"Flynn," I said.
He froze, his fist drawn back for another blow. He didn't turn. His shoulders were hunched, the muscles of his back bunching under the leather armor, the fur-lined cloak having been lost at some point in all the fighting.
"Go away, Aria," he rasped. His voice sounded wrecked, as if he’d been screaming for hours.
"No." I stepped closer, my boots crunching on shards of crystal.
"I said go away!" He spun around, and the look on his face stopped me cold.
His amber eyes were blown wide, the dark pupils swallowing the warmth that was normally there. His lips were pulled back in a snarl that wasn't human. But it was the scent coming off him that hit me hardest. It wasn't aggression. It was revulsion. He smelled like sour sweat and terror.
"You saw it," he spat, gesturing wildly with a bloody hand. "You saw what she made me do. What Idid."
"I saw a memory," I said, forcing my heavy legs to carry me forward. "I saw a weapon being tested."
"I enjoyed it!" The confession tore out of him, a jagged thing. He slammed his hand against the crystal trunk again, cracking it. "That’s the part she didn't have to show you, because I know you felt it through the bond. The rush. The taste of it. I am not a prince, Aria. I am a rabid dog that learned to walk on two legs."
He backed away from me as I advanced, stumbling over a root.
"You shouldn't be near me," he whispered, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. "The bond, I’m polluting it. I’m putting that blood on you. On the others. I can feel it leaking into your heads."
"So you're going to what?" I asked, my voice hard. "Cut yourself off? Starve the pack because you had a bad dream?"
"It’s not a dream! It’s what I am!" He looked at me, pleading. "Aria, look at yourself. You’re turning to stone or metal or whatever because of us. Because ofme. I’m killing you, and the worst part is, I want to be closer. I want to consume you. That is all I know how to do."
He was vibrating with it, the energy under his skin crackling like a storm. He was spiraling down a hole so deep I wasn't surehe could see the light anymore. Words wouldn't fix this. Logic wouldn't fix this. He was trapped in the sensory overload of his own history.
I needed to be louder than the memory.
I lunged.
I moved with a speed that surprised even me, the divine strength in my altering muscles propelling me forward. I slammed into his chest, driving him back against the crystal tree.
The impact knocked the wind out of him. The branches above us chimed wildly, a chorus of breaking glass.
"Aria—"
I didn't let him speak. I grabbed the front of his armor and yanked him down, smashing my lips against his.
It wasn't a sweet kiss. It was a collision of teeth and desperation. I kissed him with all the frustration, all the fear, and all the fierce, unyielding possession that had been building in my chest since we left the stairs.
He froze for a split second, his hands hovering in the air as if afraid to touch me.
I bit his lower lip, hard enough to taste copper.
I am here,I shouted down the bond, projecting the thought with the force of a hammer strike.Not the snow. Not the village. Here. Be here with me.
A low growl started in his chest, a vibration I felt against my breasts. His restraint shattered.
His hands crashed onto my hips, gripping me with bruising force. He spun us, pinning me against the crystal trunk. The uneven surface dug into my back, but I barely felt it through the haze of need that washed over me.
What I felt washim. The searing heat of his skin, the frantic, rabbit-fast beat of his heart, the hard ridge of his arousal pressing against my stomach.
"You're crazy," he groaned against my mouth, his hands sliding up to tangle in my hair, yanking my head back to bare my throat. "You are out of your mind."
"Shut up," I panted, my hands fumbling with the belt of his breeches. "Prove it. Prove you're a monster. Devour me, Flynn."
The challenge hung in the air, tasting of ozone and nectar.
