Unsure if my feet would work, I started to turn, hearing deep breathing behind me. The dull glow from the adjoining bathroom was the only light in the dim room, the man’s shadow darkening the old whitewash wall.

Holding my breath, I whipped myself around and immediately gasped when I found Raze glaring at me. Dressed only in black boxer briefs, his large muscled, ripped body tensed as he watched me with those hypnotic brown eyes.

“Raze?” I whispered, legs now feeling like Jell-O.

Raze watched me and his nostrils flared, his cheeks flushing as heat rose up his face. “Kisa…” he rasped out, almost like he was in pain.

As my name tumbled from his lips, my stomach tingled, my breasts ached, and moisture pooled between my legs. Raze had switched on every part of my body, as if it were on fire.

Edging closer, feeling the waves of heat from his body, his fresh scent hit me, and a whimper escaped my lips. A rumble sounded in Raze’s chest. My need to touch him, to feel him, grew to an impossibly high level. By the clenching of his fists at his sides, the gritting of his teeth, and those hungry eyes, I knew he wanted me too… desperately.

“Raze…” I whispered as my toes met his and, unconsciously, my finger lifted to run down his stubbled cheek. There wasn’t a scratch on his body from the fight tonight. “Why are you here?”

Raze’s eyes closed at my touch. Looking down, I saw him harden beneath his black boxers, the material straining with his size. My hand continued to travel down, shivers wracking Raze’s skin at my touch, his full lips parting to let a slow hiss of breath slip from his mouth.

At this moment, I wasn’t thinking of Alik, my father, my duty as a Volkova, or even the consequence of touching Raze like this. The need to break free from my suffocating life was driving me forward, making me reckless in my choices.

All I could think was how beautiful Raze was. How strong and fearless, how feral, how raw. He was untamed. He had no social grace, was devoid of knowledge about how to be a regular person. He was curt and aggressive, but his expressive eyes, when they looked at me, made me feel safe, made me see there was someone else in there… someone my soul matched. Gave me faith that he wasn’t the monster he seemed.

“I sleep here,” he answered eventually. His body remained as still as a statue as I continued to marvel at his muscles, drinking in his demonic tattoos, wondering why he had such evil images permanently etched on his skin.

My finger stopped its exploration and my eyes looked up to his. “You’re staying here?”

“I have nowhere else to go,” he replied gruffly. And with that, pain sliced through my chest as if my heart had split in two.

Raze dipped his head to escape my sympathetic gaze.

I lifted my finger and tipped up his chin. I stayed silent until his eyes looked to mine, and I asked, “Where have you come from?”

Emotion leaked from his expression and he whispered, “Hell.”

My attention was drawn to the demons on his chest, the number, then his tallies… and finally to the newest addition scraped onto his skin—his kill from tonight.

The air seemed to pulse around us as some unexplainable force pulled us together. Raze’s neck tensed, every vein and threaded cord protruding. He was physically holding himself back from me.

I was fighting the attraction, tensing my thighs as I squirmed, trying to alleviate the pressure building at my core. But when my palms landed on Raze’s chest, his hot skin almost scalding my palms, he leaned in, his nose tucking into the crook of my neck.

I moaned as he inhaled and growled, “I want you.”

Three words. Three simple words became my undoing. Spoken roughly, dominantly, yet it sounded like poetry to my soul.

Without giving me time to think, Raze gripped my arms and drove me backward until my ass hit the wall. He was panting into my neck. Releasing a hungry groan, my hands grasped his messy sandy hair, and I tipped back my head, giving him more access. As his bulging thigh slipped between my legs, his stiff cock brushed against my throbbing clit.

“Raze!” I cried out as pleasure took hold, and I pulled on the thick strands of his hair.

Raze let out a sound like the snarl of a wild animal. He reared back his head, his unsure brown eyes looking into my blue, and he asked nervously, “Can I have you?”

My heart beat so fast at the severity of want on his face that I thought I would pass out, or my heat would shatter me into a million pieces.

Raze squeezed his eyes shut as his arms wrapped around me, holding me so close, like he was scared I would try to run away.

“Can I have you? I want to have you… I need to have you,” he whispered, his deep voice guttural and rough, tense like a taut rope about to snap.

Letting any lingering worries flee my mind, I threw my arms around his perfectly sculpted shoulders and, brushing my mouth past his ear, whispered, “You can have me, Raze. You can have all of me.”

Raze stilled, long seconds ticking by, but then I felt the slow, wet lick of his tongue along the side of my neck, and he sprang into motion.

His arms released me. Suddenly, my shirt was ripped apart at the seams, the buttons spraying on the ground. Raze’s face was determined, and he was lost in his lust.

My breasts were hard under my bra, aching to be touched. Focusing his brown eyes on my heaving chest, Raze ripped my bra apart, bare breasts exposed, and his mouth immediately latched onto a hard, raised nipple. His tongue furiously licked at my flesh and my eyes rolled back at the sensation. I almost came just at the feel of his hot mouth on my skin.