“This place is freaking freezing,”Aurora says as she drops her bags on the floor. We made it to the safe house in the Eastern District, and everyone’s a little tired and hungover still, so it’s a good thing we don’t plan on executing the mission right away.
“I’ll go get some firewood. Can you guys start unpacking?” Malachi says to no one in particular, but Dante and Alex start opening up bags and laying out equipment across the table—Avidian vials organized by different-colored caps, masks, daggers of all sizes.
“I’ll come with you,” I call after him, catching up as he reaches the door.
It’s frigid outside, and our breath billows out in little clouds as we exhale. I almost forgot how the forest looks here—tall skeletal trees packed together and covered in fresh snow, creating an otherworldly maze of black and white. The silence is profound, broken only by the crunch of our footsteps and the occasional crack of a branch somewhere in the distance.
“How are you feeling about being back here?” I ask as we walk toward a pile of chopped wood stacked against the side of the safe house.
“Strange to think last time we were here together things were so different between us,” he admits.
“Yeah, it feels like a lifetime ago,” I agree, even though it hasn’t been that long. The sun is setting fast with slivers of pink hues streaming low through the forest around us. “Let’s split up before we lose all the sunlight.”
“No, we don’t need to. There should be plenty of firewood already split and stacked behind the shed,” he says, and that’s kind of a relief. I thought we were going to be digging through the snow looking for branches.
“Great,” I giggle, and hold onto his elbow as he leads us through the trees down this snowy, unkempt path to a large shed. “What do you use the shed for?”
“We remodeled the inside to work as another living space when there are too many of us to fit in the main house,” he says, and I nod, releasing him as we come up to a now snow-covered tarp.
He uses his arm to brush the piles of snow off and pulls it back to reveal plenty of neatly stacked wood.
“We have a few plastic sleds in the shed. I’ll grab one, and we can stack it full of wood, then drag it back to the house,” he says, and I follow him inside.
He tosses a teal sled near the door, but when he turns back to me, there’s a sharpness in his eyes that makes my stomach flip.
“What’s that look for?” I ask, my lips twitching into a smile.
“It means we’re finally alone,” he murmurs, stepping close enough that the cool air around us feels suddenly hot. “And I’ve been thinking about you all day.”
“Have you now?” My pulse quickens when his hand brushes a strand of hair from my face.
“Mm-hmm. About how brave you were last night. About how beautiful you looked this morning.” His thumb grazes my jaw. “And about how soon everything changes. But right now…” His hands slide to my waist, pulling me closer until there’s no space between us. “Right now, I just want you.”
The intensity in his eyes steals my breath and somehow has me feeling self-conscious. I smile at him, holding his stare. “What?” I finally ask, though I don’t look away.
“Has anyone ever told you your smile could ruin men?” he says, his voice low. “Those eyes could start a war, and that smile would finish it.”
Heat floods my cheeks, and I duck my head with a giggle. “No.”
His fingers find my chin, coaxing me gently back up to meet his gaze. “Then they weren’t looking closely enough.”
I swallow hard, pulse thrumming in my throat. My instinct is to joke, to deflect, but I can’t. Not when he’s looking at me like that, as if I’m something rare and untouchable, as if he’s afraid I might vanish if he blinks.
“Malachi…” I feel vulnerable, uncertain, but I trust him enough to embrace this moment.
He leans closer, his thumb brushing along my jaw, his lips hovering so close I can feel his breath when he speaks. “You have no idea what you do to me, do you?”
I shake my head, the tiniest movement, and he huffs out something between a laugh and a growl. “That smile ruins me, Kat. And the worst part? I don’t want to be saved from it.”
He kisses me, deep and unyielding, until the world outside the shed disappears entirely.
Our kiss is wild and hungry, teeth clashing as I push his jacket off his shoulders and tug at his shirt until he yanks it over his head. His chest is warm, solid, all hard lines under my hands as he presses forward, backing me up until the edge of the table digs into my hips.
He lifts me onto it, and the wood creaks beneath us. My breath catches as I break away for air, unzipping my jacket with clumsy fingers. Malachi drops to his knees, his hands already working, shoes gone, pants sliding down, until I’m bared to him in the dim light of the shed, just the last wisps of the sunset shining through the window and covering us in a beautiful peach hue.
“I’ll never get used to this,” he murmurs, his eyes devouring me like I’m something sacred. His lips press against my calf, then higher, trailing fire along my skin. “Never.”
The world outside is frozen and brutal, but in here, with his mouth worshipping its way up my thigh, I’ve never felt more alive.
