Shock gave way to rage. Ava bucked against her captor’s hold. “Get away from me.”

“I don’t think so.” His voice was a rumbled caress that skittered over her cheek. “The heat. It’s on you again, isn’t it?”

“No.” Her eyes went wide despite herself.

“Don’t lie to me, Ava.” His nostrils flared as his nose skimmed just above her collarbone. “Your pulse is erratic. Your pupils are dilated. I saw it before… And I see it now…the way your breath keeps catching as if you’re stifling a moan of need.” His voice dropped lower. “That same sweet sound you made when I put my cock deep inside you.”

She shook her head. Fought the truth of his words. “No—and even if it was, the last man I’d want fucking me is you.”

He stilled, his body going rigid as a board, and then, slowly, deliberately, he pulled back, leaving her cold despite the heat. “Is that right?”

His hand shot forward. She sucked down a breath. Braced for a strike she’d begun to believe might never come.

Instead, the binds at her wrists came free.

“What are you doing?” Confused, she rubbed at the faint strips of pink at her wrists.

“Why’d you do it?” He answered with his own question, his gaze intent. “Why’d you save me and my men if you hate me so much?”

Because you touched me like I mattered. Because you showed me the stars. Because you taught me what it was to want.

But the memory of how easily he’d passed her off in that mess hall still cut deep. “Because I’m not a monster. I couldn’t just leave you to die in the dirt—no matter how much you deserve it.”

“That’s it?” There was something in his tone she couldn’t quite place.

“No. You saved my life when…when I needed help,” she conceded. “I owed you. Now we’re even.” She bared her teeth at him. “Don’t expect me to do it again.”

“Out for blood, huh?” Gaze hardening, his stomach muscles flexed as he spread his arms wide, his chest a map of bruises and blood. “Fine. You want your pound of flesh? Something to assuage that pride?” He signaled her to come at him. “Words won’t do it. Lies, either. Why not strike out for real? Let that inner rage out once and for all. I won’t retaliate. Believe me, whatever you do won’t hurt any worse than the way I’m already beating myself up about what went down.” He shook his head. “I should have realized he’d have some sort of trick up his sleeve. I should have known things wouldn’t have stayed the same above just because everything down here does.” He gestured toward her again. “Do it. Strike out. Make us both feel better.”

Her hands fisted by her side. How many times had she imagined grabbing Hollisworth’s punishment stick and driving it across his back? How many times had she dreamt of plowing her fist into every single man who was bigger and meaner and more powerful, who stole her choices, who used her while she let them because she had no other option?

“No.” She uncurled her fingers from her palm. Let her hand hang at her side. “I’m not like you. Or him. I don’t use brute force or brutality to bulldoze over others.” And once she started, she might never stop.

Something that looked a lot like pain flickered in his gaze before it turned dark and hard once more. “Fine, keep it all inside, let me wallow in my own punishment, but you need to fuck, Ava. Don’t let your anger at me bring you more pain.”

“So selfless,” she snarled.

“I never claimed to be selfless.”

“You should have believed me about the tracker.” The enraged words erupted.

“You’re right.”

His easy acquiescence only infuriated her more. “You should have listened when I said the ore in the mines could be used to destabilize it.”

“I’m listening now.”

It’s too late now!” she screamed. “Too late for me. Too late for you.”

“It’s not too late. It’s never too late until you’re dead.”

“You don’t get it. Thanks to you, Hollisworth is coming for me. He won’t let anything stand in his way. I hate what you did,” she hissed. “I’d rather die than let you fuck me again.”

A muscle ticked in his jaw. “You sure got passed your animosity the last time the heat was on you.”

Her rage flared higher. “That’s when I thought I had a Dragath chance in hell of escaping Hollisworth. Now, thanks to you, it doesn’t matter if I survive the heat. In fact, it’s better if I don’t.”

“Bullshit.” His chest heaved, his hands fisting by his sides, before he took a series of slow, deep breaths, his shoulders loosening as if he’d willed himself to relax. “I may not be a good man, but I’m nothing like that fucking monster you called a husband.” His voice deepened to a tempting rasp. “You know how good it can be between us.”

She shook her head. Looked away.

“You know your body won’t be able to resist the heat forever.” Same coaxing, low voice. “You said so yourself before. There’s always a point when the pain becomes too great. Why let it get to that point? Especially when it’s not too late.” He stepped closer. “We can do this. You said before you could use the ore down here to destabilize the tracker. Were you lying?”

“No.”

“Then give me the chance to make things right for all of us. Let me take care of the heat and then—”

“I want someone else. Give me to someone else.”

