“What are you talking about?”
“You.”
All of the pain he caused me wasn’t the end. He had hurt my mother long before he got his hands on me.
“Who else is out there?” I demand.
He just laughs like a crazy person as he suffocates on his own blood.
“Fine, don’t tell me.” I rip the blade out of his core and show it to him. “My mother’s. I hope you liked the taste of it.”
Quris’ eyes drift to Menace. “I see you have a type.”
“Shut up,” Menace growls. “It’s your turn to die and pay for all the souls you tortured.”
“Souls.” He cackles. “Titans don’t have souls.”
I slide the blade into his throat nice and slow like his clone Cerzsl always did to my sides. “They do. It’s you who don’t…for making this searing pain life.”
And, still, Quris smiles.
“Sefi!” Menace hooks an arm around my waist and throws us away from Quris as his body bursts with blue light.
I clutch my mother’s knife close, blood still dripping between my fingers. Menace shields me.
As the blood rain falls and we pant in the same space, I know there’s no one else for me in the entire universe than the protective beast hovering above me.
Slipping my free hand up and around the back of his head, I draw his mouth against mine. Menace eagerly finds my tongue with his for a deep, sensual kiss that warms me all the way to my toes.
“Guys, we need to go!” Sythius calls out from the top of the ramp. “Welvirs are coming back!”
Menace sways above me and growls like he’s annoyed we’re getting interrupted again. He gets to his feet and hauls me up to him with a hand. Together, we run back to the ship.
Fracture already has the engines humming and the ship floating upward. Menace picks me up by the waist, tosses me on board, then jumps up and lands beside me.
We steady ourselves just inside the ship and look down at the welvirs overtaking the outpost, shredding their brethren and cleaning up any hint of Quris’ existence. The cool winds feel especially comforting, like Menace’s attention when his eyes trace my body.
We don’t have to talk. We just understand the other in ways no one else ever can.
He offers me a hand, and I take it without hesitation.
“It’s almost over,” he says.
“This phase,” I correct.
“If this is life from here on out, I’m content.”
I smile. “I haven’t had nearly enough of you yet.”
Menace guides me inside and draws me close. “Is that so?”
Holstering my knife, I rise on my toes and kiss him. Menace wraps his arms around me and whispers in my ear, “You are mine. I will protect you. But I need you to promise to think of me the next time you go on a suicide mission.”
“Ugh, you two, get a room,” Sythius remarks as he works the ghost-cloak device into position in the ceiling of the cockpit, just behind Fracture.
Menace smirks and inhales a breath beside my neck. “Let’s get you patched up first.”
