“Nearby. We need to draw him out.” I kept my voice low as I turned to Zayne. In the shadows, his gray skin blended in, but his pale gaze stood out in stark relief. A plan quickly formed. “We need to split up.”

“Yeah, already don’t like this idea,” Zayne growled.

“Neither do I.” I placed a hand on his chest. The heat of his skin was warm against my palm. “But he didn’t show himself last time until we were separated, and we need to get him to talk. I’ll go to the next roof. You go elsewhere, hide until he shows.”

“Trin—”

“I can take care of myself, and this time I won’t let him get the upper hand,” I promised. “You know I got this.”

His wings twitched with irritation but he said, “I know.”

I found his gaze and then stretched up, placing my other hand on the hard surface of his jaw. Three simple words rolled to my tongue but couldn’t break free. I did what I knew I could. Guiding his head toward mine, I kissed him softly, quickly, and then settled back onto my feet. I took a step and turned.

Zayne caught my arm, hauling me back to his chest. A gasp of surprise left me, quickly swallowed by the press of his mouth on mine. The touch of his tongue and the almost forbidden sensation of the tips of his fangs against my lips nearly turned my muscles to liquid. I was lifted up until only the toes of my boots touched the roof as he kissed me like a man coming out of a deep slumber, and there wasn’t a part of me that didn’t feel it.

This kind of kiss was definitely more.

When he lifted his mouth from mine, I had to remember that there was stuff to do. Important stuff. “The fact that you can kiss me when I look like this?” His voice was like sandpaper. “It...it undoes me, Trin. It really does.”

My heart swelled and then squeezed, torn between the understated beauty of his words and disbelief. “I can kiss you like this because you’re beautiful like this.”

A tremor rocked him as he pressed his forehead to mine, holding me tight for another all-too-brief second, and then he lowered me to my feet, letting go with a slow slide of his hand. “I’ll be watching.”

Stepping back, I smoothed my hands down my sides. “Creeper.”

“Be careful,” he growled, ignoring my comment.

“Always.” Spinning around, I took off as fast as I could, admitting that, if I didn’t get going, predestined duty or not, I would do something incredibly irresponsible and completely impulsive. I’d stay and find a way to prove that he was as beautiful to me in his true form as he was in his human skin.