I kept scrambling backward, needing air. His lips bruised mine as he hunted me across the floor.
My back struck something solid.
A carved pillar prevented me from going any further. Panic shot down my spine as Lucien tore away from me. Pushing me aside, he leaned against the pillar, his long legs shooting outward as he slid his hands beneath my arms and lifted me as if I weighed nothing—hauling me across his lap as if I was both precious and poisonous.
Grabbing me around the nape, he dragged me back to his lips.
He kissed me again, his whole body burning, summoning the ice inside me to answer.
White swallowed the edges of my vision; silver fractals distorted everything as my body finally mutinied.
Pain. So much pain.
“Lucien—” I gasped, clutching his shoulders. “I need—”
He stole my words andkissedme.
I was suffocating.
Losing grip on reality as my condition shovelled snow over my senses, burying me alive.
Hurting.
Hurting.
My fingers scrambled on his chest, trying to get him to stop. “Lucien...”
He just kissed me deeper.
“You help,” he panted against my mouth. “You’re theonlything that helps.”
Wrenching despair made me attack him with another kiss, even though it cost me everything. I wanted to help him.Neededto help him.
He groaned and wrapped me in the tightest embrace. His hips surged upward, branding me with his arousal.
I didn’t want him to die.
My heart broke in two at the thought of failing him.
I kissed him again—terror choking me that if I stopped, hewoulddie.
But if I didn’t stop...Imight die.
Each kiss stole something from me.
Breath and life and heartbeats.
Lucien drank everything I gave him.
I sobbed against his mouth as the pain became too much.
Even his blood wasn’t helping.
Even his fiery power wasn’t enough to prevent the smothering cold from killing me.
Today had been too much.
The plane ride, the arrival, the confession, the fear...
