“You’re stalling,” I whisper, wetness pooling between my thighs. Fuck, I am insatiable. We’ll never leave Borealis, let alone this bed, if I can’t control my body’s response to his touch. “If we’re going to be together, we must be able to talk to one another. Otherwise, I am walking out of that door and your life.”
“There’s nowhere you could go where I wouldn’t find you.” Vane inhales deeply. “My scent is mingled with yours.”
I press kisses over his face and neck. He falls back onto the bed. I crawl on top of him, rubbing my heated core against his hardening length. When he reaches to touch me, I pin his arms above his head.
“Are you trying to dominate me, Desiree?” Vane asks with a wicked gleam in his eye.
“If it gets you to open up to me, then yes.”
Vane tries to kiss me again, but I turn my head. He pouts. “You’re being mean.”
“The truth for a kiss.”
Vane could overpower me in an instant, but he doesn’t try. His gaze drifts from my face to my chest before he sighs. “Fine. I don’t think we should leave the city yet. I just had a premonition. Lua has marched armies into Corona, camped just outside Aurora.”
Hair lifts on my nape and arms. Is Wilder in danger?
Vane touches my cheek. “Leigh is going to try to negotiate peace with Alden. Alden’s lover was turned into a vampire a while ago, and he blames Vyvyan for it.”
My jaw slackens. Alden’s true motive for coming to Borealis becomes clear—he was attempting to get close to Vyvyan. His desire to visit Little Death and explore the tunnels makes sense now.
A chilling thought crosses my mind. If he had discovered Vyvyan that night, would he have harmed her? Or would that have come after the invasion when the witches no longer stood between him and his revenge?
“Leigh needs your mom’s vampire cure. She’s going to trade it for peace.”
A chill settles deep in my bones.
“But Mom has no cure,” I whisper. Vane’s brows dip. I swallow. “Earlier tonight, I went to find Mom, and when she wouldn’t see me, I—” The words catch in my throat. If I tell Vane the truth, he will think less of me.
But as I meet his gaze, I see only love—love I want to believe is unconditional.
“I lost control,” I admit. “I destroyed Mom’s research.”
Vane pulls me close. I rest my head against his chest; his slow, but steady heartbeat contrasts my racing one. “I’m sorry,” he says. I stiffen. “I should have been there for you. You must’ve felt so alone. But I promise we will figure out how to get your mom what she needs to redo her research, even if I have to fund the project personally. I’ll go to Vyvyan. I’ll demand the money.”
“You don’t need to do that,” I say. Vyvyan would never agree.
Vane holds me tighter. “I want to help.”
Tears crease my eyelids. Vane has sacrificed so much of himself to help others. Vyvyan used him for centuries. His parents used him before that. I won’t use him like the others. I made this mess. I’ll clean it up.
“There is another way,” I mutter. I take a steadying breath. “Mom’s cure might not have worked, anyway. If we tell her about me, she could fashion a cure for Alden with my blood.”
“You would share your secret?” Vane asks. His heart thumps faster against my ear.
“Yes.”
“You are amazing,” he says.
I sigh. I’m sure seeing my mom after what I did to her lab won’t feel so amazing, but it is time for Mom and me to talk. We are years overdue. Though I love her, my palms grow clammy.
“You are tense.” Vane’s voice comes out as a seductive purr. My thighs tighten around him. “We should ease some of that tension.”
I smile. “You said they’re in Aurora already?” I ask. He nods. “Then there’s no time.” I sit up, straddling his lap.
Vane slowly tugs my towel. His heated gaze slides over my naked body, his pupils dilating. I splay my hands on his stomach. Beneath my touch, his muscles tense.
“We should go.” Vane flicks his eyes to meet mine, his hardness pressing into me.
