge to lean into him and rub the tight tips against his hard chest to increase the sensation made her pant.

He growled low as he continued to drag his fingers up and down her sternum. “I am responsible for my thunder, and we will fulfill everything.”

She frowned. She wasn’t sure what Aodh meant by responsibility or what ‘everything’ entailed. Kai couldn’t think about that now. He had her body so turned on she couldn’t string more than two words together in the same sentence.

“Fine,” she whispered to end the conversation for now.

His gaze held hers for four heartbeats. Satisfied with what he saw, he nodded.

When she started to step back, his words stopped her.

“Kai, do not place the powder in the water when you help your sister with her bath.”