moment we met, his essence a lifeline that thrived inside me. However, it went deeper than that. We were bonded on a level of existence I might never understand. It was more than the Sire link. He’d tapped into my heart. My being. My soul.
He’d become the enigma in my world. He overrode all the bad, replacing it with his version of good. And I wanted him to do that now, to erase the horrors of my past and give me a memory to rely on when the nightmares threatened to take over.
Because I remembered everything now.
Every brutal moment of the camps.
Their utter savagery.
I’d fought them every step of the way, even while drugged. I’d hated them. Begged them to stop. Screamed at them in hatred. Broke every rule of decorum imaginable. They’d turned me into a beast hell-bent on surviving. I’d forgotten that, Ryder’s blood an odd sort of antidote that allowed my mind a moment to heal and seal off the pain.
But my reawakening had brought it all back.
Except, at some point, I’d realized how to shut it off.
Ryder.
He’d become a hero, only to me. His presence the balm I required to heal wounds created by others. It was a dangerous reliance, an addiction that would harm me in the end, but for the moment, I allowed it. And I showed him my gratitude with my mouth and tongue.
Ryder had healed me in so many ways yet had broken me in others. He’d shattered my expectations, reprogrammed my views of society, and possessed my very spirit.
Our relationship wasn’t conventional. Hell, it wasn’t even a relationship.
And I accepted that.
I accepted him—this old vampire and his eccentric ways.
My Ryder.
26
Ryder
The female beneath me vibrated with a myriad of emotions. I could taste each of them on my tongue as she worshiped me with a kiss that captivated each of my senses.
Willow spoke to me in a way no one else ever had. Not with her mouth, but with her body and mind. I sensed her inside me, possessing me in a manner I had no desire to fight.
My sweet little pet had evolved into an enchantress, seducing me without trying and drawing me into a dangerous web of passion. It ensnared us both, weaving our lives together to create a destiny underlined in temptation and rightness.
I took charge of her kiss almost as soon as it began, testing her limits and desire with the intensity and force of my mouth. She met me back with equal ferocity, her teeth dragging along my lower lip and biting down in silent demand.
“You’re tempting my inner beast,” I warned her. “He doesn’t know how to play nicely, pet.”
“I don’t want to play nicely,” she returned. “I want to fuck. I want you to remove their touch. Their hands. Their mouths. I want it to be erased, gone, replaced by you.”
I didn’t need to ask whom she meant. The lycans. I growled in response, not liking their presence between us.
“Oh, I’ll erase them,” I promised her. “And when we’re done, you won’t be able to even think about fucking another immortal without remembering what I’ve done to you.”
“Prove it,” she dared, arching up into me.
“A dangerous provocation.”
“Stop talking and fuck me, Sire.”
“Fuck, Willow,” I breathed. “Where has this side of you been hiding?”
She growled in response, the reverberation from her chest making me growl back at her. My pet had blossomed into a hybrid with teeth. Mmm, I approved. Yes, I very much approved indeed.
I drew my own teeth along her jaw, going to her ear. “I’m not going to go easy on you, Willow. Remember your safe word.”
“I don’t need it,” she vowed.
No, she wouldn’t. Because I knew her limits now. I’d never push her past them. Never share her. Never allow another to so much as touch her. She belonged to me and only me. And by the time we finished, she wouldn’t want another either.
I sank my teeth into her throat, needing to taste her. She cried out, her nails scraping down my back through my shirt. Then she began to claw at the fabric as though it deeply offended her that I still wore a shirt. I chuckled against her neck, amused that my fiery little wildcat was thoroughly living up to my expectations.
“Ryder,” she growled.
I palmed her breast and squeezed, then released her from my bite just long enough to say, “Patience.”
She didn’t agree, her fingers yanking at my shirt as I returned my teeth to her neck, taking a