Carys writhed beneath him, that unbearable pool of heat building between her thighs, reaching for its crest again. She arched up as he stroked her slick cleft. No teasing touches now. He played her masterfully, knowing just what she liked, just what she needed.

She hadn’t been a virgin when she’d fallen into his bed the first time, but having been with Rune all this time made the handful of her other sexual experiences blow away like dust.

When she thought she couldn’t take another second of agony, he stretched out alongside her and took her mouth in a deep kiss while fluttering his fingertip against her clit, making her quiver and snarl with a pleasure that bordered on savage.

“I can’t take any more,” she panted. “I need you to stop this ache. I need you to fill me, Rune. And I need it now.”

He made a low, approving sound in the back of his throat. His fangs were bared and enormous, his eyes searing her with amber heat as he positioned himself between her parted thighs.

Her body was drenched, starving for him. “Now, Rune. Please.”

He moved into place and she felt the delicious pressure of his blunt head at her body’s opening. Hunger and desire raking her, she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him down for a hard kiss as she shifted her hips to seat him more fully at her core.

He pushed inside, stretching her tight, and—oh, God, yes—driving in all the way to the hilt. She cried out in pleasure and relief at the overwhelming invasion. Her fingers clawed his shoulders as he plunged deep, then withdrew with achingly perfect slowness.

“You’re so hot and wet,” he ground out, pushing their rhythm to a more urgent tempo. “Fucking you feels so damn good.”

She could only nod in agreement, her words fleeing her as she spiraled toward another shattering orgasm. She clamped her legs around him and held on as he drove harder, deeper.

When her release slammed into her, his name was a raw cry on her lips. He followed a moment later on a sharp, vicious shout.

It took a long while for them to drift back down from their peak. Carys held Rune close, his body a heavy comfort on hers as the aftershocks of orgasm rippled out of them.

They were as intimate as two people could get, but she couldn’t help feeling that tonight, somehow, he’d been distant. He’d been pulling away from her.

If she was being honest with herself, Rune had been holding something of himself back from her for weeks.

Maybe even from the very beginning.

As he rolled off her and drew her against his warmth, Carys tried to tell herself she was imagining things. But the small, gnawing coldness that settled in her heart seemed to warn her otherwise.

CHAPTER 12

It felt strange waking up in her own room, in her own bed, back home at the Darkhaven that next morning. Strange, yet comforting too. Her time with Rune had been incredible as usual, a blissfully exhausting gauntlet of pleasure and release that never failed to leave her sore in all the right places and longing for the next round.

But as she showered and dressed, it was the other persistent ache that clung to her.

Was she anything more than just a good fuck to him?

Did she even know him?

She knew he cared for her. More than once in the weeks they’d been together, he’d even told her he loved her. She believed him. Even now, she wanted to believe that what they had together was real.

But there were missing pieces to the puzzle that was Rune.

There were secrets.

Last night, she saw for the first time that there were walls built up around him too. Steep walls she hadn’t even realized she needed to climb. Walls he obviously wasn’t ready to let her get close to, let alone begin to scale.

Rune came from dubious beginnings; she knew that. He’d told her that he’d grown up on the streets, a denizen of Boston’s underworld. He’d scraped by most of his life, making his living on his fists and other dangerous means.

He’d told her all of that the first time she had asked about his past. He hadn’t seemed proud of where he’d come from, but he hadn’t seem bothered by any of it either.

Now, however, she wondered . . .

Those heavy thoughts followed her as she left her room and walked to the main living area of the Darkhaven mansion. The place was quiet, no one around. Then again, at nine in the morning, her father would be deeply entrenched in Order business with his warrior teams down in the command center.

Carys strolled toward the kitchen, following the aroma of fresh baked goods and brewing coffee. She found Brynne seated at the island counter, enjoying both by herself. She wore jeans and a crisp white button-down shirt, with her long sable hair twisted up into a messy bun on the top of her head.

Carys smiled as her mother’s half-sister glanced up. “Good morning.”

“Morning.” The Breed female’s expression turned sheepish as she chewed a big bite of blueberry muffin. “I know, I really ought to go find a blood Host this morning, but honestly. How am I supposed to resist temptations like this?”

Carys laughed. “Just one of the benefits of being winners of the genetic lottery. Not only can we walk in daylight, but we can eat and drink anything we like.”

Brynne lifted her coffee mug in salute. “And not a bit of it ever goes to our hips.”

Carys walked over and took a muffin off the serving plate. She popped off the top and began nibbling at the crispy edges. “I suppose everyone is down at the command center already?”

“For about an hour now.”

“My mother too?”