Page 104 of Infernal Bonds

He hadn’t touched me the entire time, but then something in him snapped, and he kissed me. We hadn’t been in danger, and I hadn’t kissed him first.

Did he only kiss me because he got caught up in everything?

Did he regret it?

At the time, I thought he wanted to kiss me. I wasn’t overthinking anything—too caught up in pleasure and Rae’s reassurances. It was freeing.

The effect of that realization hit me so fast that I hadn’t even had time to feel embarrassed. Not when he continued to kiss me through it while my cock throbbed and spilled all over my stomach and chest, his mouth swallowing every whimper and curse.

And he’d come too. As if my kiss did that for him.

I knew it wasn’t only my kiss. Rae was there too, and he was inside her, so of course that helped. It was a nice thought to have, though.

But now I wasn’t so sure why he kissed me.

I knew Cyn didn’t kiss the blood donors he took as bedmates, so it gave me a spark of hope that maybe it meant something to him and wasn’t just an impulsive decision.

Sighing, I looked down at Rae.

Even with everything that had happened with Cyn, I couldn’t forget what it sounded like when she fell apart at the same time I crashed over the edge. I wouldn’t forget how her rose and plum scent, mingling with apple dessert, grew stronger before she sank against my arm as if all her energy had left her body.

I wasn’t sure what it all meant.

Was what happened between us just something brought on by stress? Feranzis’ curse? Or was it something more? Did it mean Cyn would accept my bonding with Rae? Would he bond with her?

I feared if she and I bonded, he’d pull away and I’d lose him. I couldn’t lose him.

But if he accepted her, maybe I wouldn’t have to choose. Maybe none of us would if he realized he loved her too.

I wasn’t the only one who needed her—he needed her too.

Not because she was our destined Nyrith.

But because she was Rae.

And I truly believed she needed us as much as we needed her.

My gaze drifted to Cyn as he mumbled something softly under his breath.

He wasn’t mad that I’d kissed her. He didn’t run away—from her or me.

My chest squeezed with the flicker of hope that stirred there.

If the two people I loved wanted me the way I wanted them, I wouldn’t give in to the curse of this place. They needed me to keep going, so even though I could feel the haziness settling over my mind now, I wouldn’t let it take me.

I’d felt off since I woke up, but I’d chalked it up to the surreal experience with Rae and Cyn. The longer I sat here, though, the quieter my mind became.

And for me? A quiet mind was a dangerous thing.

My mind was never quiet. Never still.

I’d tell them when they woke up.

I didn’t want to lose myself when it meant losing them.

27

PROTECTION