She was spun so fast she had no time to react. Her breasts and belly crushed to the rocky wall as the weight of hard steel pressed against her back, something big and thick digging into the small of her back. “No one else will fucking touch you.” His words were a low growl against her ear. “That’s nonnegotiable.”

“You gave me to Ryker.” The quiver in her voice embarrassed her. “Passed me off easily enough before.”

“To protect you. And you think that was easy? I’ve been down here two fucking years, Ava. Made choices time and again that turned my stomach, that haunt my fucking nightmares and nothing…nothing was as hard as that.”

“Bullshit.” Her body bucked against his, her anger so great it slammed through every tendon.

“You want the truth?” He whispered the words like a sacred confession, nipping at her ear, then laving it with his tongue. “I tried to remain detached. Tried to keep my distance. But I can’t.”

She shook her head, resisting the pull of his words.

“I can’t help myself,” he continued. “You responsive. You begging for my touch. You spread beneath me, hungry and wet and moaning for my cock. That’s all I see when I close my eyes. It might have only been once, but I can’t forget what happened between us. I can’t erase what it was like to see those emerald eyes bright with hope and awe.” Inhaling deep, his chin rubbed against her hair while his hand trailed lower, claiming her breast, his thumb and finger circling her nipple once, twice, before tightening around it. “Let me show you that again.”

Her breath grew more ragged. The ache between her legs deepening.

She fought it. “It…it won’t mean anything. It won’t be anything more than an itch scratched. A means to an end for you.”

“Are you so sure?” His fingers moved to torment her other breast, dragging a muffled moan from her.

Just like he intended.

“You want to fight those sweet sounds of surrender? You want to curse me? Fine, but you’ll do it with pleasure coursing through your blood.” He pushed his hand between her thighs, cupped her pussy in what could only be a claiming, the pressure of his hand pressing the crack of her ass onto his thick cock. “Pleasure I can give you over and over.”

“You need me alive still. To neutralize the tracker.” It was a reminder to herself more than anything. “That’s what this is really about. Don’t pretend it’s anything more.”

He stilled, anger coming off him in waves. “If that was all it was, I’d already be shoved deep inside you, taking care of the heat and getting off without a fucking care.”

“Why aren’t you, then?” She shouted, bucking against him once more. “Why are you doing this to me? I don’t want to want it. I don’t need to want it. Just…just do it. Take what you want.”

“No.” His hands dropped away, the hard heat of his body disappearing too. His voice almost weary when he spoke again. “From here on out, I’m only interested in taking what you’re willing to give.”

She swiveled around, her heart pounding fast, the dizzying, disorienting sense that she was suddenly on the edge of some precipice leaving her swaying on her feet. “What…what kind of trick is this?”

“No trick.” He held up in palms in surrender. “If all those taunts to Hollisworth were just bullshit, if instead of doing whatever it takes to survive, you want to ignore the ore finally within your grasp and just give up, fine. I’ll take what I need. I’ll force it from you because I made a promise to my men and I will see them reach the surface. But my men and I are in the fight of our lives and I was hoping you’d be right there by our side.”

Her breathing hitched.

“Make it your choice, Ava,” he all but growled. “Because I don’t only want that sweet, tight pussy and those emerald eyes bright with hope, I want what’s in that mind of yours, as well. I want you front and center in this battle, not tugged along behind like some passive victim who has no choice. It’s time to decide if you’re in this for real. If that strength and courage you showed when you stood up to Hollisworth and saved my men is going to be your guidepost from here on out. Or if you’re going to just let yourself get used until you’re used up.”

Un-fucking-believeable. “You were the one who screwed me over. You and Hollisworth. You think I wanted any of that? You think I asked to be used?”

“I think you don’t know how to be anything else.”

With a roar, she launched herself forward, her nails curved like claws, his words arrowing straight to the heart of her darkest fears. “How dare you?”

In that moment, she could have gleefully killed him.

But he was too fast.

Seizing her wrists, he pulled them behind her, toppling her off balance and shoving her against him, her too-fast breaths pressing her breasts against his hard chest with every inhalation.

Arctic eyes flecked with molten silver bored into her. “Then prove me wrong, Ava. Take what you need so we can go get that damn ore and defeat Hollisworth once and for all.”

Surging onto her tiptoes, she slammed her mouth against his.

His tongue met hers—wild, fierce, offering no quarter. Just like the man himself.

“Fuck, yes.” He released her hands. Grabbed her ass to yank her closer.

She wound her arms around his neck, her fingernails digging into his skin to hold him to her.

His growl of pleasure only heightened her need, and her fury.

Out of breath, she wrenched her mouth from his.

