Gods, I'd waited for this moment for years—to cut Nelle down and make her pay. Watch the life drain out of those vibrant gray eyes and pure terror erupt instead.

But deep down, I knew my own truth.

I cared for her. I always had. Even when I'd denied it, refused to acknowledge it—lied to myself about it.

Nelle waited nervously, the fierce spirit that lived and breathed in her gaze dulled with dread, while condemnation scorched through my body with the ruthlessness of wildfyre, leaving nothing behind but shame and self-loathing.

Nelle or my mother?

Every cell in my body rebelled against me as I fought against the need burning inside. To confess. To fall on my knees and beg forgiveness for something that had yet to pass.

Nelle thought she was the monster.

It couldn't be further from the truth.

I was.

I was the monster that lurked in a shadowed crack, preying on her, silent and still and waiting with infinite patience for her to pluck a silken strand so I could strike. I'd drag her into my lair and feast on everything good inside of her. Bleed her dry until she was a husk of hate.

And it was there, a monstrous chain around my heart, weighing me down and binding my soul in a barbed-wire embrace, almost about to roll off my tongue, my confession, the truth of the Alverac. My mouth parted—

The abrupt sound of hurried footsteps jolted us apart.

Someone who smelled of honey and orange blossoms rounded the temple and saved my fucking ass.

Mela Văduva.

Nelle reacted instantly.

She whirled away to face the two interlopers who stumbled across the cobblestones, elbows looped around each other, their laughter momentarily deadened by the boom of thunder.

As soon as Nelle saw Mela Văduva and Elyse Estlore, every muscle in her body tensed, but it was Mela whom her wolf-bright eyes were fixed on. Curiously, her fingers curled—nails biting into soft palms—lips thinning as she bared her teeth. Her freckles were a stark contrast to a complexion that had a waxen sheen.

The ends of my hair lifted as a bitter wind raked around us. Cooler and fiercer than the storm gusts, aether sparkled like spindrift on its wings.

Oh, fuck.

Nelle's eyes were slitted and she looked as if she wanted to gouge Mela's eyes out.

It was instinct to slide my hand beneath the moonlit locks of hair and wrap my large hand around her slender neck, right where she was vulnerable most. I didn't need to feel her humming dragonfly pulse against my fingers, because mine matched hers beat for beat. I forced her head around, and her body stiffly followed. I lowered my head, so there was nowhere else she could look but into my eyes. She was gone somewhere else inside that clever head, bristling as her nostrils flared with the sharp rapid breaths. The sliver of her eyes shone predatory and unblinking, and beads of sweat glistened along her hairline.

I closed the gap between us. My nose brushed against hers, and her sunshine breath kissed my lips. "Easy, Nelle," I murmured softly as if I were gentling a skittish horse.

I squeezed the nape of her fierce enough to snap her out of the mindset that had a hard hold on her. She startled at my painful touch and gasped. Her gaze came back into focus, lashes flicking wide with shock. And the wild wind she'd wrought died.

Still, I didn't let go, but I eased the pressure of my hold. "You okay?"

She swallowed, nodding, as I let her go. Embarrassment had her cheeks flushing with color and she dropped her gaze to fidget with the bow cinching her waist, jittering a little in her sky-high heels. Shame glanced across her features—stunning but wrong.

I frowned, not understanding her reaction until a feeling slunk through me, oily and queasy—jealousy.

It wasn't me...it was her.

Jealous? My little bird's jealous?

A girlish laugh had my gaze slicing back to Mela who was giggling as she and her blond friend skipped up the stone steps to rest against a pillar. So far neither of them had noticed us.

Mela smiled at something Elyse said. She shared a playful look with the woman at her side, before swatting her arm. And then, Elyse leaned into her, winding an arm around Mela's back before resting her head against my friend's shoulder.

I watched the delight and confusion and elation sparkle in Mela's rich brown eyes.

Holy fucking hells-gate.

All of a sudden I was in a quandary. A completely different kind of fucked-up problem altogether.

For the moment Nelle had forgotten all about my mother, the question that plagued her, what had she to do with that night long ago. I should take my leave, keep my distance from Nelle, and thank Zrenyth that I hadn't answered her question.

