Instead, warmth floods my limbs, the contrast so sharp from the pain that it makes my whole body shudder. It feels so fucking good. Bliss isn’t even the right word for it. It’s too soft. This is more. Wilder. Like every nerve that was burning is alive now and wide open.
My head drops back against the stone, as I let out a sound, half laugh, half broken groan at the peace settling through my body. Then slowly I open my eyes.
Everything inside me seizes.
Talen.He’s right there in front of me, body flushed to mine, my right hand lifted to his face—my finger in his mouth.
Heat punches through me—molten, low, and unbearable—as the warm drag of his tongue moves over the tip of my sensitive skin, sparking every nerve I thought I’d burned outalight. A shiver follows, rolling through me in a full, helpless wave.
The pain’s gone, but the feeling that replaces it is something much heavier. Much more dangerous.
I bite my bottom lip, trying to keep it down—but it’s no use anymore.
I want that mouth on mine. Now.
Need coils tight in my gut, I have to stop looking. But when I drag my gaze up, his eyes are already there—dark and just as hungry. The stare hits harder than his mouth, searing straight through me.
God, he’s fucking devastating.
I should pull back, keep my distance, but my body’s already arching, leaning closer, chasing his solid heat.
Slowly, he draws my finger from his mouth, lips parting with the softest drag—like he wants me to feel every second of it, eyes never leaving mine.
“Thorn,” he murmurs, voice low, more a warning than a name, as he shifts in. “I’m not myself out here, beyond the Innerland Veils. I say things,do things, I don’t mean. Things I regret.”
His forehead drops against mine, solid, grounding, but his lips hover so close I can almost taste him. Everything in me tightens, breath catching as a low pulse flares to life, sharp between my thighs.
“Tell me to walk away.” The warm brush of his thumb over the back of my hand sends a jolt sparking up my arm, hot and needy. “Tell me you don’t wantthis. I need to hear you say it.”
A plea, low and desperate.
“Tell menotto kiss you.”
For a heartbeat, I can't think. Can’t breathe. This is dangerous. I know it. I fuckingknowit. I should be stronger than this.
There’s still smoke in my lungs, still a painful ache in my chest—hollow and raw. The only people I ever gave a damn about, my home,gone.I shouldn’t want this. Not after everything that just happened. Not now. Not withhim.
But everything’s burnt, destroyed. And with it, whatever grip I had left on my body, my self-control, the distance I’ve kept, the rules I swore by? Every wall I built to keep him out? Gone too.
All that’s left, what's underneath, is just mine. Ugly.Honestand clawing its way out.
His forehead is still resting against mine, and every time he breathes, I feel it—like his exhale is curling straight down my spine. Cedar, sweat and the kind of danger you never walk away from.
For a breath, my gaze flicks back and forth across his, like I’m hunting for a reason I shouldn’t do this, but all I find is the same wrecked want staring right back.
A tremor runs through me, tension coiling so fast my thighs clench instinctively. He’s hardly touching me, and it’s still too much. Still not enough.
This would be a mistake, a very stupid mistake. I wouldn’t just be crossing a line—I’d be letting the enemy in with open arms.
But right now?
Right now, I don't fucking care.A fierce, pounding thrum drives under my ribs, I’m going to break.
All I want is the heat of him. The weight. The wreckage. I want something tofeellike something again. It’s just one moment—mine to take.
My risk.
My choice.
