Keira’s screams echo in my brain on repeat as I thrash against the sheets and drag myself from an uneasy sleep. What the fuck did they give me? I told them I didn’t need shit. I needed to stay aware. On guard.

The same thoughts have been on repeat in my brain since that fucking bullet slammed through the windshield. I can’t lose her. Don’t you fucking take her from me.

“Where is she?” My voice sounds hoarse to my own ears when it finally cooperates, but there’s no way to miss the desperation underlying my demand. “Is Keira okay?”

“I’m right here.”

Keira’s small hand closes over mine. The tension leaves my body at her touch, even as the scent of disinfectant fills my nose.

“I made them move you closer to me since they threatened to handcuff me to this bed to keep me in it when I tried to get to yours.”

Her voice is husky and barely loud enough to hear over the beeping of the machines, but her words wrap around me, settling me down even more. How I earned that kind of loyalty from her, I’ll never understand. I’ll never let her take it back, either.

I scan every inch of her body, from her messy red hair down to the blue scrubs she’s wearing. No signs of blood anymore. She’s in one piece, and her face isn’t pinched with pain.

“Please fucking tell me you’re okay.” In my nightmare, she was screaming because she was dying, and I couldn’t save her. Those screams were worse than the pain of any of the bullets I’ve had punch through my body. A million times worse than being hit by that Mercedes so fucking long ago. Worse than any stab wound or other injury I’ve endured or could imagine.

“I’m fine. You’re gonna be fine. We’re both going to be fucking fine, or I swear to God, I will hunt down whoever did this and kill them myself.” Icy determination backs her every word.

My bloodthirsty hellion. My defiant queen.

I shouldn’t smile about it, but when it comes to this woman, nothing is rational. She came from a bubble, a world that I’ve never inhabited. When I dragged her into the shadows and darkness, I gave no thought to the consequences of my actions beyond the satisfaction I would gain from her submission.

I’m a selfish man. I know myself well enough to accept it. I take, and take, and take.

That’s what I intended to do with Keira Kilgore. Take her until I was sated. But tonight, the only thing I wanted to take was every single bit of her pain, regardless of whether it killed me.

I’ve never believed in selflessness. I thought it was a myth. But where Keira Kilgore is concerned, my beliefs have shifted.

Everything has shifted.

Life taught me not to get attached to a single fucking thing, because nothing in this world is permanent. Everything is temporary.

I no longer accept that when it comes to her. She’s mine. She’s staying mine. Even my black heart couldn’t handle losing her. I will keep her safe with my very last breath, if necessary.

I’ve avoided weakness like other men avoid the devil . . . or me. But I didn’t care about weakness in the moments when I thought I might lose her. That’s when something else became clear—losing Keira Kilgore would mean losing my strength.

This fiery redhead, with sparks flaring in her green eyes, shifted the foundation of my whole world.

“I thought I lost you,” she says, her gaze filling with anguish. “I never want to feel like that again.”

“Never. The devil won’t even take me.”

“Promise me.”

Nothing is permanent, my inner voice reminds me. But I’m Lachlan fucking Mount, and I make the rules and can change them anytime I want.

“I promise.”

She squeezes my hand tighter. “Good.”

“I should make you go. Send you somewhere safe, as far away from me as I can get you, but—”

“I dare you to try.” Keira lifts her stubborn chin.

“If I were a better man, that’s exactly what I would do.”

Her expression turns mulish, her jaw clenching. “Then it’s a good thing you’re not.”

The door opens, and one of the docs whose name I can’t remember comes in. “Mr. Mount, how are you feeling?”

My first reaction should be to drop Keira’s hand, to make sure he doesn’t see how fucking gone I am for her, because it would be an admission of weakness. But that’s not at all what I do.

Instead, I thread my fingers through hers, and we present a united front to him.

“Like I’ve been fucking shot and sewn up.”

“I can have the nurse increase your pain meds. You won’t feel anything then.”

He backs away toward the door, and I stop him.

“No. You already gave me too much. I don’t want anything else. I want to feel it. Every single fucking bit of it. I’m not letting you knock me out again.”

“Lachlan—” Keira’s voice is low, and her squeeze of my hand is tight. When I squeeze back, she goes silent.

“Make sure Ms. Kilgore has all the pain meds and everything else she needs, but leave my shit alone. Tell V to get in here when you leave.”

The doctor nods and turns to retreat, his stare sweeping across our joined hands.

“Breathe a word of what happened tonight, and—”

“I wouldn’t dare, sir. Hit the call button if either of you need anything at all. We’re at your service for as long as you need.”

As soon as he leaves the room, Keira jerks her hand out of mine. I want to snatch it back, but she’s too busy wagging a finger in my face.

“Don’t you try to tough out the pain like a stubborn ass. Take the drugs.”

I turn toward her, my body protesting against the movement, but I need to see her face so she understands exactly why I refused them.

“If I’m under, I can’t protect you, and that’s not an option. You’re tied to me. Your safety—your life—is in my hands, and that’s not something I’m willing to risk just to save myself a few hours of pain.”

“A few hours?” She scoffs. “You were shot. It’s not like it was a freaking paper cut.”

“It wasn’t the first time. Probably won’t be the last.”

Keira growls, and it’s clear that any fear she used to have of me, even well-masked fear, is gone completely. “Don’t you dare get shot again.”

“I can’t promise you that.”

“Then lie to me. Give me something.”

A rough laugh rumbles up from deep inside me. One of a kind. I knew it before, and she’s proven it every day since.

Lies. They’ve always fallen so easily from my lips. Second nature. First choice. But in this instance, I can’t do it.

“No more lies. Not between us. Not anymore.”

Keira’s head jerks back, shock flashing across her features. “Does that mean you’re going to tell me all your secrets if I ask?”

I glance toward the ceiling. Of course she would go there. She wouldn’t be the partner I never knew I wanted—never knew I needed—if she didn’t.

I release a long breath, a large part of me not believing what I’m about to do. But like I realized earlier, everything has changed.

“What do you want to know?”