"That thing where you catalog everything in the room and mentally rearrange it." She poked me in the ribs. "I can practically hear you thinking about how you could maximize my closet space."
A smile tugged at my mouth despite everything. "Your closet is a disaster."
"My closet is fine."
"You have sweaters shoved in with your summer dresses. The hangers are facing three different directions. And I'm pretty sure there's a shoe graveyard at the bottom that hasn't been excavated in months."
She propped herself up on one elbow, her green eyes dancing. "Are you closet-shaming me right now?"
"I'm closet-observing."
"Uh-huh." But she was grinning, and gods, I wanted to keep that expression on her face. Wanted to freeze this moment before we had to walk back into the nightmare waiting outside her door.
The smile faded from her face like she could read my thoughts. "I don't want to go," she admitted quietly.
"Then don't."
"Elias—"
"I know." I pulled her closer, pressing my face into her hair. She smelled like an herbal garden after a storm and the sweet scent of her blood, a scent I could've tracked across the entire city now. "I know we have to do this. Doesn't mean I have to like it."
She tilted her head back, her green eyes digging into mine, searching for something. I wanted to look away, but I didn't, though. Instead, I played with the silver hoop in her eyebrow and let her find whatever she was searching for.
"You're scared," she said.
"No," I shook my head slightly. "I'm not. I'm fucking terrified I'm going to lose you somehow."
She stared up at me, but didn't say anything.
"I can't lose you," I told her, forcing the words out. "I just found you, and honestly I don't know what the fuck to do with that, but I know I can't lose you."
"I'll come back."
"You don't know that."
"You're right." She sits up on the bed so she's facing me. "But I know that even though what's happening between us wasn't anything either of us expected, it's strong enough to pull me home. You're strong enough. And I know that if we don't try, Alex dies. Maybe Alice too. Hell, maybe all of us. And then Marcus wins, and we can't allow that to happen."
Logic. Cold, brutal logic that I couldn't argue with no matter how much I wanted to.
The light had deepened to amber, painting her skin in warm tones. Another ten minutes and the sun would slip below the horizon. I'd feel it when it happened, feel that loosening in my chest, the world opening up in a way it couldn't during daylight hours.
Another ten minutes, and we'd have to leave this sanctuary.
"Kiss me," I said roughly.
It started gentle, a soft press of lips filled with all the uncertainty of what was going to happen that night. But then her fingers slid into my hair and I was hauling her on top of me, and gentle burned away like paper in a flame.
I flipped us so she was beneath me, my body caging hers against the mattress. She gasped into my mouth and I swallowed the sound, my tongue sliding against hers in a rhythm that made my entire body tighten with need.
Her legs wrapped around my waist. The oversized T-shirt she was wearing between us too much, not enough, a barrier I wanted to tear away so I could feel every inch of her skin against mine.
"Elias." My name came out breathless, desperate. "We don't have time?—"
"I know."
I kissed down her throat anyway, tasting the pulse that fluttered just beneath her skin. My fangs ached, the urge to bite nearly overwhelming. Maybe her blood would fill the hollowness in my chest and make me whole again. Something I could take with me into the time I had left if she left me…
No.
