A single tear streamed down her beautiful face, painting the mapped colors of her exquisite skin.Skin he needed to touch.It was a physical ache that was on the verge of driving him mad.He lifted his hand slowly.Callon tried to make every emotion he felt calm and sincere, because he knew Lola could feel them.The thought of her fearing him was sickening.Knowing he’d pushed her away, as if she meant nothing to him, shredded his soul.When his hand was a hair's breadth away from her face, he paused.“Can I touch you?I don’t deserve to.I should never be allowed near you after how I treated you.I should let you go,” he forced back the beast inside of him who violently rejected the idea, “but I don’t think I can.”
“That’s not your decision to make,” she said softly.
“I’ve missed the sound of your voice.”He closed his eyes.“Say something else.”
“It’s only been hours since we saw each other, Callon.”She sounded confused.“Not years, months, or even days.”
“And in those hours, did you miss me?”His hand still hovered by her face.He had no plans to move it unless she slapped it away.“Did you ache to see me, even though I had been a complete, self-centered ass?Did something inside of you long to call out to me?”
She didn’t answer.Callon realized he might have actually lost her.Roan had been right.She would never forgive him.He’d have to follow her around like the stalker he’d been, because there was no way he could live knowing she was in the world, and not be near her.He’d sleep on her fire escape, bring her food so he could provide for her in some way, and most likely, be put in a human prison when he wound up killing any male that got near her.For a brief moment in time, his future looked like it just serving his kingdom.Not that there was anything wrong with that, but after meeting Lola, he realized there wasmore.So much more.He wanted it, but he wanted it withher.
He felt warmth against his hand and his eyes snapped open.Her green eyes were closed, and tears streamed down her face as she pressed it into his palm.Her pink lips were slightly parted, and trembled, as she nuzzled closer.
“Why does it feel like this?”she whispered.
Callon felt his heart splitting in two as he heard the pain in her voice.He yearned to take away her hurt.Regret knotted in his gut.Taking her face in both of his hands, he bent forward and touched his forehead to hers.He needed her to feel exactly how desperately he wanted things to be different.In his mind's eye, he pictured a dam bursting open, gushing forth an unstoppable torrent of water.It cascaded over her strawberry-blonde, streaked hair until it caressed every inch of her pale, dual-tone skin, and then rushed on until it hit the tattooed lion over her heart.A heart he should have protected.
Lola sucked in a breath and he heard her heartbeat speed up.Her own hands covered his, and her warmth chased away the cold that had filled his veins the moment he’d allowed his beast to take over.The dark hole that had formed inside him filled with her light as he felt herallow himto experience what she was experiencing.
Her body trembled as if the dam she’d been holding back broke.She was overcome with feeling and sensation.The moment she met him, her fear, excitement, and attraction, consumed her blood.The questions bubbled up like a fountain inside of her mind as her body recognized his on a soul level.She wanted him more than anything.Hewas the knowledge she craved.It made it all so much worse when he shut her down in the most brutal fashion possible taking away everything from her with no warning and no mercy.Thisis what she’d felt when he’d locked away every bit of himself from one breath to the next.His heart beat inside of his chest, but it was bruised and battered, just like hers because they were bound together.They wereErossazzimates.Brought together by Visata.The love, desire, and need, they felt for each other, would be things that neither one of them could bear losing.Not now that they finally understood.There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for her.“Sazzi,” he whispered out loud as his fingers threaded through her silky hair.Then he repeated it, because he needed to hear those words in her language on his lips for the first time.“My beloved.”
Lola’s face burned with the heat of embarrassment as she bared her soul to a man she’d known not even two full days.But it didn’t matter.He’d just metaphorically stripped himself naked letting her feel his shame, anger, confusion and realization, that he couldn’t live without her.That hewouldn’tlive without her.Callon was prepared to do whatever it took to show her he’d made a mistake, and he was as devastated by it as she was.
Lola had thought she could share only the pain she’d felt when he’d dismissed her, but as soon as she’d cracked the box open, everything came barreling out.Now he felt exactly what she felt for him.She didn’t understand it and couldn’t explain it, at least, not in human terms.Perhaps, she could just read a section out of one of her paranormal-romance novels, which would no doubt sound just as crazy as Roan’s words had.Regardless of how utterly insane it was to feel so strongly for Callon, it was there, and it wasn’t going away.The longer he held her, his warm breath blowing over her face, his lips centimeters from hers, the more convinced she was that this was right.Shewasfor him just as much as he was for her.
The desire ignited inside of her, and she knew as soon as he felt it.The heat of his hands burned through her skin.Her heart raced as they left her face, and found her waist, pulling her towards him.The pounding of his own heart echoed in her chest until they beat synchronized in perfect harmony.Callon managed to wrap her legs around him before he lifted them both from the floor where he had been kneeling.His gaze was fixed on her.She couldn't take her eyes away from his.His hand moved towards the back of her head right before she crashed against the wall, losing all the air in her lungs with a gasp.His fingers caressed through her hair until he reached her marble-like skin, lightly tracing over every detail.He looked at her as if she was a precious work of art.His golden eyes filled with undeniable passion igniting into something hot and consuming, that sent fire coursing through every inch of her body.It was a desire she'd only ever read about but never experienced.