But Mela...and Elyse.

My friend deserved this chance.

Nelle stifled a surprised yelp when I spun her around and hooked an arm around her waist to pull us both into the shadows of the alcove where we wouldn't be seen. Her back pressed against my front, and gods, just holding her there, right where she fitted perfectly, sent my mind and body into exquisite shock.

"What are you—"

I shushed her.

She slanted sideways to peer up at me. Her mouth fell open. "Did you just shoosh me?" But she had lowered her voice to a whisper. "So we're just going to hide here in the shadows?"

"This could be big, really big for Mela. Let her have this moment," I whispered back, desperately trying to ignore the delectable berryish scent of Nelle's that was perfuming the air.

"Who, Mela?" Nelle squirmed in my grip to cant her upper body forward to peek around the alcove to glower at Mela. And that jealousy emanating from her intensified to score at my insides with the blunt edge of a blade.

Understanding flared. "Oh...Mela..."

Wychthorn jolted at my voice and half-twisting around to face me. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her mouth slackened, then clamped tight, as if she'd only just acknowledged her intense reaction to Mela herself. She finally heaved a defeated sigh and fell back against my chest. She averted her gaze, but I could see, peering down, the sullen pout to her lips, and how one hand tugged furiously at the capped sleeve of her dress.

I couldn't help myself, the stupid grin and the languid glide of the backs of my fingers down her soft arm. "You're jealous of Mela?" That possessiveness radiating from my little bird was seriously hot as fuck.

She bristled. "Of course not." She'd spoken harshly but low enough not to be overheard, and the words were snatched away with the wind. Maybe she felt, if she spoke it aloud, she'd believe the words too.

But I'd already read the darkness gathering on her features and felt the sting of her jealousy. "Right, that's why you're crackling all over with jealousy."

She kept her scowl averted. "You liked to...you know...with her," she waved a dismissive hand, "before you came to see me for the day."

No, I didn't. Not Mela.

But there was truth to it because months ago there had been other girls in my desperation to keep lying to myself. Because all I wanted was her.

If there was any time to apologize it was right now. But I found I couldn't. Maybe because I rarely did and had sworn never to apologize to this Wychthorn, the words were foreign to me. Still, I was able to offer her this. "Mela's in love with Elyse." My friend had been in love with Elyse for years.

"Really?" Nelle angled her head sideways to look up at me with rounded eyebrows. "Elyse Estlore?" She gifted me a dazzling smile, and the remnants of her jealous wrath crackling beneath my skin doused as if a bucket of water had been tipped over her.

She went to leave but I pulled her back. "Don't move, they'll see us."

"So we're stuck here, for how long? I don't want to be hiding while they're making out."

I dropped my gaze to my feet, spread on either side of hers, and scuffed the dirty, worn stone with a toe. "Well, yeah...I guess." Admittedly, it wasn't much of a plan.

Elyse's voice teased my heightened senses.

"I need to talk to you," she said softly to Mela.

Nelle and I stilled, locking eyes.

"Are you listening in?" Nelle whispered with a mischievous grin.

"You are too," I shot back, my mouth mirroring hers.

"It's impossible not to." Pulling at my hold, she peered around the edge of the alcove, and then, without looking, she wiggled her fingers for me to join her in spying on my friend.

I crowded behind Nelle while we watched Elyse reach out and take Mela's hand, turn it palm up, and lightly trace circles on the sensitive flesh with a single finger, drawing a full-body shiver from Mela.

"Mela...I know what you feel for me...what you want from me. I've been stupid and foolish and I'm ashamed I haven't been honest with you in return. I've hidden behind the expectations of my family, who they expect me to marry because I've been too afraid to ask for what I want."

"Elyse—" Mela tried to gently say but got cut off by Elyse's tentative smile as the blond woman pushed off the pillar to stand in front of her.

"I'm done denying myself. I just want you, Mela. You."

There was a moment of pause between the two, and we could no longer see Elyse's face as her back was to us. But we saw Mela. Her lush mouth widened into a stunned, glorious smile, and then her expression disappeared too as Elyse leaned in and kissed her.

