Page 123 of The Devil's Chaos

He whirled on me and shook off my touch. “No! I won’t let you sacrifice yourself again.” He turned and stormed off as he headed up the stairs.

“Boss! We have the manor secured and medical transport on the way for the injured.” Damion, the head of security, interrupted.

“Great. Check the invites and make sure everyone is accounted for—dead or alive. And find my parents and Atlas and Aurora, please.”

With an apologetic shrug meant for Archer and Mila, I followed Kai. I found him in his room, his back to me while he stared out the window at the night sky. He didn’t turn to look at me when I entered, but his shoulders tensed, betraying his awareness of my presence. I hesitated in the doorway, unsure of what to say.

“Kai…?” I began softly.

“Don’t,” he cut me off. “Just don’t.”

I stepped farther into the room. I refused to be deterred. Kai meant too much to me. “We need to talk about this.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” he snapped as he finally turned to face me. I hadn’t seen so much emotion on his face since I’d known him. There was anger, yes, but something so much deeper in his eyes. “You’re not going back to that monster or his spawn. End of discussion.”

I sighed and ran a hand through my hair in frustration. “It’s not that simple, and you know it. We need information, Kai. Real information that could help us take him down for good. This might be our only chance.”

“And what if he kills you, huh? What then?” he demanded as his voice rose. “You think I could live with myself knowing I sent you to your death?”

“He won’t kill me,” I insisted. However, the words felt hollow even to my own ears. The truth was, I knew what my father was capable of. I remembered the lesson he had given me when I was only six years old. Betrayal meant death. At this point, it was either him or me.

“You know better than to lie to me, little lamb.”

My eyes stung with unshed tears. He was right—I couldn’t guarantee my safety if I went back. But what other choice did we have?

“I know the risks, Kai,” I told him quietly. “But this is bigger than just me. If there’s a chance that I can be the one to help you bring down my father, my brother, and the whole fucking Collectors’ organization, then I have to take it. For all of us.”

He crossed the distance between us in two strides. His hands came up to grip my shoulders, his touch seared through the thin fabric of my dress. “You still don’t get it, do you?”

I stared up at him in confusion. “Get what?”

Kai’s grip on my shoulders tightened. “That I can’t lose you. Not again.” His voice was rough with emotion. “You have no idea what it was like, standing on that hill waiting for you to come out after Mila. I didn’t hear from the hospital for days, Haven. Each day, I sat here drinking to numb the pain I felt because I thought you were dead, and there was no way for me to know one way or another. Do you know what it felt like to see you in the hospital hooked up to all those wires and tubes? How every second that passed felt like an eternity waiting for you to open your eyes? I can’t go through that again. I won’t.” His voice cracked on the last word.

His words hit me like a punch to the gut. I had never stopped to consider what Kai had gone through after I rescued Mila. I had inadvertently caused him so much pain and anguish, and he had never mentioned how much the thought of losing me had affected him…until now. Kai had always been so strong, sofearless. To see him like this, so torn up over the thought of losing me...it stirred something deep within me.

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes. “Kai, I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know you didn’t.” His voice softened a fraction. “But that doesn’t change the fact that if something happens to you, it will destroy me.” One of his hands left my shoulder to cup my cheek, and his thumb brushed away an errant tear. “I can’t protect you if you go back there. And if he or your brother hurt you, if he…” He trailed off, unable to finish the thought. “I won’t be able to stop myself from tearing his kingdom apart brick by brick until there’s nothing left but ashes and dust.”

I leaned into his hand and savored the warmth of his calloused palm against my skin. He let go of my shoulders only to wrap his arms around me and pulled me against his chest.

“I can’t do this without you. The Brotherhood, the war with your family, any of it. I need you by my side. Please don’t make me watch you leave again because I know you won’t return this time.”

A sob caught in my throat as I threw my arms around him. I clung to him then and buried my face into his neck. His scent, a mix of pine and tobacco, enveloped me. “I’m not leaving you,” I promised.

“From the moment I saw you in that club, you turned my world upside down. You’re infuriating and stubborn as hell, but you’re also brave and selfless and so damn strong. You make me want to be better, to fight for something more than just survival and revenge. I can’t lose you, little lamb. Not now, not ever. So please, don’t ask me to let you walk into the lion’s den alone. I need you by my side, where I can protect you until the devil comes to drag me down to Hell.”

I nodded against his chest. “Okay,” I whispered. “I’ll stay.”

His arms tightened around me as he crushed me to him. I felt his lips press against the crown of my head, and the only thing I could think of was feeling him consume me. I pulled back slightly, just enough to look up into his eyes. They burned with an intensity that stole my breath. Slowly, never breaking eye contact, he lowered his head until his lips hovered a mere breath from mine.

“Promise me,” he demanded, his voice low and rough. “Promise me you won’t go back to him, no matter what.”

“I promise,” I breathed. And I meant it with every fiber of my being…in that moment. Nothing else existed except Kai—his arms around me, his scent surrounding me, the heat of his body seeping into my skin.

Unable to resist any longer, I pushed up on my toes and closed the scant distance between us. Our lips met in a searing kiss that ignited my blood. Kai’s hands slid into my hair while he angled my head to deepen the kiss. I opened up for him without hesitation, and he swept his tongue into my mouth and unleashed the tidal wave of need inside me. I threaded my fingers through his dark hair and tugged him impossibly closer. He groaned into my mouth, the sound sent heat rushing through my veins and pooling into my core. His hands slid down my sides to grip my hips as he walked me backward until my legs hit the edge of the bed. As we tumbled onto the mattress, our lips never parted. His weight settled over me, and I hooked a leg over his hip, needing to be closer, to feel all of him. His lips trailed down my neck as he nipped and sucked at my sensitive skin. When he sank his teeth into my shoulder, I gasped his name and dug my nails into his skin. He growled in response and unzipped my dress while he peeled it down my body—exposing my heated flesh to the cool air. I shivered, but not from the cold. It was how his heated gaze raked over me, his eyes nearly black with desire.

“I’ll never let you leave me, little lamb,” he breathed against my skin while he kissed a fiery path down my chest, marking my skin with his teeth as he went.

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