Chapter Sixteen

Brynna

W aiting for Naz to return to me is a special kind of hell. It burns every minute of the day. Fear and anxiety are my constant companions, sinking their claws in deep and refusing to let go.

No matter how many times my father tells me that he'll be fine, I can't catch my breath. No matter how often Niall tries to make me laugh, I can't see beyond the overwhelming emptiness.

For once, neither tries to hide what's happening from me. They keep me informed, as if they're afraid I might break if they don't. It's a small silver-lining in a starless night.

He's killing everyone, their god of war set loose on the battlefield like a demon. I don't feel sorry for them. For the first time in my life, I don't feel guilt or regret. I just feel…relief. Rage.

And that's the freedom he gave me. He snatched me out of my cage and taught me that I'm allowed to embrace the dark. I'm allowed to roll in it. It doesn't change who I am. It's just one part of me. And that part is no less worthy than the darkest, deepest, bleakest pieces of his soul. We are who we are, predator and pawn, monster and princesa . Naz and Brynna.

On day six, he finally returns to me. I finally breathe again. The moment he steps through the front door with my father at his side…I crack. And break.

Painful sobs wrack my body as I stare at him, battered and bruised but not broken. Never broken. Naz will never be that. He's too big to kill, too fierce to defeat. Too mine to ever be brought to his knees by anyone or anything else. This man bows only to me. Only for me.

"Brynna," he whispers, his amber eyes locked on my face as he closes the distance between us, moving as if pulled by a magnetic…the same way we're always drawn together.

He kneels at my feet, pulling me down into his arms. I wrap myself around him, clinging. Crying. Pressing my devotion into his skin with trembling lips and shaking hands.

"It's over, mi amor ," he breathes, his own hands shaking against my body as he holds me together, shielding me the same way he always does—with his whole fucking soul. "I'm here and you're safe, exactly like I promised."

That's the thing about Naz. He doesn't lie. Not to me. Not ever.

"What happens now?" I whisper hours later, clinging to him as sweat dries on my skin and his heart pounds beneath my ear. We're still at my father's, in my room. It doesn't feel like a cage with Naz buried inside me, his cum dripping down my legs.

I'm not sure where things stand between them, but they're no longer at war. They're in that tentative place between conflict and peace, the one where everything is eggshells, but it'll be okay in the end. I know it will because Naz won't accept anything less. And neither will I.

I'm not sure my father will, either. Not after all of this. Not even he can deny the way Naz loves me now. It's written in blood, his empire picked apart at the seams. But it didn't fall alone. He took Rojas's with him. That's the other thing about Naz. He doesn't lose. No matter what it costs. No matter how long it takes.

"Now?" He flicks his gaze up to me, his expression soft. Warm. Dark enough to send a thrill racing though me. "Now we gather the ashes and build something new, little one."

"What are we building?"

His hand drifts down my stomach, slipping between my legs. Wickedness rolls through his eyes. Desire sets them on fire. "A family, Brynna. And forever."

I throw my head back, moaning my answer. The only one I'll ever give him.

Yes. Yes. A million times, yes.