<b>Chapter </b>31


    <b>Taya </b><b>Quinn </b><b>POV </b>


    :


    Later that night, just after the campfire and the forest lip lock of death.


    I didn’t want to go back to my house alone. Too many voices. Too much space. Too many damn eyes watching me like I was about to ascend into matehood and grow fucking wings.


    <b>37 </b>


    So I turned to Rylen as we stepped through the inner gates of Stormw Keep, and blurted out the one thing Zuki was chanting in my head like a horny witch.


    “Can I stay with you tonight?<b>” </b>


    He froze mid step. Not in a what the fuck way. More like….trying not to pounce on me like a beast with no self control kind of freeze. His green eyes met mine, burning low under the torchlight.


    “Yeah,” he said, his voice rough and certain. “Of course you can.”


    No hesitation. No weirdness. Just yes. I exhaled like I’d been holding that breath for a year. Jace peeled off toward the east wing<b>, </b>mumbling something about needing earplugs and sage. Rylen took my hand. Big. Warm. Steady. The exact opposite of how I felt.


    The Keep was quieter now, the halls humming with soft torchlight and distant whispers. He led me up a short flight of stairs<b>, </b>down a narrow hallway, and through a thick wooden door carved with the Stormw crest. He had to hold me up, because ya, I was toasted.


    His room smelled like pine, leather, and him, that cardomom scent. I sucked in a deep breath.


    Gods help me. I stood awkwardly by the bed, unsure what to do with my hands or my heart or my desperate, spiraling desire to climb him like a tree again.


    He tossed his jacket on a chair and ran a hand through his hair, clearly fighting the same losing battle.


    “You sure you’re okay?” he asked, his voice gentler now. “After everything?”


    I nodded. “No. I mean yes. I mean…” Iughed, because it was either that or cry again. “I just didn’t want to be alone.”


    “You’re not,” he said, crossing the room in two strides and wrapping his arms around me. His body was massive, heat and muscle and safety. I buried my face in his chest like a coward and let the moment stretch.


    Then I tilted my head back, and he was right there. Those damn eyes. That soft, knowing smile that could break me.


    I rose onto my toes and kissed him again. Slower this time. More ache than heat. He was so tall he had to bend down<b>, </b>but he just scooped me up and held me close to him.


    ??


    He responded like I was made of ss. His hands found my waist, then slid under the hem of my shirt, his fingers teasing the skin just above my hips.


    I moaned against his mouth, and he growled softly, not out of anger, but possession. His mouth trailed to my neck, his teeth grazing, those lips feather light, while Anton roared inside his chest like a storm.


    Zuki whimpered. ‘Now. im. Closer.”


    My hands explored the ridges of his back, my fingers syed, memorizing him like he was something sacred. Because fuck me, he was. We stumbled backward, falling into the bed in a tangle of limbs and heat and unfinished


    want. <fn7452> The source of th?s content is find[f]ovel</fn7452>


    He kissed me until I forgot my name. I kissed him like I’d never get the chance again. And then…We just breathed. Chest to chest. His arm around me, one leg tangled with mine, my hand fisted in his shirt.


    “You’re safe here,” he murmured into my hair.


    And maybe it was the liquor. Or maybe it was him.


    But for the first time in weeks…I believed it. Sleep took me before I could say it back. But Zuki said it for me.


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