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The ease in his voice made her panic ebb, but her heart still beat frantically in her chest. Wynter tucked her face into his neck and curled her arms tight around his shoulders, intending to ride out the sensations. But the pain was too much, too consuming, assaulting her entire body until she was wracked by sheer agony.
She squeezed her eyes shut—they burned and throbbed like an absolute fucker. Her skull felt excruciatingly stiff and tight, like a massive pressure was building within it. Her insides churned and twisted and seized until nausea crawled up her windpipe. More, her skin felt raw and overstretched and prickly, as if a thousand blunt needles were stabbing it.
The pain went on and on and on. A sense of light-headedness crept up on her, making her body feel featherlight. Little spots began to dance behind her closed eyelids just as her stomach did a slow, nauseating roll. Then an immense amount of heat rushed to her head and, God, she felt like it might explode.
Instead, she promptly passed out.
*
Wynter’s eyelids flickered open as she sort of “floated” back to full wakefulness. Still cradled against a hard male chest, she blinked up at Cain as dim memories hopped around her head. Ugh, she’d lost consciousness way too many times around this dude. At least she hadn’t done it after sex again like some swooning maiden. “How long was I out?”
The image of masculine contentment, he dipped his head to nuzzle her neck as he skimmed his fingers through her hair. “Five minutes at most.”
Shifting to sit upright on his lap, she glanced down at her palm, remembering how it had burned like hell. As she’d guessed, the brand was somehow imprinted deeper into her flesh. Probably because his claim to her soul now ran deeper. As deep as it could ever go.
Taking stock of herself, Wynter frowned. “I feel different on so many levels. Like I have so much barely leashed strength inside me it ain’t even funny.” Much as if she’d knocked back dozens of espressos and was filled with energy that had nowhere to go. “I feel more . . . I don’t know, aware. Like all my senses are sharper though not enhanced—it’s weird and hard to describe. I also feel like I’m bound to something.”
“You’re bound to me now,” he said, satisfaction lacing every syllable. “That’s why.”
An otherworldly breeze whispered over her skin, carrying warmth and approval.
Surprised, Wynter said, “Huh.”
“What?”
“It would seem that Kali approves of my becoming immortal. She didn’t weigh in on the matter before.”
“Maybe She hadn’t wanted to influence your choice.”
Well, that would be a first. Okay, maybe not a first. But it wasn’t often that Kali didn’t stick Her oar in when it came to major stuff. This was pretty major.
“My monster is still with me, and it doesn’t seem to be feeling whatsoever affected by what happened. It’s resting.” Wynter would snippily brand it lazy if she didn’t like that it wasn’t overly reactive to everything that went on around her. She’d be constantly trying to calm its ass down otherwise.
“Are you ever going to let me see your monster?”
“Are you ever going to tell me if yours has its own form?”
One corner of his mouth hitched up. “Maybe.”
She snorted at his mysterious tone. “As for your request, it’s not in my plans.”
“Why? You met my monster.”
God, he was super spoilt. “We’ve already been through this. Mine doesn’t surface other than to attack. It has no wish to. It mostly lazes around, largely unbothered by everything, until shit starts to go down. So I couldn’t formally introduce you to it like, hey, meet my monster. And let’s not forget that it might well attack you unprovoked.”
His brow knitted. “Surely it recognizes that I’m no threat to you.”
“I’m not saying it believes that you mean me harm. It would fight me on being around you if that were the case. What I mean is that when it’s free, it’s only ever in a killing frame of mind, so it wouldn’t be good for you two to meet.”
He twisted his mouth, unhappy that he wasn’t getting his way.
She snickered. “You are way too used to having your every whim catered to. Stop sulking. I gave you my soul, what more do you want?”
His lips curved. “You did indeed. And now you can’t escape me. Nor can Kali ever whisk you away. My claim to you is absolute.”
Wynter cocked her head as a thought occurred to her. “I’m curious. You once said there was another way to ensure that you wouldn’t have to lose me but that it would be too dangerous to try. What did you mean?”
He cupped her hips. “I could have bound you to my creature. But it would have had to bite you and, as you know, its venom could kill a mortal.” Cain trailed his finger down the side of her face. “My creature is immensely satisfied that now you’re not only immortal but have granted full ownership of your soul to me. It’s also not surprised.”
