“Did you leave fingerprint bruises on my leg on purpose?” Riyah asked in the darkness.

“Yes,” came Vyr’s immediate reply.

“I’ve wondered that since you kissed me.”

“I’m gonna kiss you again someday.”

“Ahh, you’re back to fighting.”

“No. What are you doing right now?”

“Lying in bed,” she said. “Nevada and Candace are staying at a hotel next door to my apartment complex until we get things figured out.”

“What things?”

“You’ll see,” she said with a smile. She did her best to keep the plans a secret. Not because she wanted to keep things from Vyr, but because she wanted to give him an entire day of surprises tomorrow. He deserved a good day after what he’d been through.

“Why are you so nice to me?”

“Because I like you.”

“You like, like me?”

“I have a crush.”

“Fuuuuck. I wish I could’ve watched your lips when you said that.”

“What are you doing right now?”

“You don’t want to know.”

With a frown, she sat up in bed. “I want to know everything.”

“They never brought a bed into The Dungeon, and they haven’t taken me back to my cell yet. So…I’m lying on the concrete floor, hands linked behind my head, staring at a dark ceiling, and wishing to God I was in your apartment, lying next to you.”

“Vyr,” she whispered.

“Stop. At least we have this.”

Riyah drew her knees up to her chest. “You feel important.”

There were three beats of silence and then, “So do you.”

“I want to tell you something I’ve never told anyone. I want to tell you about what you saw in my head.”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

“Maybe not, but it has always felt like it.”

Vyr gave a mental sigh. “I’m ready.”

“Once upon a time, there was a witch and her daughter, and the witch had a husband who was a good man. The little witch was lucky, but sheltered because she had powers she sometimes couldn’t control, just like her mother. But by hiding, they attracted attention from a crew of very rare shifters that lived in the territory. Polar bears. They were trying to keep quiet. Keep from having to register like the government was making all the other shifters do. They would visit us and tell us to leave the territory because they were afraid we would attract attention. But we had nowhere to go. Eventually, the visits got scary. It wasn’t just about protecting themselves anymore. It’s like they could taste the magic, and it drew them in. Made them crazy. When they shifted, they would come closer and closer. And at nights, we could hear them roaring. Closer, closer, closer. The little witch’s father approached the crew to ask them to stay away, but he didn’t come back. And that same night, the roaring came right up to the trailer. The little witch’s mom scooped her up and ran out the back door just as the front door caved in. And they ran into the woods as fast as they could. And the little witch didn’t know she was doing it, but her fear was leaching power from her mother. So when her mother turned to defend them from the bears, she had nothing. No power.”

Riyah’s voice broke on the last word, so she paused and swallowed hard so her voice would come out steady again. “The little witch watched as the white bears ran through the trees. Two of them landed on her mother, and there were screams. And the little witch’s body was pulsing with power. The more scared she got as she screamed for her mother, the more the power burned to escape her. Fuck.” She wiped her damp cheeks fast and shook her head hard. Just say it. “My mom, she got a break from the attack, but I was surrounded. It was a big crew, and the bears were just…massive. She struggled to her feet and turned, and whatever she saw in me, it took the fear from her eyes. She was crying and bleeding, so much, but she told me, ‘Riyah! Do it!’ I was so scared of the white bears, but Mom said, ‘Baby, look at me.’ And she fell to her knees and said, ‘Do it now, Little Witch. Everything is going to be okay.’ And I screamed because the power hurt as it came out of me.”

Riyah swallowed a sob. “I decimated everything within a square mile, my mom included. So you see, Vyr, you think you’re a monster. And others think you’re a monster because you eat people. But they don’t realize you see the bad ones. You see evil, and you do something about it to satisfy your dragon. You protect your people at great cost to yourself. I, on the other hand, destroyed the person I loved the most. And she was good. Pure. Kind. You aren’t a monster, Vyr. I am. I see you. I know what it was like for you. You grew up different from everyone else. You had to hide all the real things about yourself. You had to appear tough, even when people hurt you with their words or the thoughts you could hear. You became steel. That scares other people, but for me, I love that I get to see past the steel. It makes me feel less alone.”

“You’re never alone. Not anymore, Riyah.”

“I will be if you quit fighting. So don’t. I don’t want to go back to the way it was. I want you to kiss me again. I want you to touch me, hug me, and when my world is crashing and burning around me, I want you to be the one to tell me everything will be okay. Promise me.”

“A promise like that should be made in person. What are you wearing?”

Baffled, she looked down at her oversize T-shirt. “Uuuh…sexy negligee?”

“Liar. Take off whatever you’re wearing.”

“Even my pink and black polka dot panties? I should tell you now I’m terrible at sex talk.”

“No, Badass Princess, you just did good. I can imagine those polka dot panties. They’re already way better than the brown ones.”

“Soft beige. And I’m wearing an extra-large, brown, threadbare root beer shirt that I bought with ten Pepsi bottle caps a decade ago.”

“I’m getting a boner.”

Riyah giggled. “Zip it,” she murmured, grateful that he was lightening up their conversation after her admission about her mother.

“I’m serious. Okay, imagine it. I’m lying right next to you. Kick the covers off.”

With a grin, she did and then laid back. “Covers are off. Root beer shirt is still on.”

“I’m running my fingertips up your ankle, up your shin lightly to your knee, over the curve to your thigh, up, up until I reach the hem of your shirt. I hesitate for just a second, and I’m looking right at you. I slide my hand under the shirt and grip your hip. Hard. I dig my fingers in and turn your body toward me.”

