“I should,” I growl, leaning in. “I should destroy you,” I whisper against her mouth. “I should show you what a monster really looks like.”
She doesn’t pull away.
“Show me,” she breathes.
It’s a plea. It’s madness.
I crash my mouth onto hers, groaning as I slide my hands into her wet hair and tilt her head back. She tastes like copper and rain. When she kisses me back, her fingers grab my shirt, bunching the ruined fabric in her fists to pull me closer.
I bite her lower lip, hard enough to bruise. She whimpers, her hands tightening in my shirt.
I lift her, pulling her off the vanity. She wraps her legs around my waist, and I carry her out of the bathroom, not breaking the kiss until we get to the bed, where I throw her down to the mattress and loom over her.
She looks up at me, eyes as wild as the storm outside.
I reach for my belt, but stop.
Instead, I grab her face, crushing my mouth down on hers, swallowing her gasp in a bruising, desperate kiss.
14
CASSIAN
The kiss breaks.
It doesn’t end gently. I tear my mouth from hers, gasping, my lungs burning like I’ve been underwater for minutes. I shove myself off the bed and stumble back, chest heaving.
Iris lies on the mattress, lips swollen and wet, eyes dazed.
And I did it. Not the Syndicate. Not the Judge. Me.
The realization crashes over me. I kissed the woman I’m supposed to keep in a cage. I crossed the line separating a professional from a predator.
“Get up,” I snarl.
She blinks, confused by the sudden withdrawal. “What?”
“I said, get up.”
I turn away, raking a hand through my hair. The glass dust grits against my scalp.
“Cassian...”
“Don’t,” I warn her.
I walk to the door of the master suite—the door I barricaded earlier. I check the deadbolts, then the jammer. I’m doing busy work, trying to find the soldier again. But the soldier is dead; only the man is left.
“You kissed me,” she whispers.
I spin around. She’s sitting up now, legs tucked under her. She wraps her arms around herself, trembling, trying to hide the ruin of her body. She looks small in the middle of the massive bed, but her voice is steady.
“I saved your life,” I say, keeping a jagged edge to my tone. “Don’t read anything else into it.”
“You kissed me,” she repeats, louder this time. “You pulled me out of that car, and you looked at me like you wanted to eat me alive.”
“I lost control,” I admit.
“Liar.”
