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Still, I can’t stop imagining how delicious it must taste. And I lift it to my mouth. I press the fruit to my parting lips, a heavy longing screaming in my head to eat it already.

“Dawn, you ready?” Kazak’s voice comes from behind me.

But my teeth already sink into the golden plum. The flesh bursts softly, juice spilling over my tongue and down my chin. Oh Gods, it’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever tasted in my life, and that hum carries through me while the flavor explodes in my mouth.

I moan, clenching my thighs together from the tingle right where I touch myself when I think of Kazak. For those glorious seconds, it’s as if time stands still.

I’m shivering, aroused, and desperately lusting for another bite.

Without pause, I bring the fruit back to my lips, when a shadow suddenly falls over me. A strong hand locks around my wrist, driving the plum from my reach.

“Stop.” I tug against the iron grip, lifting my gaze to Kazak’s horrified expression.

“Dawn, where did you get that from?” he demands, prying the fruit from my fingers and tossing it onto the bed.

It lands on the covers, bouncing a couple of times, the flesh red as blood. Still floating on its bliss, I lunge after the plum, but Kazak wraps an arm around my middle, holding me back.

“Why the fuck would you eat that?” he growls, his grasp tightening.

I whip toward him, furious that he’d take the most incredible food from me. My mouth opens, but instead of words, an agonizing groan pours out.

Sharp pain suddenly cuts through my stomach. It spreads across my body, and I’m convulsing.

I scream as my knees give out from under me, but Kazak catches me in his arms. I’m shaking worse, muscles locking, and I arch against him, unsure of what’s going on.

My bedroom flashes behind my eyes, my ears ringing, and somewhere in the distance, Kazak is yelling my name.

Chapter

Eight

KAZAK

“Dawn!” my voice croaks. I cradle her tightly against me.

But she doubles over in my arms, hands clenching her stomach, and tears run down her cheeks. “It hurts so much, Kazak. Make it stop, please.”

“I’m here,” I promise. “Where does it hurt?”

She screams out, convulsing.

And I rush her over to the bed, laying her down. “Dawn, please,” I beg, cupping the sides of her face. “Is it just the golden maair you ate? Did you take anything else from the Between realm?”

“Maair?” She arches, moaning, and pitches into me, her body quivering so hard it terrifies me.

Frantically, I catch her before she falls onto the floor. “The fruit! Was that the only thing you ate?” I raise my voice.

She glances up at me, breathing rapidly, perspiration on her brow. “Yes,” she gasps, pushing herself closer to me, her fingers curling around my shirt. “It called to me, and I couldn’t resist tasting it.” Her eyelashes flutter, eyes rolling back.

“Dawn, stay with me—don’t you go anywhere.” I notice the golden maair across the bed, the red flesh glistening from her bite. Fuck! She has no idea what she’s done. It’s lethal and will kill anyone who consumes it. Everything in that fucking world is deadly.

My beautiful Dawn quiets down, and I ease her back onto the bed. She releases her grip on my shirt. Yet, every cell inside me strains toward her.

Memories lash across my mind from the last time I held someone this way. I’d been out hunting, and by the time I arrived home with my catch, my father and two brothers had been butchered on the kitchen floor. They lay in pools of their own blood, but I found my mother clutching the knife wound in her stomach.

I held her until the last breath left her.

Rogue hunters from the Ice Fire Court had broken into our home for revenge after my father rejected their offer to buy my brothers as slaves. The thing about the Ice Fire race is that they will heal from any injury and sickness, even if life-threatening, by feeding from any of the three monster breeds in Grimvale.