“It’s not pity,” he says quietly, his voice steady and grounding. “It’s just me.”
His hand shifts, hovering close but not quite touchingmine, giving me the choice. I hate that I want to take it, hate that the pull of him is stronger than my anger, my fear. But the world feels too heavy, and I’m so, so tired.
Too tired.
“Zara,” he murmurs again, my name a root binding me to his earth, and this time, I don’t pull away. His hand hovers close and after an eternity that passes in the space of a few heartbeats, it brushes mine, tentative and slow. He’s giving me every chance to pull away, and I don’t.
I don’t.
I stare at how his fingers curl over mine, their touch sparking more than a fragile fire inside me. I sigh and I know this is a surrender, one I don’t fully understand, but I can’t bring myself to care.
Except I do, just not about my concession.
His other hand rises, its fingers brushing against my cheek as they wipe away the tears that won’t stop falling. The tenderness of it undoes me, and I close my eyes, giving up, although I convince myself I’m not giving up. I lean into the warmth of his palm despite myself and fall under whatever spell he’s weaving in the absence of any magic.
“Tell me to stop,” Kade whispers, his breath warm against my lips.
“I can’t.”
Kade’s mouth meets mine and I notice for the first time how soft his rough lips are. He’s slow, as if we have all the time in the world and everyone else can be damned. He’s careful, as though he expects me to shove him away. He’s dominant, and when I moan against his lips, he deepens the kiss, slipping his hand to the back of my neck.
The weight of the world fades and, for the very first time, I let go of its burdens. I feel without thinking, experiencewithout constraint. The fears I didn’t know I had disappear and Kade, the warlock who should terrify me, becomes the only solid thing in a world unraveling.
Kade’s hands slip under me and he lifts me like I’m weightless. I’m featherlight and floating freely in his hold, meeting his as an equal as our kiss turns frantic. He pushes me against the door and I wrap my legs around him, our position the same as when we fucked in the woods, although this couldn’t feel more different.
“What have you done to me?” he rasps.
I’m as lost as he is, but Kade isn’t letting that bother him. His mouth moves to my neck and my moans turn louder as their pitch rises and heat surges through me.
“I’ve never wanted anyone, never needed anyone,” he says, biting as he drags his teeth along to my collarbone. “And now there’s you. Only you, Zara.”
My legs tighten around his hips and my hands slide up Kade’s chest, suddenly aware my skin is touching his. I trace the outlines of his tattoos, deciphering the meaning of some, but their mystery adds to their thrall and their darkness makes him seem lighter underneath.
“You really have to stop doing that,” I groan, half complaining, half pleading, as the unmistakable ripple of his magic brushes over me.
Kade’s laugh is low, a dark, rumbling sound against my skin. “Not a chance, little witch,” he murmurs, his tone full of wicked promise. “Magic exists to please me, and I fully intend to put it to good use.”
The man is a monster in more ways than I can count and I shake my head, laughing with him as he plays with my body. Kade knows exactly what he’s doing and he must have made hundreds of women scream for him, but right now, none of them matter. His focus is relentless, like the sun breakingthrough the canopy, as if I’m the only root holding his world together.
Pleasure washes over me as his hands trace my curves like an old map, as if I’m the only terrain he’s ever dared to explore. Suddenly, it’s as if we’re the axels on which our worlds turn, the only points of gravity that ever held either of us steady. Our grip on each other tightens and Kade steps back, taking me with him as he moves away from the bathroom door.
“I’m not fucking you against that fucking door,” he growls.
I press my lips against his ear. “You fucked me against a tree.”
“That was different.” His hands slide over my back and I feel so small against him. So fragile. So precious and wanted. “That was what you wanted.”
I grin, breathless. “And now, Kade? What do I want now?”
Kade’s eyes lock on mine, sharp and knowing. His lips curl into a smirk made of sin and smug satisfaction.
“Now,” he murmurs, his voice dipping to the timbre of pure darkness, “you want me to ruin you completely.”
He bends his knees and lowers us into steaming hot water that can only have filled the bath by magic. This tub shouldn’t be here and it definitely shouldn’t be this perfect, and Kade’s cheating in every possible way, using every goddamn trick at his disposal. I don’t care, delighted he’s doing everything he can to please me and I sink back against the side.
It should be too much—his touch, his presence, the sheer power of him—but it isn’t. Instead, it feels like the world narrowing to a single, perfect point. Like everything before, this moment was just waiting for us to collide and when he bites the curve where my neck meets my shoulder I shiver despite the warm water.
Kade finds my clit quickly and I moan as he teases me, rubbing gentle circles, which heightens my arousal but doesn’t give me what I want. I’m warm and needy, trying to increase the pressure as I move against him.
