20. Talia

CHAPTER 20

Talia

M y lids are heavy as I pry them open, clarity snapping back to me harshly as I orient myself with my surroundings.

I'm in Zachariah's bed, and for a split second, I wonder if everything had been just a bad dream.

The way Zachariah rushes to my side, relief pooling in his eyes, tells me it wasn't.

"You're awake," he says, hands cupping my cheeks as I slowly sit up, gauging my body for any permanent damage. Beyond feeling extremely thirsty, I'm completely healed.

"What happened? Did you get Samuel?"

"No," Zachariah says. He shifts to sit next to me on the bed. "Saint almost had him. Talon briefed me on what happened. They managed to track the bloodmad vampires back to a stronghold, and found Kyle Moorehouse, Valor's brother, in the middle of it. He and Samuel both got away, but Talon said that he and Dagon and Saint were able to destroy the bloodmads and a huge chunk of their arsenal. It'll set them back for sure."

"Wait, why don't you know? Why was Talon briefing you? Weren't you there? Didn't you go after him?"

"No," he says, drawing me closer, kissing me softly. "I lost you once for the sake of duty and I will never make that decision again. I promise you, I will never make the mistake of choosing a mission over you. From here on out, we discuss everything and make moves together."

"I would've told you to go," I say, my heart expanding in my chest, the mating bond flaring between us, demanding attention.

"And I would've explained to you that I couldn't. You were dying, Talia. Would you leave me?"

I shake my head.

"Then you understand," he continues. "There is no more separation between us. You hunt, I hunt, and vice versa. And we make no life-changing decisions without speaking with each other."

"Really? You promise?"

"I promise," he says. "Until my last breath, no one will separate me from you or you from me."

Relief pools in every inch of my body, and I throw myself against him, giving in to the needs of my soul.

I kiss him frantically, starved for his taste and his touch.

We came so close to losing each other again, all because of my fear.

I'm done being afraid.

If one thing is certain, it's that I don't want to live without him another second.

Zachariah dips me until my spine kisses the mattress, and in seconds, we're both stripped of our clothes, and he's settling between my thighs.

Later, there will be time for slow kisses and long nights worshipping each other, but right now? We need to satisfy the demands of our bond, the demands of our bodies and our thirst.

He glides into me in one smooth stroke, and I sigh in relief at the feel of him stretching me. I cling to him, never breaking our kiss even as we gasp for breath.

We crash together repeatedly, a tangle of limbs and teeth and tongues.

My body is primed to fire after a few strokes, my fangs punching out in a needy way.

"Yes," he groans, never stopping his fierce pace as he thrusts into me, bending down to sink his fangs into my neck at the same time I sink mine into his shoulder.

I come instantly.

I come so hard I shake and tremble, clawing at his back as one release barrels right into another. The mating bond between us is glowing, searing, solidifying even more as we connect and drink and kiss and love each other.

I accept him wholeheartedly, loving every inch of him, the past not forgotten but forgiven as we do our best to carve out a beautiful new future.

"I love you," I say after licking his wounds closed.

Zachariah pulls back enough to look at me, smiling as he pumps into me harder. "Say it again."

"I love you," I breathe the words, which turn into gasps as another release builds beneath my skin.

"Fuck, Talia," he groans. "I love you so much," he says, hardening inside me another degree. Each time he pumps into me, his pelvic bone hits my pulsing clit in just the right way.

"Come with me," I demand, needing to feel him on the same level in every way possible.

"Please, Z. God, I'm coming?—"

"Fuck," he groans over me, pumping into me fast and hard as he comes, spilling into me as he works me through the throes of my own release.

We tremble together, our breaths rushed as we come down from the high, the mating bond strong and sizzling between us, but in no way wholly satisfied.

I don't know if it will ever be, with the time we have to make up for.

"I love you," I say again, just because I can.

"I love you," he says back, shifting me to his chest so he can hold me. "And we have eternity for me to show you just how much."