Fuuuck, finally!

I turned away, glad Mela got her happy ending with Elyse.

Keeping close to the temple and the shadows cast by the eaves, I tugged at my bottom lip with a crooked forefinger and thumb, wondering how we could extricate ourselves without disturbing Mela and Elyse. We could skirt around and head the other way behind the temple. But I was pretty sure we'd be spotted.

Nelle turned away, slowly twisting around to slump against the temple. She was practically beaming. She tipped her head back to stare up at the swirl of storm clouds blustering low.

I was struck, yet again, by just how gorgeous she was.

That adorable rosy-pink hue flushed her cheeks, and she was breathing little fluttery breaths. Loosening a wonderous, she bit down on her lip as her gaze lowered to the treeline in front of us. "You care."

Yeah, I fucking did.

I shrugged, jamming my hands into the pockets of my pants. "She's my friend. Mela's loved Elyse for years."

Nelle shifted her head just slightly. Luminous gray eyes slid to mine as her cheeks rounded with a small secretive smile. "I'm not talking about Mela."

I cocked an eyebrow, not understanding.

Nelle spoke slowly. Deliberately. "You care for me."

My stomach fell away.

Holy hells-gate, here we go. I was effectively toast. She was going to decimate me. Incinerate me. Torture the truth out of me.

I made a pffting noise, rolling my eyes.

Like blood in the water, her gaze sharpened on mine. She shoved off the wall, straightening her shoulders, taking a step toward me with one hand popped on her hip. "I see you. All this..." she said, circling a pointed finger at my face. "It's a mask you wear. I see you, Graysen Crowther, right through to the heart of you."

My pulse exploded into a skittish pattern because I'd thought the same thing when she'd seen through my bored expression earlier. "I have no heart—"

"Just ash in the space it should be." Her cunning smile widened as she flung my own words back at me. Thick lashes lowered in challenge. "What are you afraid of?"

I snorted. "Ah, nothing,"

You. I'm frightened of you. Of my family. Of losing the way you're looking at me right now, somewhere between wanting to punch me in the face and kissing the hells out of me.

"You like me. Really like me. You've really liked me for a very long time."

There was something about her, about us, as if I'd walked right into an electric storm that buffered me about and raked along my skin. As if she sang to me, and I couldn't stop myself from responding. It drummed a thunderous beat in my chest, a bass line of twin hearts. I wanted desperately to draw her in, thread my fingers through her hair, and press a kiss into the hollow at her throat.

Instead, I glared back at her, because I was a fucking idiot and didn't know what else to do.

She reached me in two quick steps. She craned her neck. Even with her in those sky-high heels, I still felt like a giant. Static electricity hummed in my gut and I was praying to Zrenyth that it didn't show just how lost I was to this tiny thing full of fire.

I almost was unprepared for it when she jumped at me. My arms went instinctively to catch her. "What the hells are you doing?"

She gripped my shoulders and shimmied up my body. "What does it look like?"

"Climbing me like a tree."

She wrapped her legs around my hips and we both heard the schlicking sound of her dress tearing. "Oh...dear..." she grimaced, her eyes sparkling, belying the truth. She wasn't sorry one bit.

Squeezing my shoulders, she looked me dead in the eye. "I'm not about to have this conversation talking to your belly button." She wriggled around, getting comfortable, and made a delighted surprised sound when she encountered something long, thick, and hard. "Oh..."

I groaned gruffly as my little bird adjusted her pussy with a wicked smile, right against my erection, and my hands flexed around her ass in response. I barely held myself back from spinning us around to press her up against the wall and grind up against her. Fuuuck.

Nelle leaned forward. Her soft hair tickled my cheek, and her lips and breath found the shell of my ear. And, gods, did that feel good. Hot molten pleasure flowed down my spine as she nipped my earlobe and breathily whispered, "I know you want me...I can feel it. "

I knew she wasn't referring to my stone-hard cock. But all the same, the ferocious urge to claim her, crashed through me with the force of a tsunami. That damned tantalizing dress, the bow tied in front—she was a sexy-as-fuck present I wanted to unwrap with my teeth. The soft pink lipstick coating her mouth—I wanted it smeared all over my body like godsdamned war paint!

