But it would.
She just refused to listen.
She walked through the tall grass and knelt at the river, dipping her hands into the water. “You’re determined to make me dislike you,” she said. “I feel like I don’t know how.”
Her words slipped into my bones, rattling something loose in my chest. I didn’t know how to believe her. But the adrenaline pounding through my heart said otherwise.
The grass bent gently as the wind picked up, and I heard its steady swish. Her blonde strands danced with the breeze, and that’s when I caught it—the unmistakable scent of fresh air and water.
It had been so long, but I recognized it instantly.
Earth.
And beneath it, something more potent. Something far more dangerous.
A sweetness that coiled through the air like smoke—honeysuckle, warmth, and everythingher. So distinctively female I nearly dropped to my knees.
I didn’t.
Instead, I inhaled deeper.
And I didn’t want to exhale. I wanted to trap that scent inside me, terrified of losing it again.
Because I smelled Kara.
And she was more addicting than the split-second whiff a couple days ago could have ever prepared me for.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Kara
So infuriating.
My heart gave a brief pang, like it was caught on a blade inside my chest. The pain was a reminder—it wasn’t just frustration I felt. Once again, the Devil had reminded me of the goodbyes I needed to say.
For even a second, was he tempted to stay?
To stay with me—his marked mate?
The truth was a sharp ache under my ribs. A steady throb I couldn’t ignore.
The wind howled in my ears, whistling, but I still heard the heavy thuds approaching—fast. Angry. Rushed. Water splashed up from the river as I stood, droplets running down my arms and falling from my fingertips.
Why washeangry? I should’ve been the furious one.
Before I could turn, Luke was on me.
His hands gripped my arms—rough, tight—as he leaned down to my neck. I stilled. Tilted my head just as his inhale scraped through all other noise.
A deep, shuddering breath, like he’d been underwater too long. Like he needed something that belonged to me to live.
He groaned as he exhaled, then crushed his face against my neck again, breathing deeper, harder, like he couldn’t get enough.
A rush of adrenaline tore through my veins.
His breath burned down my skin as he dragged his face to my collarbone, then lower.
“What are you doing?” I shoved him in the chest.
