Page 167 of Under an Endless Moon

Strains of the soft melody filled the room, and I carefully set Raven on her feet and tucked her against me, and she breathed out a tremulous sigh and gazed up at me.

Understanding in those eyes. The truth that it really had always been her.

“You don’t have to be afraid of loving me,” she murmured.

Wistfulness filled the shake of my head. “Since there is a very real chance that your brother is going to kill me when he finds out, there’s probably going to be a little pain.”

I tried to keep it light.

A tease.

But the severity of it rang around us.

She was forbidden, and I’d taken the one thing I was never supposed to have.

“He won’t.”

We swayed, and my thumb traced the freckle on the edge of her lip. “He might, but I promise you, any second I get to spend with you is worth it.”

“He doesn’t need to know. What is between us is between us.”

Both of us knew that was impossible. There was no way we could keep this under wraps for long. No way to conceal the fire that burned between us.

Air puffed out of my nose. “I’ll figure out a way to tell him. Just gonna need some time, and I need to be the one to do it.”

Time to figure out what the hell I was doing. Time to decide if I was going to continue on this suicide mission. Chasing down death as I chased down vengeance.

I was beginning to wonder ifthatwas worth it. If it was going to change anything inside me once it was done.

Most of all, I needed the time to figure out who was after Raven.

Then I’d face what I’d done, and I’d take any penalty that was coming my way.

She was worth it.

She was worth it.

“I will never be ashamed or regret loving you.” She said it simply. Like nothing could touch us.

Nah, I had no regrets, but there was plenty of shame.

“No, Moonflower, there never could be any regretting you,” I murmured, swaying her soft.

Nose pressed into her hair and my arms curled tight around her body.

It didn’t take long for the air to change.

To come alive.

A charge thatsparked in the room.

The connection that pulled taut between us a live wire.

Greed twisted my guts, the need to get lost in her greater than any need I’d ever felt.

She sensed it, too, and a sensual exhalation escaped her lips.

I leaned down and fitted my mouth against hers, drinking that provocative sound down, sucking it into the well of my lungs.

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