She turned and she could imagine him here, looking at her with those blue, human eyes, because here, in their world, she wanted to pretend he still had the dragon. She wanted to pretend they weren’t both damaged beyond repair. Tonight, she just wanted to be a regular girl in love with a boy.

“I hook a finger in the elastic of those panties and, slowly, I drag them down your hip, just enough to make room for my hand to slip between your legs.”

“Okay, this is really sexy,” she murmured, feeling flushed as she dragged her fingertip over her hip.

“We’re just getting started.”

She swallowed hard and murmured, “You don’t have a shirt on, and I’m running my palm down your chest, down your abs…”

“Mmmm,” Vyr murmured in a sexy, sultry groan. “Grab my dick. It’s so hard right now. I want to see your hand on it, stroking it. Slow. Do it slow at first.”

“I wrap my hand around you and push down, down, and you roll your hips, encouraging me. You keep us slow.”

“I’m cupping you between your legs, and you’re so fucking wet. I can feel it on my fingertips, and I’m desperate to be moving inside of you. My other hand…I’ve got it on your throat. I’m gentle about it. You give me this sexy, wicked smile because you know I won’t hurt you. You know I’m going to make you feel good. And I push my fingers inside you. Wet. So warm, I’m pushing my dick harder into your hand now because I’m getting desperate.”

“I bite your bottom lip to play. I like that you’re getting rougher but staying in control. I can feel a drop on the head of your cock when you pull back, and I want to taste it.”

“Fuck. Fuck, do that. Taste it.”

“You grip my hair, not hard, but with enough pressure that I know what you want. You pull your fingers out of me and push my face down toward your hips. And I slide my mouth over you.”

Vyr’s breath quickened, and God, she loved this.

“Keep going.”

“I put just enough pressure on you as I slide my lips down you as far as I can take, my hand gripping you, moving with my mouth. Slow at first, like you want. Slow, slow, and then your hand goes tight in my hair, so I suck on you faster. Faster and deeper, and you’re moving your hips with me.

“Touch yourself.”

Feeling wicked, she slid her hand down the front of her panties and pushed two fingers inside herself. She made a soft noise when she went deep enough to bump her clit. “Warm. Wet.”

“Oh my God, Riyah, I’m close. I want to finish in you though, so I pull out of your mouth and push you onto your back. Spread your legs for me. Do it now.”

She spread her legs wider and arched her back against the mattress, pushed her fingers into herself again and again.

“I’m between your legs now, kissing your lips but the head of my cock is right there, thrusting shallow. Barely pushing into you. Beg me.”

“Please, Vyr,” she whispered.

Vyr groaned a sexy sound, and she could imagine him stroking himself, thinking of her. This was the hottest thing she’d ever been a part of. “Fuck, I’m going so deep. I’m not gentle now. I’m rough and sliding into you fast, hard. Deep. Soooo deep. I’m close.”

“Me, too,” she whispered as the pressure built between her legs. “I wish you were really here. I want to feel you. Sooo bad.”

Vyr groaned again, and his breath was coming quick now. “Riyah,” he gritted out, just as she came.

Her body shattered around her fingers with such intensity she curled in on herself and screamed his name.

“I’m throbbing so hard, so deep in you right now.” His breath hitched, and she could imagine how warm it would be if he was spilling into her.

Her body twitched as her orgasm dragged on and on.

“You’re so beautiful. You know that, right?” Vyr asked.

Riyah smiled as her aftershocks slowed and faded. “You make me feel beautiful.”

“Good. I’m holding you now because you’ll want to flinch away from what I have to say. I’m hugging you tight, and you’re resting your head against my chest. I see you too, Riyah. I can see how good you are. I’ve read thousands of people over a lifetime, and no one has felt like you. I can immediately tell if a person is good or not. Doesn’t matter that they’re afraid of me. Everyone’s afraid of me. Fear is projected at me with this…dark energy, and I had to learn to absorb it. It’s poison and I’m a sponge, and I had to learn to just take it all into me. I hate fear the most. My soul can taste it, and it sickens me. But you…you’re light. You pull those shadows out of me and make each day easier. What happened to your mom—"

“You mean what I did to my mom?” she whispered in the dark.

“No…I mean what happened to her…that wasn’t your fault. Blame that fuckin’ crew if you want, but not yourself. Your mom made a sacrifice. She wanted you to be okay, and she told you to let go of what she’d given you. With each day you blame yourself? You take away from that sacrifice. Honor her, Riyah. Live a full life for both of you.”

She was tearing up a bit, but it wasn’t from heartbreak. She felt such potent relief that someone was giving her sanctuary from the guilt she’d carried for so long. But Vyr’s tone confused her. “Why does it sound like you’re saying goodbye?”

“Oh, I’m not. You’re stuck now, Badass Princess. You lost your broken dragon, but you gained a broken man. You’re mine. I’m yours. And when I get out of here, I’m going to try to be okay someday. For you.”

“Is that a promise you’ll fight for us?”

“Yeah, Riyah. For you, I’ll fight. Now go to sleep. I’m going to stay right here until you do. I’m not leaving you to the darkness. I’m here. Until you tell me to leave, I’m right here.”

She smiled sleepily. “I’m here, too. You aren’t in the dark either.”

“Riyah?”

“Yeah, Vyr?”

“Everything is going to be okay.”