“Every last thing,” he growls, driving into me with a force that shatters my breath. “Every fear. Every ghost. Every reason you’ve got to disappear.”
My chest tightens. Just like that, I forget everything Pain said. I forget suspicion, deceit, defense.
My little undead heart cracks, and I let his words in.
I was right.
I really was.
We’re the same, my guys and I.
“Talon—” My voice is shredded. My back arches without my permission, pressing me harder into him, into the rhythm that’s eating me alive.
His hands drag higher under my thighs, angling me so deep I gasp.
“And fuck,” he groans, “if you have to disappear anyway, maybe I’ll just disappear with you.”
The admission slips under my skin like a brand, searing deep. It’s not romantic. It’s not soft. It’s raw and ugly and so fucking real it makes my eyes sting.
And just like that, I see it—like he’s been carrying it in plain sight, only I was too busy surviving to notice.
Every outburst. Every jab. Every sudden temper.
It wasn’t just the job. It wasn’t just the danger.
He’s terrified.
The man who treats his own life like it doesn’t really matter, the first one to throw himself in front of a fight, to volunteer for the most reckless plan, to joke about not waking up tomorrow—
He’s scared of this.
Of what we’re doing.
Of this…connection.
And still, he’s here.
His hips slam into mine. His forehead presses to mine, damp strands of hair sticking to my temple. The sound he makes when I clench around him is torn straight from his chest. He’s unraveling. I can feel it in the way his hands shake on my thighs.
“You’re mine in this moment,” he growls. “Say it.”
“Talon—” My voice cracks, high and pleading.
“Say it.”
“I’m yours.”
That breaks something in him.
He groans, head dropping to my shoulder, teeth grazing my skin like he’s fighting the urge to mark me.
The next thrust hits so deep my vision whites out. His name leaves my mouth in a broken gasp, and his pace turns punishing.
“Talon—” My nails dig into his back, dragging down, leaving red half-moons over hard muscle.
“Come for me,” he rasps, voice almost shaking. “Right now. Let me feel it.”
The command hits harder than the cold air biting at my skin. I feel myself falling, unraveling, heat bursting through me so violently it steals my breath. My head falls back, a raw sound tearing out of me, and Talon watches it all.
