“Race—” her voice broke on a sob. Even though he couldn’t speak, couldn’t remove his fangs yet, his touch said everything.I’ve got you. Stay with me.
Her insides burned, her heart hammering too fast, too hard as tears spilled down her cheeks. Her eyes squeezed shut, and she screamed and screamed and screamed?—
She tried to pull away, but he held her through it, his touch steady even as her world dissolved into fire. The agony surged higher and higher until her screams shredded into silence, her throat burning raw. Her body shuddered violently as her vision blurred at the edges, oblivion closing in…
The pain began to shift.
The fire changed, a molten fever spreading low through her body, deep into her bones, her blood like acid. She couldn’t move, couldn’t think, only breathe through the scalding flames.
He still hadn’t withdrawn, his fangs buried in her neck. His free hand swept over her, gently massaging and gliding down her body again, then stroking her core, sending faint waves of pleasure through the blaze.
She shuddered.
Time blurred.
He continued touching her, keeping her tethered to him—but the blaze wouldn’t be doused.
This isn’t working.
She was being incinerated inside out.
A whimper broke free from her tight, swollen throat.I’m dying…
Yet somewhere in the dim recesses of her mind…
Something was happening.
The burning pressure on her neck eased, then a warm tongue laved her neck, soothing…replacing the awful agony. The contact sent a ripple through her—nothing like the sharp, devouring heat from before.
Different. Softer. A tether pulling her back from the edge.
Another lave of tongue on her neck, gentle, reverent.
“I have you,” Race whispered, his breath rough against her ear as he trailed soft kisses over her damp cheeks.
“I thought…” she rasped, barely able to speak, her bruised throat hurting. “I thought I was dying.”
“I know. You were…changing. You’re still burning through it.” He gently caressed her cheek with his lips. “I felt everything. Every anguished scream.”
Ash forced her eyes open, meeting his crimson stare—raw, unguarded, and tender.
She brushed her fingertips over his cheek. The fever still burned hot in her veins, but she no longer feared it. It wasn’t agony sweeping through her…but something alive, wild, and thrumming beneath her skin.
“Rest, heart-fire.” He licked the throbbing bite on her neck. “You’re safe. I’ll be here.”
Ohhh.A shudder rippled through her, the tremor spiraling low and deep. Heat surged, not the venom’s debilitating fire, but something far more primal.
The fever no longer burned to destroy her.
It burned…for him.
Chapter
Twenty-Four
Ash moanedand arched into him, feeling as if she’d been plugged into a high-voltage battery as desire swamped her. “Race.”
“Yes, my heart?” Another slow lick over his claim mark on her neck.
