The moment I bite her, she screams, long and loud, as her orgasm explodes through her.I feel her pleasure through the bond that pulses between us, and my own orgasm crests and bursts forth.Pleasure draws us both under as we stay locked in bliss.
“My legs are Jell-O,” she whispers.
I can’t help but chuckle as I slip free from her heat, scoop her into my arms, and carry her back to the bed.
“I’ll take the compliment.”
She smiles softly, but already she is drifting off to sleep.Tucking the covers around her, I place a soft kiss on her forehead before righting my clothes and gathering my weapons.Before I close the door, I take one last look at my consort and know that I will do everything I need to get back to her.No matter what.
****
The night tastes likeiron.
Aziel’s voice still echoes in my skull as we ride out, ‘We found where Noah ran to lick his wounds ...We’re taking him off the board tonight.’
I should be focused, locked in, ready to gut the bastard who’d stalked my Harlow like prey.But the bond pulses warm and new under my skin, a second heartbeat that isn’t mine.It is hers.
Every time the wind shifts, I swear I catch the faintest brush of her emotions, drowsy contentment, the lingering ache from what we’d done, the softness of trust she never should’ve given to a monster like me.
Leaving her asleep in my bed nearly broke something inside me.Turning away from her felt like tearing out a piece of myself.But this needs to end.Noah needs to end.
The derelict church stands at the edge of the old highway, a dark silhouette against the moon.Stone walls pitted by time, the roof sagging but still clinging to its bones.Once, beautifully stained glass shattered into jagged teeth.
And the crucifix, still nailed above the door, hangs sideways like it has given up.
“Why the hell is he hiding here?”Rowan mutters, peeling off his helmet.
Aziel answers with a shake of his head, “Because he thinks he’s ironic.”
I push the door open, the hinges shrieking like a wounded animal.
The smell hits first—wet stone, rotting wood, and the faintest trace of blood old enough to crust into the cracks.My fangs push against my gums.My instincts sharpening to a blade edge.
Noah is here.And he’s been waiting.
We step inside as one, boots echoing across the broken tiles while the shadows twist and bend wrong around the edges of my vision.The ghosts are the worst.I can’tseethem the way Harlow can, but I feel the ripple of cold that always follows them, the way the air thickens and turns viscous.
This place isn’t just haunted.It’s infected by the dead that cling to Noah.
Aziel signals left while Rowan breaks off to the right.I stalk straight down the center aisle toward the altar.
A voice drifts from the dark, raising the hairs on the back of my neck.“You came alone.”
I don’t flinch.“Not quite.”
He steps into the fractured light spilling through the broken stained glass still clinging to the window frame.I take in his lean, pale form.There is blood drying on the corner of his mouth.He is a man half-dead but propelled by something uglier than survival.
His eyes land on me with something close to pity.
“Of all the monsters she could’ve been tied to...”he whispers hoarsely.“She ends up with you.”
My jaw tightens.“Mention my consort again, and I will rip your fucking tongue out.”
He smiles.Slow, cold, and unhinged.“I know more about her than you do.”
My pulse thunders in my ears.“You know nothing about Harlow.”
“Oh?”Noah tilts his head, assessing me.“But I knew her parents.”