Bending forward she touched her forehead to mine, her eyes fluttering shut. "Tell me I'm wrong."

I couldn't. Not without lying.

I wanted her with every cold bone in my body. Gods, I wanted her in every sense. I wanted her beneath me, wrapped around my cock. To hurt her in the most pleasurable way. I wanted her sunshine, her smiles and her laughter. And her delightful smart-ass mouth too. We were bound together, she and I. We always had been.

Swallowing thickly, I shook my head slowly from side to side, because I was incapable of speech. But every inch of me was taut. Surely that gave me away.

Nelle pulled back, opening those gray eyes shot with silver and honed with insight. "You're a liar, Graysen Crowther."

I didn't like the sudden keen edge in her gaze, the sly way she smiled.

Her hand snapped to my throat—

I jolted. "The fuck?"

Two of her fingers rapped a staccato beat on my pulse point that had kicked into a quickened rhythm. Gods, she'd taken lessons from me, upped the ante, and wielded the power she had over me mercilessly like my queen.

"You know what I think?" Her gaze dipped to my mouth and every single inch of my body exploded under her attention. If it was at all possible, my fucking cock got harder and throbbed against her heat.

"I think I've crawled under your skin, burrowed so deep inside I've taken root, and you'll never be able to dig me out." Her lips ghosted mine. "You can't stay away—can't stop thinking about me, wanting me."

She nipped my bottom lip, drawing her teeth across the flesh before she sucked on it.

She let go, leaning back in my arms, and winked. Actually winked.

I was lost. So fucking lost to her. I didn't know what to do.

"So why not forget about our past, what lies ahead, and just let us have now." She raised her hand, holding it a scant breadth from my arm, not breaking away from my gaze the entire time. I felt that crackling energy pass from her to me and bounce back from me to her. "Give in to me. Give in to us. Give in to this... Whatever this is between us. Just. Give. In." She curled her hand and idly swept the backs of her fingers up my neck and along my jawline without once touching me. The fine hair rose wherever her hand passed and heat blazed and scorched right through every single cell. I felt like the crackling flame burning down a wick of a firecracker, about to explode and perforate the air with shards of bright vibrant light.

Just give in.

How easily I could.

And so wrong.

Yes.

No.

Fuuuck!

Her lips parted. I breathed in her sunshine as the words brushed against my mouth. "As if she's everything."

My blood thrummed in time with our twin heartbeats and the words ricocheting around in my head in a litany—Yes, yes, yes.

She softly sighed, just as I let out a deep groan when her sweet lips met mine.

It was a long slow kiss that started out sweetly with closed lips, then open mouths, and finally she pushed her silken tongue inside, sliding like melted honey to tangle around mine.

Everything emptied out of my head, but her. She consumed me—her taste, the feel of her in my arms and embraced within my body. That in-fucking-sane tartly-sweet scent of hers drowning me beneath its heady waves of fragrance. The taste of her sunshine and those desire-darkened eyes, the glittering silver and striates of charcoal. The flush of her cheeks in that rosy-pink hue I found adorable. And the freckles, scattered over her cheeks like constellations, that I knew would taste of nothing yet would be stardust against my lips.

My hand instinctively went to the back of her head, threading beneath the thick waves of hair to cradle her nape, angling her gently to deepen the kiss. As if now that I'd touched her there, I needed to reassure us both of what we had. I kissed her as if I had forever. That she was forever mine.

A rough clearing of a throat exploded in my ears and jerked us apart.

Caidan leaned against the nearest pillar. He actually had the audacity to lean, arms folded, one foot hitched and resting against the stone, smirking at us.

I never wanted to punch my brother in the face more than at that moment.

"You're lucky it was me sent here," he said, his violet eyes shifting to mine, hardening.

On reflex, my hands tightened on Nelle, and she winced, biting back a gasp. I remembered myself, loosening my grip, soothing her skin where I'd momentarily held her too tight.

Gods, but he's right. If it had been Jett or Kenton who had come upon us—

Caidan tipped his head toward the temple. "It's time to go inside."