Page 62 of Reign of the Beast

He chuckled. “Come on, Lucian.”

“I’m serious. I’m still… affected by our tryst.”

“Ourtryst, huh? You mean you reaming my ass and making me come all over myself, then you fucking my face with your cock until I swallowed every drop?”

Hell!“Ryker,” I growled in warning. “This is a conversation we need to have. Your attempt to avoid it is not only ridiculously transparent, but it’s serving to intensify my concerns.”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s all well and good, except I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I doubted that, but I’d spell it out clearly nevertheless. “You are using the rush of sex to numb yourself to certain distasteful and painful things. Not only is that not sustainable, given that you don’t possess the stamina of a vampire, but it also won’t end well. Burying things never does. You need to acknowledge the truth, your hurt. I understand why you can’t to the others. You need to project stability and infallible leadership at this tumultuous point in time. But that’s why I’m here.” I shot him a look. “Not just to give you that sexual high you’re currently craving without respite.”

“I… I don’t think of you as a thing to use just for that, a dick to ride, or whatever. Iloveyou, Lucian. We’re partners.”

I didn’t believe for a single moment that he saw me as something to use. However, he did need a push, so I challenged, “Then live up to that. Share the burden with me.”

He turned away, muttering, “Fuck.”

“I’m not here to judge you, Ryker.”

“I know.I know!Because you’re amazing like that. Actually, you’re perfect.” He threw his hands up in the air. “And I’m not, okay?I’mnot!”

“Perfection is an illusion. I’m certainly nowhere close to that. All too recently, if you recall, I lost complete control and almost drained Mia dry, the key to destroying Draco and saving the supernatural world. Millions at stake andIalmost sentenced them to death in one fell swoop.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” he murmured.

“Debatable.”

“It wasn’t,” he said, sullenly. In the next moment, he spun back to me. “Besides, I meant you’re perfect withme. Opening my world up, accepting my bullshit with Mia and this heavy fucking Covenant duty, taking care of me, loving me. And I… I…” he winced, and shook his head.

“And youwhat?” I pressed.

His eyes swam with emotion. “You nearly died,” he uttered on a broken whisper, like he couldn’t bear to give the words full volume. “Right in front of me. In that moment that Jaxon staked you, I really thought you had. When I saw it was a gut wound, relief like I’d never felt before flooded through me. Until… until I realized it was no ordinary stake.”

I frowned. “I don’t understand. Yes, the stake took me longer to heal, but—”

“It was killing you!” he blurted out, emotion getting the best of him. “The holy water and the infused sunlight was working its way through your bloodstream.Istopped it with my next-level magic. It was forged by magic, meaning the effects could bedestroyedby magic.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?”

“You were dealing with enough as it was.”

“So, the stake can kill an Ancient no matter where the wound is inflicted? It doesn’t need to penetrate the heart?”

He nodded regrettably. “It only needs to pierce your skin deep enough to enter your bloodstream.”

It was a great deal to absorb.

“I’m working on a way to protect you.” He came to me and took my hand, his brutal revelation nullifying the heat that had been raging through me for him. “I almost lost you,” he uttered on a pained choke.

“Ryker, I—”

“Ican’t. I can’t lose you. It took me long enough to open myself up to what we have. Now that I have, I don’t want to imagine an existence without you in it, without you being a part of me.”

I gave his hand a squeeze. “I feel the same way.”

He released me and blew out an exasperated breath. “Shit. Part of me wants to take us far away from all of this,to walk away while we know that we still can, just so that we don’t tempt fate, so that we don’t risk it.”

I shook my head. “Ryker—”

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