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I lean back against the headboard, my eyes closed as I try to focus on finding my Light. Despite all of Abigail and Rissa's help, I've gotten nowhere. I imagine a well and reach into it. Nothing happens. I imagine bright light coursing through my veins. Still nothing.
The door to the bedroom flies open, slamming into the wall. I jump, my concentration scattering to the winds.
My eyes pop open on a gasp, fully prepared to see a Forsaken standing in the doorway. Instead, I see my mate.
"Reaper! You scared the crap out of me," I cry, my hand over my pounding heart.
He looks like a god standing there, the worn fabric of his T-shirt stretched across straining muscles, his amber eyes on fire, expression fierce, and brown skin glowing in the light.
"You put yourself in danger." Each word vibrates from his lips like the warning growl of a big, dangerous animal as he steps into the room, kicking the door closed behind him.
Crap. He knows about Kenton. I was kind of hoping Adriel would let me tell him myself, but I guess I should have seen this coming when Adriel and a few of the warriors searched the entire safehouse today and couldn't find the man. He was gone without a trace, as if he knew his time here was up and he needed to disappear. No one even saw him leave.
"I can explain?" I say hopefully.
Clearly, it's not the right thing to calm my mate down. He stalks toward me, a wall of implacable fury. "Explain, little Valkyrie? Nei." His hand slashes through the air. "There is no explanation and no excuse. You knew he was a danger days ago. He cornered you, and you said nothing! You let me leave this place, day after day, knowing that you could be in danger!"
He's right. My face falls, tears welling in my eyes. "I'm sorry, Reaper," I whisper, trying like hell not to cry. I've done enough of that lately, and this is my fault. I don't get to cry my way out of it now. "I was afraid if I said anything, you'd call off the search for the Valkyrie. I couldn't let you do that. She needs you. All of you."
He softens slightly as he reaches my side. "It's no excuse, Tori. We don't risk one Valkyrie to save another. You risked yourself, Rissa, and Abigail."
"I didn't think there was any real danger," I whisper, staring down at my hands. "As soon as I felt like there was, we told Adriel."
"Nei. You knew." He tips my head back with a finger beneath my chin. "You wouldn't have kept it from me if you believed he was harmless, solsken. I know you."
"I…" I trail off, swallow, and then nod, unable and unwilling to lie to him. "You're right. I knew he wasn't harmless, Reaper. But I didn't think he was an immediate danger. I don't know what he wanted, but I think he was looking for something."
"Well, he isn't going to find it now."
"I'm sorry."
"I know, but it doesn't make me feel any better, Tori. You put yourself in danger."
"I'm sorry." I sniffle, feeling about two inches tall. Reaper has never been mad at me before. I find I don't like it much.
In fact, I hate it.
"Come here, little Valkyrie," he sighs, pulling me up into his arms. His lips are hard against my forehead as he kisses me. His body is rigid against mine, anger still coiling his muscles tight.
I try to press my lips against his mouth to soothe the hard edges of his fury, but he turns, avoiding me.
My heart threatens to crack in half. "Reaper," I whisper. "You don't want to kiss me?"
"I always want to kiss you, Tori. Every minute of the day. But I won't kiss you in anger."
"Then be angry with me," I insist, my fingers winding into his overly long hair, tugging lightly. "But don't turn from me. Don't shut me out. Not when we've been through so much already."
His amber eyes burn as he takes in my words, fury warring with deep need. He's silent for a single heartbeat, two, and then his massive hand cups the back of my head, pulling me in until our lips just barely brush.
"You don't know what you ask for," he murmurs against my mouth, his voice rough with an emotion more potent than simple anger.
"Perhaps not," I whisper back, "but all of you belongs to me, Reaper. Even the raw and jagged parts. I want those pieces, too. Don't try to hide them from me. I can handle them."
With a growl of surrender, he captures my lips with his in a kiss that's far from gentle. It's a stormy clash of teeth and tongue, his fiery emotion creating a tempest of desire inside him. It rolls over me in a blistering wave—reverence, devotion, the lingering vestiges of anger driven by fear. But beneath that, I feel what he'd hide from me, the ancient, driving need to fuck me into submission. It's not rational or gentle. It's primordial, elemental—the protective instincts of a Fae warrior driven to the brink for his mate.
"Take me," I gasp, giving him permission to give into that need. He won't hurt me. He loves me far too much for that. "Take me, Kyron."
The sharp sting of his teeth against my flesh has me sobbing into the room. Ecstasy rushes through my veins like molten lava.
