“My blood was stronger. That freaking ankh is gone. You’re mine now.”

More beautiful words had never been spoken.

“You should know I love you, Lily Quinn,” he said.

“I love you, too, Ty. I’m sorry for leaving you like that. I couldn’t see any other way.” She shook her head. “I thought I could do it alone. But I needed you. I’m always going to need you.”

“Hey,” he said softly, dropping his hand to trail over the curve of her breast. “It got us here. And I want to tell you everything. All the things you wanted to know about me. No more secrets between us.”

“Agreed,” she said. “But there’s something we need to do first.”

She sank down onto his rigid shaft before he could answer, and then he couldn’t think. She was so hot, so tight. All he could do was arch up beneath her and give a strangled moan.

“Yes,” she gasped, her head falling back.

Then she began to move. Lily rode him beyond thought, beyond reason, until both of them were shuddering at the edge of release. And in his single lucid thought, Ty knew how to take them over the edge. He grabbed her hips, flipped her so that she lay beneath him, and thrust deeply into her, making her moan.

“Bite me,” he growled, then sank his teeth into the side of her neck. Pleasure washed over him as he moved inside her. Then he felt her teeth, newly sharp, pierce the sensitive skin of his own neck, and he was immediately caught up in an explosion of pure, hot sensation. He thrust into her again and again, taking, being taken, fused together so completely that he was no longer sure where one of them ended and the other began.

Until together, they hurtled over the breathless edge into dark, wicked bliss.

Later, they held each other in the big bed, tangled together. Lily rested her head on Ty’s chest as he talked about his life: the poverty of his upbringing, the rejection of his family when they discovered what he had become. His companions, and the different paths they had chosen, none of them particularly good. And finally, the reason for his allegiance to Arsinöe.

“It was a raid on a Cait Sith safe house, much like the one we were in, though the cats used to stick together a bit more in those days.” He stroked her back absently as he talked, and she listened to the rumble of his voice.

“The Ptolemy used to flush them out occasionally, for sport, I suppose. Some would end up enslaved; some would be killed. Then the house would be torched. I don’t know how many times I’d barely escaped one of those raids, but eventually, my luck ran out. I’d been working for Rogan, smuggling, stealing—bit of this and that. He was out, of course. Bastard always was when there was trouble. About an hour before dawn, the Ptolemy came. Small contingent, but it was enough. They had a merry time, looting, pillaging, raping a couple of the women who couldn’t get away. I told them what I thought of them.” He smiled wistfully. “I was full of myself then, thought a few lowbloods standing up could change the world.”

“I bet you kicked his ass,” Lily said, snuggling against him.

Ty snorted. “My mouth was a lot bigger than my ability in those days. I was flat on my back with a blade at my throat in under a minute. Figured my time was up. I was almost happy it was,” he said, his voice dropping. “But then I heard another voice. Arsinöe’s voice, telling them to clear out. You could tell she was angry. Over the years, I saw her get really furious from time to time over the lowblood hunts, but usually she looked the other way. It never really stopped.” He shook his head. “Anyway, she told the vamp with the blade at my throat—Jeremy, his name was—to stand down. She helped me up. Stretched out her own hand and helped me up. Apologized for the cretins she was responsible for and offered me a job. Told the rest not to lay a finger on me under penalty of death.”

Lily frowned. “Weird. That sounds almost compassionate.”

“Aye. She could be, then. But things are changing, and those changes have made her brittle, somehow. The Dracul being accepted into the Council was a big blow to her. She likes the old ways best. I just didn’t realize how much. All I knew was that she made Jeremy drop the knife and gave me a chance at a life that was better than I’d ever had. For a long time, that was enough for me.”

“And now?” Lily asked, already knowing the answer but needing to hear it.

“Now I want more. I have more,” he said, pressing a kiss to her head. “I have you. And you’re saddled with me, whether you want me or not.” He sighed. “The rest of the freed Cait Sith too. I still can’t believe you want us all. We’re an unruly lot.”

“It’s whether they want me, not the other way around,” Lily pointed out. “I understand what I’m meant to do now, but building a new dynasty is going to take some time. I’m going to need a lot of help. And they’re going to have to be patient. Things aren’t going to change overnight. But if they want it…”

“Most do, Lily,” Ty said, soothing her, rubbing circles on her back. She could feel him even in her blood, their blood, always a part of her. The intimacy of it was something she didn’t think she’d ever grow tired of.

“My people have been spit upon for a long time, or used up and tossed aside. We’ve always had one another, but to be able to be a part of something bigger, to be valued—hell, to not be called gutter cats anymore, even—it’s worth more than you think to them. And to me.”

“As long as you’re with me,” Lily said softly, “I think we can do this.”

“We can,” Ty said gruffly. “I will be with you. I always will be.”

She curled against him, savoring the slow and steady beat of his heart. He couldn’t know, couldn’t possibly know what he had given her. Power coursed through her like light, like blood. When the change had sparked fire in her veins, Lily had understood herself in a way she had never been able to. The inner struggle she’d become accustomed to living with every moment of every day had fallen away at once and become peace. Ty’s dark kiss had opened the night to her like a flower, and in it, she saw herself as she truly was. She was Lilim. She was Cait Sith. She was his.

Lilith had been right, and so was Ty, in his way. She had broken his chains, and he had in turn been the key to unlocking all of her darkest, most wonderful secrets. Finally, she was free.

So thinking, she rose on her elbows to look at him, tousled and well loved.

Her blood was her destiny. But so was he.