Rory watched as his dark head lowered once more and his mouth worked magic between her thighs. As he eased a second finger inside of her, the stinging stretch pulled her tighter. All it took was one gentle suckling kiss against her clit and she flew to pieces.

The force of her orgasm left her blind, but she couldn’t find the space to care. Tears slid along her temples, and her voice shimmered in a breathy scream she couldn’t keep contained. As each searing wave slammed into her, Cain pushed her higher, using his lips and tongue and fingers to draw out her pleasure until she was boneless and limp.

His satisfaction pulsed through their link. Even as wrung out as she was, his own sharp need still had the power to make her need more, demand more.

Her pussy was still fluttering from her orgasm when she felt the blunt tip of his cock press against her opening.

She opened her eyes, and saw his body blocking out all else. There was the faintest hint of apology in his eyes—something she didn’t understand. Instinctively, she went searching for the explanation.

As she glided through their link, she hit a wall of lust so hot and jagged, she was sure it would tear her apart. Instantly, the edges blunted, as he shielded her from his raging need, but it was too late for that. His need was hers now, and her body responded with an answering rush of arousal.

New, prickling sensations spread out over her skin as her body stretched to accept him. It was too much, and yet not enough. She wasn’t sure she’d ever get enough of a man like him.

Before that thought could douse her enjoyment, she shoved it away and pulled him closer.

The damp heat of his skin against hers sang through her. The feel of his muscles shifting, vibrating as he restrained himself, struck some kind of chord deep inside. As much as he wanted her—as much as he was dying to bury himself within her body—he still held back, moving slow and careful so he wouldn’t hurt her.

As wet as she was, she didn’t think that was going to happen. Her body was clamoring to be filled, eager to feel every inch of him buried within her. Nothing he’d done had caused her pain. Her only discomfort came from feeling how desperately he fought himself.

Rory wanted him to enjoy this as much as she did.

With that thought in mind, she yanked a surge of strength into herself and pulled his hips toward her. His erection thrust deep. The intense stretch, along with his shocked growl of pleasure, was enough to toss her into a sudden, choppy climax. She bounced around, trapped inside pure sensation as her body fragmented.

When she finally settled enough to make sense of the world, she found that Cain had gathered her wrists in his hand and pinned them above her head. He balanced over her, his muscles bulging as he held himself up.

His jaw was clenched tight. The cords in his neck stood out. He didn’t move.

She felt his heartbeat inside her—the throbbing, thick heat of his cock wedged deep within. Her body was a jumbled mess of feelings and emotions too intense and heavy for her to examine. There was a faint wisp of anger flickering out of him, but she couldn’t tell if it was aimed at her for taking what she wanted, or at himself for letting her.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, the gravelly sound of his voice vibrating her nipples deliciously.

“I don’t get off on pain.”

“Good. Because I could never hurt you—not even if you begged for it.”

“Are you going to make me beg now?”

“No. Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

“I want you to stop holding back. I’m not fragile. I won’t break. I want the real you—all of you.”

Something in his expression shifted, going darker. The tension she’d seen in him before seemed to drain away. A small, wicked smile tugged at his mouth. “Then open up, Rory. I’m going to give you everything.”

She wasn’t sure what he’d meant until she felt the luceria vibrate around her throat. An instant later, a flood of images and sensations flowed into her, rocking her down to her soul. She saw the two of them together, naked and locked together in positions she hadn’t even imagined. She felt his heated lust lash across her like plumes of fire, leaving every inch of her skin glowing and flushed. His fantasies and hopes and dreams all funneled into her, filling her with the need to see each one of them come true.

She wasn’t just with him, she existed inside of him, their two minds woven together in a way she could hardly believe possible, even as she felt it.

And then he started to move. His cock slid out of her, leaving a hollow ache behind. She opened her mouth to scream at him to come back, but there was no need. He was already surging forward again, giving her exactly what she needed, as if he’d felt her need as keenly as she had his.

Maybe he had. She wasn’t sure. She didn’t care. The physical sensations, piled onto the things he did to her mind, were almost too much to stand. She no longer had any control over her actions. Her hands went where they wanted. Her mouth sought out his, desperate for his taste. Her hips arched up to accept him into her body, over and over again.

This was more than sex. It was the fusion of two people, two souls. More meaningful than the physical pleasure it brought, she felt the experience change her—altering her on a fundamental level in a way she’d never be able to undo.

But with ecstasy like this, she couldn’t bring herself to care.

Cain drove her higher, both with his touch as well as with his thoughts. He hid nothing from her, forcing her to feel everything he did, down to the coiling buildup of his impending orgasm. Rory’s body responded in kind, answering to his call, bulging with her own growing pressure.

