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Before the shower, we’d talked, recounting our experiences to each other. Filling in the gaps and covering the finer details. We both ended up shocked, my seraphim essence a real doozy for him, the amulet from Selene a corker for me.

“How did you find the sun?” I’d asked.

“Irritating.”

His fed-up tone had made me laugh. The poor guy was exhausted, and so was I. Totally on the same page with him about being fed-up.

He’d hugged me after his curt dismissal of sunshine, apologizing for everything that’d happened, for the stress I’d endured.

I sent the same good vibes back at him, also apologetic.

We were reborn in a way, the ashes of what we were scattered to the winds. Allowed to start fresh. Well, later we would be.

It was a strange feeling, really. As if I’d side-stepped into a new reality. A better one in terms of romance, but worse for everything else.

Ugh.

Okay, so this would take me some time to adjust. These things didn’t suddenly wipe the slate clean, but it did scrub half of the grime away.

The vampire king wasn’t my enemy. There would be no more days and nights spent planning his demise, no more of my old way of thinking. Which, again, needed time to sort itself out.

But I liked it.

Scratch that. I loved it.

Feels like freedom.

I returned to the bedroom from the ensuite bathroom and found him sitting on the foot of the bed, his towel still wrapped around his waist, his wet hair swept back.

Whoa. Those scarlet peepers were so disarming. I clutched the towel as my dick stirred to life.

“Do you feel better?” he asked, his voice a husky purr sending me into a giddy spin.

I swayed, covering my boner. We were tired, not horny.

Pfft! Who are you kidding?

We’d been talking for the past hour. Though the shower helped unknit some of the tension inside me, I required more of a release. To be close to him, free of the drama we always connected under. Even if it was just lying side by side without the guilt and the endless torment of emotional warfare.

“Paris?”

He really was my constant, had always there for me since we’d met. A twisted joke from the stars, for sure. Still, I’d peeled back so many of his layers. Seen how he loved his people and his friends. Saw how fragile he could be, as well as lost.

Man, did I relate to being lost.

This went beyond the lust that once connected us. Yeah, I wanted him to bang me all the time, but he also represented belonging, a cradle for my affections.

Safety.

Home.

Love.

“Paris?” he repeated.

My skin tingled with the expectation of his touch. “I’m…fuck.” Breathless, I struggled with my words, so done with talking.

“What’s the matter?”