Page 127

“What, in Düren?” The words leave me flatter than I intended. Honestly, I don’t know what the fuck I was expecting, but it definitely wasn’t that.

“Yeah. People disappear there all the time.” He swallows hard before adding, “I lost something. I thought maybe I could find answers here.”

I lean in closer, my breath hot against his ear. “And you think you can find it here on Sero?”

He shrugs, then pants when my fingers around his throat tighten.

“Come on, Rowan. Just tell me the fucking truth. What are you hiding?”

Keep an eye on him.

I think of Dad. Of specifically telling him whoever he’s looking for ain’t Rowan. And now my little mouse is talking about Düren and something he lost while trembling beneath me like he doesn’t realize those are exactly the sort of secrets people kill themselves protecting.

“Hmm?” Clenching his throat shut, I tip up his head with my teeth. “Answer me.”

“I don’t know! I⁠—”

The rest of the words are smothered when he slams his lips to mine. We clash together in a frenzy of teeth and tongue and swallowed moans as I lick deeper into his mouth. Rowan’s hips roll up, and his hand lifts to mine, still wrapped around his throat, and he fucking squeezes it like he wants more pressure.

“Zoryan—”

The word slips out broken and breathless against my mouth, unfamiliar enough that I actually pause. It lands somewhere dangerous inside me, feeding every possessive instinct I’ve been trying not to name before Rowan drags me back into the kiss.

Fuck… did I hear that correctly?

The thought barely lands before his breathing shudders against my palm. I kiss him deeper, rougher now, my mouth ravaging his while his fingers stay tangled with mine against his throat. He tastes of sin and unexpected danger.

What if I’m wrong and Rowan Ashford isn’t just a mystery? What if he’s guilty of something too?

I like that thought way too much.

“Well, little mouse. I guess we’ll just have to find whatever you lost.”

Before he can answer, I grab his waist and roll us over in one smooth movement until I’m flat on my back with Rowan straddling me instead, wide-eyed and breathless above me.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now, little mouse.” I hook my fingers into the waistband of his sweatpants and grin. “Because if somebody buried something of yours, I’m very interested in digging.”

“That sounds illegal.”

I smirk. “Crime is one of my better qualities.”

21

CIARAN

Rowan glares at me. His chest rises and falls too fast, a lock of golden hair slipping into his eyes as his pulse hammers against my palm. “You’re insane.”

“I know. You like it.” I drag him back into me hard enough to steal the smirk right off his face. “Now, where were we?”

Not going to lie, my head’s filled with all kinds of thoughts now.

Such as Zoryan, a word I vaguely recognize from the old dialects spoken out near Düren. I remember seeing it once in archived Reach forums after Rowan first arrived at Caervast. Never thought I’d hear it breathed against my mouth like that.

My dick definitely likes the sound of it, because it’s jerking happily, leaking all over the inside of my sweatpants.

“We were having breakfast,” Rowan mutters.

“Oh, yes. We were.”