His words were comforting and ominous at the same time, but I understood why it was a promise he couldn’t make. None of us knew what would happen when we faced Dannie. But at least we had one last night before our final battle.

Shadow and I entered his room, and I had to pinch myself at how couple-y we were tonight. He led me into the bathroom, where he ran the shower hard and hot, dragging me under fully clothed. He leaned over to kiss me, and I was already pushing myself up to meet him, my hands scrambling against his shirt so I could rip it from his body.

We were naked in seconds, and he was inside me in the next second, the heat of the water almost cool compared to the flames of our power. Every time we joined like this, there was a solidifying of our bond, and I was starting to understand how this mate bond truly worked.

Torin and I had the initial pull, but that would never have been enough. We were missing the fuel to fan the fire. Shadow and I were filled with fuel and spark and flames, and our fire grew stronger every day.

Moaning, I clawed at his shoulders as the orgasm hit me. The first of many, and by the time we finally got clean and crawled into bed, we were only going to get a few hours’ sleep.

Lucky, we were supernatural creatures because I wasn’t giving up the sex for sleep. No freaking way.

* * *

Far too early the next morning, I was dragged out of bed by a very naked Shadow. He deposited me in the wardrobe and told me to get dressed, and maybe it was my sleep-deprived state, but I honestly couldn’t hear a word he was saying around that hard cock he sported like a weapon.

“Mera,” he said again, his tone both biting and amused. “I need you to focus, Sunshine.”

I groaned, my tongue darting out to moisten my lips because it was really thirsty in here… No wait, hot. It was really hot in here.

“I thought we weren’t leaving until later today,” I mumbled, my eyes still staring his dick down.

“We need to practice the fortress of binding circle this morning,” he reminded my addled brain. “It’s the strongest prison that can be formed, but it requires a skill and coordination that can take months to perfect. We have hours.”

I nodded, and his dick nodded with me. Or… did he just straighten up? Because I was fairly certain that even Shadow’s dick didn’t have an ability to bob around independently from the beast himself.

“Sunshine, have you heard a damn word I’ve said?”