Page 74 of Fake Fae-Ancée

"No," I shook my head. "I never meant to hurt you,my little star."

"But you did!" She shouted back at me. And that blow really hurt. The only one she could hurl at me that cut deeper than any sword ever could.

She stared at me, the violet fire draining from her eyes, her rage ebbing away.

And I understood. Felt the pain I had inflicted on her. Felt the cracks in her protective walls that Kai had carefully erected around herself. That I had waltzed down and destroyed along with everything inside.

I was the one who had turned her heart into a spiky thing that kicked and bit, defending itself with teeth and nails and everything she had. And maybe I was the only one who knew that behind all that she was just as tender and raw and frightened as I was.

"I know," I said. "I'm so sorry. For everything."

"You already said that," she murmured, blinking, her eyes swimming. "At dinner."

"I know."

I let go of her hand. She didn't move as my thumb stroked her cheek. Wiping away the tear that had caught there.

"You didn't mean it."

"I did though."

I licked the tear from my thumb, holding her gaze. Salt spread in my mouth, her taste. Her pain and anger and the dark desire reflecting in her eyes.

She sighed, a long, drawn out noise of surrender. She snaked her arms around my neck pulling herself close.

Our kiss was a seal. I took her mouth, greedily, opened her and she moaned as I brushed at her tongue. Reconnecting her.

Kai

Wasn't this just heartbreaking?

Falling for the same thing over and over again?

For five years I had been trying so hard to push him out of my life, out of my head, my thoughts and all the rest. It started all over again. We were caught in a time loop. I couldn't get away from him.

His kiss was bruising and starved. The taste of tea and his shampoo and his own, primal scent flooded me, and I grabbed his collar and pulled him closer.

It was like a door had been opened inside me. Or been kicked in violently. But I didn’t know if that had been only Yuri. I suspected I had opened it at the same time as he rushed in only too willingly.

I fell back into place, melting against his body caging me in. He groaned, pinning me to the floor and kissing me with a vehemence I had forgotten Yuri had.

...I didn't dare think about my heart here. My heart didn't matter. Doubtful if it ever had…

He cupped my jaw, his large hand reaching almost once across. Bending my head the way he needed for better access. I sighed, giving in as his tongue plunged deeper, whatever resistance was left in me melting like a snowball in a hot day’s afternoon glow. Damp heat pulsed in my lower belly, that treacherous body of mine surrendering to the want I had denied for so long...

It wasn't like I could go back now.

I had fooled the whole world. I was not strong. Even without a broken Anima and a Witch's curse holding the rest together, I’d never been strong. Not when it came to him. Not when it came to us.

I gasped as he broke the kiss.

"You have to stop me." His voice was so dark, a low rumble deep in the woods, it made the little hairs on my arms stand on end.

His eyes had changed. Held that telltale amber glow now. His creature pulsed just beneath his surface. I could feel it in his grip. He held me like I was a treasure, and yet he could crush me at any moment.

Hold me and devour me...

I shook my head slightly.

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