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He shook his head, his nostrils flaring with heavy breaths.
“The pain she put you through?—”
“Reagan, I don't think this is a good idea.”
“Please,” I said. Caius jaw tightened. His muscles were as tense as a bow ready to snap. But instead of dismissing me again, he waited for me to continue. Progress. I’d work with it. “I need to understand it. If that was real, I need to know why you don’t just kill me for your soul. I know you believe I’m your mate, but is thatreallyenough? If for some reason we completed the bond, I would live forever, and you’d never be whole again. I felt the pain of your loss, Caius. The betrayal. I felt—” It was my turn to shudder. “It was a dream, and yet I thought I’d lose myself to it. I felt like I would fracture under the weight of that unbearable sorrow.”
Caius sighed deeply, his muscles relaxing a fraction. “If what you say is true, then yes. That was what Abraxia did when she cleaved my soul in two. As for why I won’t kill you . . .” He tilted his head, thinking through his words. “I wish I had an explanation that felt like enough, but it really is that simple for me. As far as I’m concerned, you’re also part of me, and I’m unwilling to let that go. Besides, I have Pol and Abyssian looking into ways that we might be able to separate my soul from yours without killing you.”
It was my turn to sigh then. I ran a hand through my wet hair. The wavy strands were curling into ringlets under the heat of Tartarus. “And if you can’t?” I asked hesitantly, playing with a frizzy lock at the base of my neck.
Caius let out a low growl. “There has to be a way. If there was a way to steal it from me, then there’s a way to retrieve it. We just have to find?—”
“What if there’snot?” I asked, growing more anxious. “What if all your searching just turns up more proof that I have to die to get it back. What then?”
His lips parted, eyes meeting mine. “I’ve lived this long without it. I can keep going.”
“You’re certain about this?”
“Fuck, Reagan, how many times do you need to hear that I’m not going to kill you? I’m trying to win you over, for fuck’s sake.”
“Okay, so we tell everyone we’re mates, and you try to win me over.” I took a deep breath. “What happens if you can’t?”
His eyes darkened. “Then you’ll go. I gave you my word.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said, taking a step toward me. Then another. The urge to back away was strong but I held my ground. “But make no mistake, Reagan, I plan to use every weapon in my arsenal to make you mine.”
I shivered at his dark words and heat pooled low in my belly. That wasnotsupposed to turn me on. I wasn’t Clara. I wasn’t into kidnapping. Or?—
His index finger lifted my chin as he stepped into my personal space. His presence stole all the oxygen, making it hard to think with him this close.
“What if you’re wrong?” I asked him. “What if I’m not your mate?”
Caius lowered his head slowly, lips only a hairsbreadth from mine.
“You are.”
“But if I’m not?”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re infuriatingly stubborn?”
One side of my mouth quirked up. “My whole life.”
Caius smirked back. “Color me unsurprised.”
“You should know that stubbornness applies to everything. So if you really want me, just be aware, you’ll be fighting an uphill battle?—”
“Shut up,” he whispered, and when I opened up to begin to protest, his mouth came down on mine. Hot and warm, he plied my lips apart with expert precision. A groan escaped me when his tongue touched mine. The scent of roasted hazelnuts and the taste of whiskey invaded my senses. He clamped a hand around my hip, fingers digging hard into the soft flesh at my sides. His other hand slid along my jaw and around the back of my head to hold the nape of my neck in a possessive gesture.
My insides quivered in ecstasy. My breasts felt heavy, aching for touch. He pulled me flush against his body, a rumble starting in his chest and echoing where his mouth met mine. Our lips battled for dominance. Even I couldn’t deny that our chemistry was explosive.
Without realizing it, my hands curled inward, gripping his shirt. He nipped at my bottom lip, and I whimpered. Pushing harder into him, wanting more, demanding it without words—I kissed him back despite all the reasons I shouldn’t. There were many, but the second his lips touched mine, they seemed to dissipate.
The hand at my hip shifted, fingers burrowing beneath the thin material of my t-shirt. I gasped when the rough pads of his fingers grazed my hip then waist, traveling north. I didn’t stop him from cupping my breast. On the contrary, I arched into him, seeking an outlet for the heat that was suddenly burning inside me.
“Mine,” he growled against my lips, breaking our kiss. He trailed his mouth across my jaw and down my neck, biting my pulse sharply, then sucking the tender skin between his lips. I jerked when his thumb brushed across my nipple. Liquid fire seemed to form and combust within me at the same time.