His mouth ate at hers, drinking in her breathless cries. She would have been embarrassed by how loud she was being had she not felt how much it turned Cain on. He liked her loss of control, the proof of her enjoyment. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted all of her. Forever.

And right now, tied to him like this, glowing with so much glorious sensation she could barely contain it, she wanted that, too. Reality didn’t matter in this space. No bad things could reach her here. She knew there was some reason why forever should bother her, but she couldn’t remember what it was. If he wanted this forever, she was more than happy to give it to him.

His presence in her mind seemed to swell and brighten. She felt a change come over him—a kind of feral intensity that hadn’t been there before. His gliding pace began to speed, drawing her attention back to her body.

Pleasure rained over her, pulsed through her. Cain surrounded her with his heat and strength, driving her higher with every slick thrust. Words spilled from his mouth into hers. She couldn’t understand them. She didn’t even care that she couldn’t. The pressure inside of her was too much now. She was never going to survive its release.

He gathered her close, curled around her body and sent a tingling surge of sensation tumbling out of his skin. Wherever they touched, her nerve endings came alive, sending crazy, rioting signals up her spine.

It was too much. She couldn’t hold it all. A hard, ferocious climax ripped out of her in a soundless scream. Cain’s cock plunged deep and he came, rocking in shallow, urgent thrusts as his semen filled her. Each pulse of heat spilling into her drove her higher until she could no longer breathe.

Rory let go of everything. It was the only way to survive the intensity of this storm. She let it buffet her about, accepting what came, too weak to fight anything he made her feel.

Slowly, her abdomen relaxed enough for her to find a shallow breath. The blotchy spots in her eyes shrank, allowing her to see Cain.

He was draped over her, limp and spent. He covered her completely, like a living blanket, but so much hotter. Sweat shone on his body, making his golden skin glow.

She kissed his shoulder, licking the salt from his skin. His scent, his taste, they were part of her now—the knowledge buried so deep she was sure she would never forget.

They were still joined—their bodies, their minds. Even now, exhausted and spent, Cain was still with her, giving her what she’d asked of him. Gentle, softer images of them together overcame the more fiery, passionate ones. She saw them holding each other, laughing.

He’d already shown her what a bonded pair of Theronai could do—how they could fight and hold back the demons. But now he showed her a different side. Years spent growing closer. Multiple lifetimes to joke and play. Yes, their lives were dangerous, but that wasn’t all they had. There was a closeness there that Rory had never considered—a familiarity forged from centuries of partnership.

As she let him feed these images into her, a deep yearning began to take shape. She wanted this. She wanted this closeness, this unity. Which only made reality that much harder to face.

People around her died. Cain would, too, unless she beat him to it. Knowing that others could have what he’d just showed her only made real life that much more stark and bleak by comparison.

The longer she stayed with him, the easier it was going to be to forget the way things really were—the promise she’d made after Nana had bled out. Rory’s life was not destined to be like the pretty fairy tales he showed her. No matter how much either of them might wish otherwise.

Her life was already shaped by her actions, by who and what she was. She had no intention of abandoning Cain to die, but he had to find someone else—someone brave enough to take risks and earn the happily ever after he’d shown her. She wasn’t strong enough to play such a high-stakes game of chance.

Cain rolled aside, frustration making his movements jerky. “You’re going to run away now, aren’t you?”

“I’m just going to the bathroom.”

“To hide from me.”

He wasn’t supposed to know that part. It made her feel like a coward, which she hated.

She got up and grabbed the bathrobe from where he’d dropped it on the floor. “I need a little space, Cain. That was too . . . intense.”

“You loved it. You can’t lie to me. I was there, inside you.”

“Believe me. I remember.”

He sat up as she slipped the robe over her body. Everything about him was so appealing. His size, his looks. His soul. She wanted to wrap herself up in him and hold him close—let him keep all of life’s bullshit away.

But that wasn’t the way things worked. She was a big girl who knew the score. She couldn’t afford for sex to be anything more than just that.

A mocking, snarky laugh welled up from her gut, but she clamped her lips shut to hold it in. That had been a hell of a lot more than sex.

A fact that Rory was now going to ignore.

* * *

Cain thought he’d almost had her. He’d let her have all of him, as she’d asked, holding back nothing. He’d bared himself to her, body and soul.

And she’d walked away.

He hadn’t thought that anything could have hurt as much as losing Sibyl, but he’d been wrong. Rory’s rejection was just as bad—reminding him of all the reasons why he’d been a fool for letting her get that close.

The damage was done now. He couldn’t turn back time. He refused to make her forget. She’d made up her mind, and he was going to have to find a way to accept it.