For an instant, they simply stared at each other.

“You want my help?” she said at last. “I want four things in return.”

She was done being taken. It was time for others to give.

“Tell me.” He hadn’t even blinked, but she somehow got the sense he was surprised—and pleased.

“First, I want an assurance you won’t tie me up again. We do this, we do it as equals, not captor and captive.”

“Done.”

“Second, I want extra ore to make my own stronger serum—one that I can use to try and neutralize the heat technology inside me as well.”

“Try?” He’d picked up on that unintentional word all too fast. “Why try?”

She waved her hand as if to brush the question aside. “It’s a more complicated, sophisticated technology. One that’s not simply floating around in my bloodstream, but imbedded in my brain. That makes neutralizing it more difficult. Still, it’s worth the risk.”

His expression blanked. “Worth the risk of death?”

The answer was so obvious, she didn’t even bother responding. “Third, I want my freedom.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once my side of the bargain is fulfilled and you’ve proof the trackers been neutralized, you let me go.”

He shook his head. “Hollisworth won’t come down here unless he sees you’re here. We need to see this through until the end.”

“Fine. The instant he’s down here, you release me.”

“It will be too dangerous. If you’re wandering the mines alone, I can’t protect you.”

“You can’t guard me anyway. You’ll be busy fighting Hollisworth and safeguarding your men.”

“I can do both.”

“And if your plans go south and you’re forced to choose? If all you have left to save your men from a lifetime down here is me? I’ve been your bait before. I won’t be again.”

His lips flat-lined. “That won’t happen.”

It wasn’t a risk she was willing to take. His men’s welfare came first. She wasn’t about to let herself become collateral in someone else’s game again.

“You want those trackers neutralized?” she challenged, speaking fast, the intensity of the heat indicating she only had a few more heartbeats until Hollisworth’s toy stole her strength and reminded her ex-captor he had his own bargaining chip. “Accept my terms.”

His eyes narrowed. He didn’t look so pleased anymore. Too bad.

“Fine,” he said at last. “I accept. And your fourth demand?”

She stepped closer. “Fuck me. Now. No more words. No more baiting.”

His hands gripped her ass and lifted her in the next heartbeat.

Her back hit the wall.

His hips drove between her thighs, spreading her legs wide, the hard heat of him poised at her center.

Their gazes locked—and then he thrust deep. Just as she’d craved.

Keening, she threw back her head and screamed.

His thick cock plunged through her swollen, slippery folds. Once, twice, three times before he worked himself deep inside.

She let out a scream, a mix of hate and lust and want, her head knocking the wall as he slammed home over and over again.

Her fingers curled to claws, her body shaking with need as she scrapped her nails down his back, determined to mark him as he was marking her.

“That’s it, Ava,” he growled. “Take what you need.” His hips pistoned faster, that perfect, taut ass flexing as he drove in and out, his hand slipping between them to play with her clit. Showing her all over again what Hollisworth never had. Caring. Generosity. Pleasure.

Taking her over and over and over again—even as he gave.

An assault on the senses. On her soul.

Because unlike Hollisworth, she couldn’t hate this man. No matter how much she should. He might have destroyed her, but he’d saved her, too. Shown her the stars. Touched her like she mattered. Demanded she fight.

She couldn’t hate him.

What she felt was far more dangerous. He messed with her plans. Threatened her logic and her defenses. Turned her into someone she didn’t recognize. One who reveled in desire. Pleasure. Who spread her legs wide and relished the rough thrust of his cock spearing deep inside her.

She wasn’t supposed to be this person.

But right now, she couldn’t make herself care.

Arching her back, she took him deeper. Spread her legs wider.

“That’s right, beautiful.” His approving growl whispered against her temple. “I need those sweet sounds in the back of your throat when I’m deep inside you. I want you clinging to me. Shining for me, even in the darkness.”

She exploded once more. Soaring even higher than their beautiful stars. Her toes curling as searing fire, pleasure and pain, burned through every cell and he grunted her name and hot liquid flooded her cunt.

It took several heartbeats to float back to reality and several more to register that the ringing in her ears wasn’t some kind of strange post-orgasmic glow, but genuine, unpleasant chiming.

When she did, the fall back to Dragath25 came fast and hard.

“What is that?” With him still inside her, she clapped her hands over her ears, almost taking his eye out with her elbow as she muffled the horrific shrieking sound.

For the first time since she’d met him, he hesitated, his expression turning grim as his hold on her hips tightened—as if he wished they could stay joined forever.

Her chest constricted. “Tell me.”

“The summoning,” he mouthed. “Hollisworth is calling us to work—and back to him.”