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“That’s enough. Adrian’s plans have had a century, and they’re still going badly.”

A scraping noise travelled through the wall. Red light appeared under the bedroom door, travelled across the floor and stopped beside Stellan’s boot.

Every muscle in his body locked.

I seized the sword from beside the bed, but the line went dark before I could bring it down. The tension left his shoulders.

Lenora called from the throne room. “He tested the western seal. The house closed it before the dagger entered.”

“Is he still there?” I shouted.

“No. He’s moving again.”

Stellan looked towards the door. “He’s searching for a route that reaches you without putting his arm through first.”

“Then he can keep searching while we make you harder to kill.”

I gave Stellan a sealed bottle. He drank without argument. Strength warmed the bond, but the wound stayed open under the cloth.

“Stored blood keeps me standing,” he said. “It won’t answer a heartblood blade.”

I exposed the pale crescents on my wrist. “This isn’t a shortcut past what happened. I’m choosing it because we made a plan and you told me the truth when it was difficult.”

Hunger and heat moved through the bond. His fangs lowered as he took my waist and drew me between his thighs.

My pulse stayed steady and the room remained clear. I pushed him back against the mattress, keeping my weight from his injured side, and held his gaze.

37

STELLAN

Her pulse remained steady under my fingers, and nothing in her body pulled away.

I caught her waist and rolled her onto her back. Heat sharpened in her eyes as she kicked off her skirt and pulled the ruined top over her head. Her bra and knickers stayed on, and she watched me decide where to touch first.

She’d drawn a boundary between us less than an hour ago. No bed. No feeding. Since then, I’d answered without hiding the worst of what frightened me, and she’d chosen to open part of that boundary for a reason neither of us could mistake.

I wouldn’t turn one choice into permission for everything else.

The cut drying down my side made some decisions for us. It pulled when I bent over her, and Bryony’s gaze dropped to the blood marking the cloth before returning to my face.

“Still steady?”

Her fingers entered my hair and drew me into a kiss. She held me there until the answer was clear, then guided my mouth to the inside of her knee.

I kissed the bare skin above it. Her leg shifted wider across the sheet, giving me room without a word.

I wanted her naked. I also wanted to take my time getting her there.

My hand followed the line of her thigh to her hip. I slipped my fingers under the edge of her knickers, then stopped before I moved them farther. Bryony lifted her hips. I eased the black lace down, working it over her legs until she kicked it onto the floor beside her skirt.

The scent of her arousal thickened between us. Hunger answered it, sharp but controlled after the bottled blood. I could separate the two now. I knew which part of me wanted to feed and which part wanted her to come apart under my hands.

Her red hair spread across the pale sheet. Her thighs parted when I moved between them. I kept most of my weight on my uninjured arm and kissed higher.

Her pulse beat close to the surface of her inner thigh, warm enough for me to taste before my mouth touched her.

I ran my tongue over the place I intended to bite.