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I twisted to better see Cole. His gaze was distant for a beat before he turned his head to meet my own.
“The night you walked in my dreams, I convinced myself it was an accident, a hallucination. When it happened again, I thought I could find closure in knowing somewhere you lived, even if I could never be with you.” He toyed with my hair, as if still lost in thought. “When you showed up in my castle, I was once again struck. Fear and desire warred within me in equal measures. I should have sent you away for your own safety because being with me leads only to death. Yet I find you are the one thing I can never give up, Avery.”
For a moment, his confession turned pained. There were still centuries of Cole I didn’t understand, but this male in bed with me, I knew him as well as I knew my own heart.
“If I only ever have one more night with you, I want to spend it without a single regret.”
I moved atop Cole, straddling him while I bent down to kiss him. He tasted like smoke and danger. He tasted like home. “Then let’s make certain there aren’t any.”
Cole made certain, again and again, as he made love to me throughout the night. It was like he was etching his love into every inch of my body. I only hoped I had carved myself into his soul the way he had mine.
Chapter XXXIII
Thenextmorningwouldgo down as one of the best in my life. I woke with a soreness in my muscles that felt like a reward. Cole and I were intertwined in a tangle of limbs and sheets. It had been early, barely dawn when we woke, but we didn’t leave the bed for hours. We showered and wound up back in bed for another hour before finally rousing ourselves. It was easy to forget within that room, but the city had nearly been destroyed by an undead dragon only hours ago. They’d be looking to their leader, which meant I was forced to share Cole with the world.
Not that he agreed.
“It can wait. Nothing matters except you,” he rasped while attempting to seduce me away from the clothes I was trying to put on for a third time.
“Hecate will justloveto hear that.”
“I find I don’t give a damn what that witch thinks.” He nipped at my ear to prove my point. I bit down on a moan.
No. We have to be responsible.“Be good.” I tried to be stern. “Go do your kingly duties, and then we can go back to canoodling after.”
“My little Alpha.”
I frowned. “I’m not an Alpha.”
He barked a laugh. “You argue with me for sport and constantly attempt to overpower me when sparring. You’re the most powerful female in the realm and a fearless protector of your friends. And just now, you attempted to order me about. If you’re not an Alpha, no one is.”
I barely had time to process his words before he captured my lips in another kiss. I raked my nails down his chest, wanting to anchor myself against him. Desire warred with logic, but this time, I forced myself to pull away.
Cole heaved a heavy sigh. “As you wish.”
Cole went off to do whatever the King of Hell does after an undead dragon attempts to raze his kingdom. Me? The twenty-one-year-old shifter who just had sex for the first time, and not just sex, but toe-curling, six-orgasm sex?
I went off to find my best friend.
The hallways were bustling with people. Each person I saw bowed when they spotted me, and not just a slight head nod. Deep bows that made me want to scurry past.
I held back only so I could turn Cole’s words over in my head while looking for Daphne.
Avery Ward. Alpha.
It didn’t exactly fit, but I didn’t feel like an Omega anymore either.
How things changed.
Daphne found me first, nearly barreling into me when she spotted me. She dragged me into a nearby room and shooed out the occupants, who had already begun the bowing and scraping routine.
“Can you believe this?” I jerked my head to the recently shut door.
“Believe it?Avery, you don’t get it. All anyone has been able to talk about is how the apocalypse was coming and you somehow saved them and healed their beloved dictator—I mean, king—from certain death.”
My anxiety spiked at just the mention of Cole’s weak form. “Hecate could’ve healed him.” I kept telling myself it had just been a messed-up lesson and she would’ve stepped in if anything had been really wrong.
Daphne shook her head. “No. Hecate said you’d already brought him back from the brink before getting to the castle. If you hadn’t…”