“I know I have no right to ask for your trust,” he told her as his hand moved down until he reached her throat, and began to travel over her collar bone.“I swear on the kingdom, and on my life, I will never hurt you like that again.”His eyes continued to look from her eyes to the skin he caressed.“I’m asking for a second chance, Lola.Let me show you what it means to be mySazzi.”
Her stomach tightened as doubt crept in.“And what happens when some sort of emergency happens with those you lead, or with whatever is happening with the kingdoms right now, and you feel like you’re not giving your full attention to those things because of me?”
“You’re my non-negotiable,” he told her.“You’re the one thing, theonlything in this world, that I will never choose second.”The words were a promise, a seal wrapped around her heart and burned into it.He continued speaking but the language was not one she understood.It was his, and the intensity of his gaze, emotion flooding around her, told her whatever he was saying was fervent.His voice was a fierce growl that rumbled and filled the quiet room.
Lola felt a burning in her chest, over her heart.She gasped as he continued to speak and the burning intensified.The area around them began to shimmer and gleam as the space between them lit up.She looked down and saw the lion inked on his chest glow.The light was radiant and pure like the first glimmer of the morning dawn.The beams stretched across to her like the rays of the sun across the city.His hand moved and the burning changed to caressing warmth.Lola looked at her own chest.Callon had pulled the neck of her shirt down enough her own lion tattoo showed.
Her eyes widened as his finger traced the lines of the lion, and everywhere he touched, the ink lit up into a bright gold until it was as bright as his own.As he moved his hand to the side, she saw on the chest of the lion was aC.Her gaze jumped to his.
He was still speaking, the words almost lyrical in their sound, as he picked up her hand and brought it to his chest.His eyes implored her and his emotions urged her.She began to trace the lines of the lion, and couldn’t believe how it glowed even brighter.As she finished the last line, she watched anLform on the center of the chest of his lion.As if it had been tattooed in gold, glowing ink.The beast somehow looked even prouder than it had.Lola felt a rush of peace overwhelm her as Callon’s words faded.He stared at her in nothing that could be described as less than adoration.
“What did you say?”she asked so softly she’d barely heard her voice.It seemed wrong to disturb the moment, but she had to know.“What did you do?”
“Every cell in my body, my muscles, tendons, ligaments and bones, belong to you.My heart beats for you.Each breath I take is yours, until they are no more.”His voice was smooth and deep, yet trembled with intensity.“I will live and die for you.I shall bring down your enemies, and elevate those who matter most to you, if that is your wish.These things I promise to you.Should I ever break a single one, I will spend eternity wandering, a lost soul with no relief of eternal glory with my Creator.”He looked up into her eyes, determined, unwavering in his commitment.
Lola’s heart pounded so hard in her chest she worried it would burst right out through the beast inked there.She’d never felt something so sure –so true and real– as what he’d just promised.How could she respond to it?Some of it, like laying his enemies at his feet, wasn't something she was even capable of doing.So, she did what she always did when she was unsure.“That’s what you said.What did youdo?”
“I opened the soul bond given by Visata.”The words were simple, but she could feel the weight that they held.“Nothing stands in our way of joining save your denial.My soul and yours, are the light that burns between us.They wait for your decision.”
“And if I say no?”Everything inside her, the very cells he spoke of, rebelled against her words.Her lungs felt like they just might shut down.Her muscles started to cramp as if starved of the oxygen they so badly needed.Guess that answers that.“And if I say yes?”she asked, her throat loosening.
Callon’s full lips tilted up slightly.Some wouldn’t call it a smile, but for him, it was.“You sort of already did.”
“I said yes?”
His face moved closer to hers, his hand running up from her chest, over her collar bone and around her neck.“I wouldn’t have been able to open the bond if you didn’t want it—if you didn’t want me.”
Lola inhaled deeply just as Callon's lips grazed hers.She felt him lean in, and the next thing she knew, her back was no longer against the wall, but rather pinned against the soft bed.Callon's body was above hers, she could feel the heat, but barely any pressure, as if he was purposely keeping his weight off of her.She arched her back in invitation, and he lowered himself down until she felt blanketed by him.
She couldn’t help but notice the warmth emanating off his arms as her fingertips glided up them.Her memories of feeling it on her own skin when she touched his face back at the estate came flooding back, this time multiplied tenfold.Just then she forgot all about how her own body was faring.She focused on how Callon's hand snaked its way beneath her shirt and spread out across her back.The heat flowed directly into the veins that ran down her limbs, leaving her breathless and wanting more.She gasped against his lips as his mouth brushed hers in an intoxicatingly, tender movement before his tongue carefully explored hers.
