“And Midnight?”

“I have no idea,” Shadow admitted, with reluctance. He really hated not knowing everything. “I can’t sense it anywhere close by, so maybe still in the realm?”

That had been my thought too. My hope. Because I refused to believe it was gone-gone.

“Can you get the Solaris System back?” I tentatively asked, not sure I wanted to hear the response if it was a no.

I felt zero reassurance when Shadow huffed. “It took me hundreds of years to establish it originally, but I can sense that the base of the power is still intact, and I’m a lot stronger than I was back then, so… I believe I can.” His eyes darkened into pits of golden lava. “But before we try that, there’s one thing I need first.”

My pussy spasmed because she knew what was going on.

Shadow walked me back until my legs hit his bed, and when I was crowded between the massive mattress and an equally massive being, I felt no fear or claustrophobia. I felt alive. The parts of me that had been ragged and broken were finally moving back into the places they’d originally been before Dannie had taken a sledgehammer to us.

Dannie.

She was an issue we’d have no choice but to deal with later, but for now, the focus was… elsewhere.

Shadow’s hands closed around my waist as he slowly dragged me up his body. I attempted to wrap my legs around him, but he was having none of that, his power holding my limbs. Even as I arched to try to rub my naked parts against his naked parts, desperate to ease the ache inside, he stopped this as well.

His power held me; his hands controlling every move I made.

“I cannot change my nature for you tonight,” he warned.

I knew what that one sentence meant. I was getting the full ride, pun intended. An experience that was almost certainly going to destroy parts of me, but it was all good. That wasn’t a glib, throwaway statement either. Having lost Shadow once, I would take any sort of physical pain before I’d do that again. Whatever happened today was a gift.

His fire surged, as did mine, and I felt the scrape of his tongue and five o’clock shadow across my sensitive skin as he dragged his tongue and mouth down my stomach, following the line of my body. He held me up off the bed as he devoured every part of me he could touch, and only a god would have the strength to do what he was, using nothing more than his triceps, chest, and shoulder muscles to keep me elevated.

When he released some of his control on me, my hands scraped across his skin, searching for traction, until I managed to slide them into his hair. It was only as I tugged on the short strands that I realized Shadow was no longer in possession of his signature tousled wave. My eyes flew open, and despite his intensely pleasurable journey, which had now reached the junction of my thighs, I forced myself to examine his shorn locks. Now, with the light of our fires burning around us, I saw him clearly.

Holy fuck me sideways.

Shadow was always beyond hot, dangerously sexy, and incredibly perfect, but this new haircut was… damn. It was like every plane of his masculine face was on view for me, giving him a scarier vibe, while taking away nothing of his beauty.

“Your hair,” I whispered, sounding like an awestruck teenager who had just met her favorite rock star. “What happened to it?”

He rumbled, power vibrating my clit, and I clenched my legs to try to stave off an orgasm. It was always so fast. Too fast. And despite knowing I’d probably have ten orgasms tonight, I wanted to make this first one last.

I tugged on his hair again, or at least attempted to, my fingers slipping through the short strands. “Shadow, what happened to your hair?”

“I cut it.”

Just as I was running that simple statement through my head, he bit into my thigh. A hard, punishing action, which I fucking loved. To return the favor, I wrapped my thighs tightly around his head, waiting for him to take control of me again.

Which he did, his hands closing around my waist as he bit into me again, over and over, across my thighs and along the sides of my pussy. It hurt, but with each bite of pain, followed by a swirl of his tongue, my body forgot everything except feeling the dual sensations. When his teeth finally closed down on my clit, I screamed, unable to stop the heavy swirls of arousal from exploding through my body.

Before I even had a chance to ride out that orgasm, he shifted positions, holding my body above him as he buried his face in my pussy. His happy groan as he tasted me properly was enough to have me crying out again, and as I thanked the fucking gods for this moment, I found myself flat on my back, Shadow crowding over the top of me.

Staring up at him, I felt the swelling of heat in my chest as all my feelings tried to make themselves known at once.

“Why did you cut your hair?” I asked softly.

I needed to know what he’d gone through when we’d been apart. I needed to fill in the blanks of what I’d been missing.

Shadow’s expression didn’t change, the flare of arousal in his gaze about as strong as I’d ever seen from him. “Nothing was the same without you. I didn’t know why, but I knew that I was missing something vital to my survival. I searched, and I destroyed. More than just the Solaris System. I stripped myself bare so I could build myself up again and find the fundamental part of my soul that was missing. Only you weren’t there.”

Fuck. He might not think the word “love” meant much, but he spoke a language of love without even realizing it.

“Never again,” I said fiercely, reaching for him, and for once, he allowed me to drag him down to my level. Our kiss was bittersweet and perfect.

A kiss to soothe and heal.

A kiss to cleanse our pain from many bitter nights apart.

A kiss to break the final dredges of Dannie’s spell.

A kiss of love. No matter what my beast might think.

23

Shadow always kissed like he never wanted to stop. It was part of what made up the beast, and his need to have his mouth on any part of my body… Yeah, I was here for it.

Just the thought that I might have never kissed him again almost broke me. Thankfully, when Shadow’s kiss turned harder, more passionate, as his tongue tangled with mine, it was all the distraction I needed to forget everything else.

Lifting me from the bed, he never broke the contact between our lips as he spun us around. I found myself with my back against the wall, his weight pressing into me. Opening my legs wider, I rubbed against him, surprised he was letting me. It was all explained when he slammed up into me, hard and fast. Even as ready as I was, he was so fucking huge that pain and pleasure were instantaneous. Fighting for dominance, both sensations danced on the edge of what I could handle.