I needed to know everything before I told them anything.
And beneath that logic, there was a selfishness I would never admit out loud.
I wanted to know her first. I wanted to be the one who reached her first.
I burned through every last reserve of willpower in my body, every cell straining against the instinct that howled to claim, and forced the gold from my eyes. I crushed my aura down. I swallowed the possessive roar clawing up my throat and buried it alive.
"Don't touch her." Calmer this time. But the voice was still a blade. Cold, precise, and capable of drawing blood.
I didn't look at Darius. I couldn't. If I looked, if I let myself remember that he had just tried to take Kate from my arms, I would snap his neck where he stood.
Ignoring the weight of their silence, I carried Ka
