I did, just not to Cyrus. It's just a kiss, I projected to Nathan through the blood tie. The cold that met my thought from the other end forced a tangible shiver down my spine.

"Forget him, Carrie." Cyrus's arms tightened around my back. "You've given him so many chances."

"What is it to you how many chances I give him?" I snapped, pulling away.

"It doesn't mean anything to me." There wasn't malice in his words. "I know you're mine, whether I want you or not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" This was a side of him I hadn't missed, the possessive, arrogant side.

He sat up, but not beside me. "Let's look at this reasonably. After I attacked you, when you knew I was a monster, you sought me out."

"Because of the blood tie," I reminded him.

"Fair enough." He shrugged. "After that, when you needed help with Nathan, you turned to me."

"I needed your pet to undo what she'd done to him."

He sighed. "You're rationalizing. In the end, you kept coming back to me. Even to kill me, you wanted it to be between us alone."

He was right. There was no arguing that. When something concerned Cyrus, I wanted to be the only one involved. Whether I was fighting him or rescuing him.

"I'm not laying claim to you, Carrie." His elegant hands kneaded my shoulders. "But it seems you've already laid claim to me."

I turned and leaned into him when he curved his body around me. "But you let me."

"I did." His lips brushed my jaw, my ear. His mouth came to rest on my throat, the opposite side from where the scar of his first attack still marked me. "I suppose it's meant to be, then."

His fangs pricked my skin, threatening to break through and asking permission all at once. "What about Mouse?" I asked, stopping him.

"What about Nathan?" he retorted, lifting his mouth. "There is a part of me that is still in the desert with her. While I was there, a part of me was still with you."

"I seem to have a gift for falling in love with men who are in love with their pasts."

My admission seemed to freeze him in place. I didn't apologize for it or explain it away. I'd been in denial for far too long.

He faltered a little when he tried to speak, cleared his throat, then started over. "Well, that may be true. But I'm no fool. I know who's here now."

In the past, I might have looked for a trick or a trap in his words. Now, they brought tears of relief to my eyes.

This time, when he asked me if I loved him, I could say the words without fear of what I would become.

Chapter Eighteen
Crash

"Get them inside and get them restrained!"