Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115860 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Slowly, Shock turns to glare at me over his leather-clad shoulder. “You don’t know a damn thing about me.”
Then he’s gone.
Failure settles over me, heavy and oppressive. How bloody stupid, believing I could rescue Sydney from the most powerful wizard in a millennium by myself?
“How did you get here?” she asks me.
I turn to her, taking in the sight of her—loose joggers, baggy T-shirt, and hair blazing like a wildfire around her shoulders. Her impact slams into me.
She’s mine. She’s the past I should have grabbed with both hands the moment I met her. She’s the future I’ll seize—if we find a way out alive. I’m not going to give that—or her—up for another second.
“I love you, Sydney.” Refusing to waste a second, I cradle her face in my hands and do something I’ve wanted to do forever.
I kiss her.
My mouth crashes over hers, open, seeking, dying for a taste of her. Our lips join. Our tongues meet. Her taste booms across my senses: spicy, sweet, slightly tart—all woman. My senses—both magical and male—roar to life.
With my next sweeping kiss, I demand more—everything—from her. A chorus of now, now, now! chants in my head. My body tenses. My cock hardens. I grasp her tighter.
Under me, Sydney surges, throwing her fervor into the kiss. She grabs my hair, clutches my jumper, moaning, writhing, and accepting in every way.
Familiar words burst across my brain, and I tear my mouth from hers, panting to get them out. “Become a part of me as I become a part of you. And ever after, I promise myself to thee. Each day we share, I shall be honest, good, and true. If this you seek, heed my call. From this moment on, there is no other for me but you.”
She gasps, her eyes glistening with tears in the dark. “You’re certain?”
I take her mouth again, her flavor bursting across my senses. I know without a doubt she’s my one true mate. Always has been. Always will be. “Completely.”
“Mathias will kill me. You’ll be like Lucan—”
“I’ll do everything possible to prevent that. But I would rather have you for a few moments than never at all, firecracker.” Lucan was right about that.
“Promise me, if you make it out alive, that you’ll continue fighting. Not for revenge, but for what’s right. For magickind.”
“I won’t let you go easily. You won’t be unavenged. I won’t let this scum take over my people.”
Tears roll down her cheeks. Then she smiles, lighting up the cell—and my world. “I’m so proud of you, and I love you so much.” She sniffs. “But there’s something you should know. I wrote about you in the Doomsday Diary. I wanted you so badly…”
I search my memories. “The night I crashed through the door to your flat and we made love against the wall?”
“Yes. And again before you took me against my living room sofa.”
“Vixen.” I caress her cheek lovingly. “You had no idea what you were in for.”
“I wouldn’t change it for the world. I tried. I wrote a reverse ‘fantasy’ in the Doomsday Diary to see if your feelings for me were all magically manufactured.”
“They’re not.”
She sends me an impish smile. “The diary told me.”
With a growl, I pull her against me. “Don’t you have an answer for my Call? Do you know the words?”
“Bram and Sabelle have a great library.” Happiness breaks across her face like the sun from behind storm clouds, illuminating everything in joy. “As I become a part of you, you become a part of me. I will be honest, good, and true. I heed your call. ‘Tis you I seek. From this moment on, there is no other for me but you.”
The moment our lips meet, a seismic shift rocks through me, as if the universe has realigned, placing Sydney at its very center. The connection that’s been simmering beneath the surface suddenly blazes to life, fusing her essence with mine. She’s no longer merely important; she’s now my foundation, my north star, my very reason for breathing.
A soft gasp escapes her lips as her eyes widen with wonder. In that instant, I know she feels this profound, unbreakable bond, too. After all our struggles and near misses, after fighting fate itself, we’ve finally emerged from the fire together. Sydney is my mate, my other half, the missing piece I never knew how badly I needed until this very moment.
As I gaze into her eyes, I see our shared future unfurling before us, infinite and brilliant. But with the sealing of our bond comes another crushing need—to test her, taste her, claim her—all of her.
Without a thought, I drag the baggy shirt off one shoulder to reveal a bare breast before I cup it.
“Caden! They’re going to come back. We should focus on—”
I cut her speech off with a blistering kiss that sends sizzles clear through my body. She melts against me, so I ease back onto the room’s lone bed, lowering her down so she straddles my lap. Narrow and dank, the little bed isn’t the haven I want for the first time I make love to my mate, but we may not have tomorrow. She’s in my arms, and we’ll face the future together stronger if we join first.