Kane picks me up and I don’t fight him. He has this thing about taking me to his bed, now our bed, as if that establishes some sort of ownership of me and us. Not that I could ever be owned, but deep down, I know we own each other. We always have. We always will. And if that’s what he needs, to feel that ownership, I’m not at war with him. I’m at war with Pocher and the Society. But he doesn’t take me upstairs and to the bedroom. He walks to the living room, neutral territory, and I understand his message. The tide has shifted. The demands have changed. Either I’m in this as his equal or I’m not in this at all. And neither is he.

He sets me down on the floor in front of the couch, and I don’t give him room to question where I stand. I undress and he doesn’t. He lets me stand there naked, and some might say vulnerable, but that’s not really me, and certainly not with Kane. When others fear him, he’s safe to me. And so, I stand there, comfortable in my own skin.

Seconds tick by and we just stare at each other before he drags me to him, his fingers tangling in my hair. “This time it’s all or nothing, Lilah.” He doesn’t give me time to answer. He kisses me again and in a rush of heat, we’re both undressing him. And my God, this man naked is everything. I shove him down onto the couch, and he takes me with him. He’s sitting and dragging me on top of him. Some might say that’s about Kane giving me control, but Kane never really gives away control. Well, maybe that’s not true. With me, he’s willing, he has. He really does.

He molds me close and I press even closer, our bodies swaying, and that dark part of us, the intense, wild part of us, is in control now. He tugs my hair. I tug his right back. He bites my lip and I bite his shoulder. There is no holding back between us. I touch him. He touches me. I kiss him. He kisses me. With Kane, I am lost and found. It’s wrong and somehow so very right.

I tangle my fingers in his hair and say, “Don’t you get it? The only time I can be me is with you.”

“But at what cost, Lilah? Isn’t that what you’ve always asked?”

“You haven’t lied to me, but I lied to you.”

He pulls back to look at me, his voice steel. “What does that mean, Lilah?”

“I was miserable without you. I lied every time I said I didn’t need you.”