"I'm yours," I gasped. "Darius, I'm yours—"
He drove deeper, his other hand gripping my hip hard enough to bruise. The desk creaked beneath us, the ledger sliding across the polished surface, but neither of us cared. All that mattered was this—the raw, primal connection, the way he filled me completely, the desperate sounds he made against my ear.
"I can't lose you," he rasped, his rhythm becoming erratic. "I can't lose any of you. This family—you're everything I have. Everything I've ever wanted."
"You won't lose us." I reached back and gripped his thigh, pulling him deeper. "We're yours. All of us. Forever."
He came with a broken groan, burying himself to the hilt as his release flooded my core. The sensation tipped me over the edge, and I followed him into oblivion—my inner walls clenching around him, drawing out every last pulse of his pleasure.
We collapsed together onto the desk, his body covering mine, his breath ragged against my neck. The ledger was somewhere on the floor. The inkwell had tipped over, spillingdark liquid across the polished wood. And I didn't care about any of it.
"I love you," he whispered against my skin. "I love you so much it terrifies me."
I turned my head, catching his lips in a soft, tender kiss. "I love you too. All of you. The vampire and the man. The control and the hunger. Everything."
He pulled back, his silver eyes soft and unguarded in a way I rarely saw. "Stay with me tonight. Just... stay."
"Always."
We righted ourselves slowly, reluctant to break the connection. He helped me clean up with a soft cloth he kept in his desk drawer—practical, always practical—and then pulled me into his lap in the large leather chair behind his desk. I curled against his chest, listening to the steady thrum of his ancient heart, and felt the tension of the meeting finally drain away.
"We'll beat them," I said quietly. "The coven. The detective. Whatever comes next. We'll beat them together."
His arms tightened around me. "I know. Because we have something they don't."
"What's that?"
He pressed a kiss to my hair. "Each other."
I smiled and closed my eyes, letting the steady rhythm of his heartbeat lull me toward sleep. The ledger could wait. The war could wait. For now, just for now, we had this—a quiet moment in the eye of the storm, wrapped in each other's arms.
And it was enough.
