Chapter 27 AURORA

“Night’s Truth,” came Esther’s voice.

A chill ran through me as she continued, “There’s no need for me to poison you. No need for me to kill you. You’ll make your own poison tonight. Or murder each other. I’ll be fascinated to see which.”

Night’s Truth. I’d heard of it. It was a witch potion that forced the people who took it to act on their deepest desires, truths they would only dare whisper into the night.

I immediately shrank away from Dane.

I knew his deepest desire. It was what he’d promised to do since the night we married.

I am going to be the one who kills you, Ann Reed.

As I felt the potion take hold, felt my inhibitions start to slip away like I’d drunk bottles and bottles of the sweetest wine, I knew I was about to die.

In the darkness, Dane groaned. I heard him shift, rise. “Aurora,” he whispered.

I pushed myself back. “Dane, you have to fight this. Please. I will—"

Because with each second that passed, my longing for the desire of my heart grew, as well.

And that would just get me killed more quickly.

Because as much as I’d tried to deny it, tried to fight it…

The thing I wanted most in this world was him. A man who’d never loved me, a man who was engaged to a woman. And that woman, Evelyn, was the one he’d always loved. Not only that, but she was carrying his child.

These thoughts were fleeting as Dane moved toward me in the dark. I tried to dodge him, but the space wasn’t very large, and there was nowhere to hide. He grabbed my arm and yanked me roughly toward him.

I shuddered, half lost to fear, half lost to my growing need. I wanted his hands on my skin like a starving woman wanted food. I wanted to feel his touch, even if it meant living my last moment.

But instead of snapping my neck like I thought he would, Dane pulled me roughly against him.

“Aurora,” he said in a voice like gravel.

Then he lowered his lips and kissed me like if he didn’t, he’d die.

Chapter 27 DANE

I listened to Esther’s words with grim, growing horror. Night’s Truth. I closed my eyes and tried to push back against it. But I could feel my inhibitions, my control, slipping away.

There was one thing I wanted, one thing I had denied myself for eight years…except once. One time, I’d tasted her. One time, I’d felt what it was like to be inside her.

Since then, I’d tried to forget.

Now, all those reasons melted away. I could scent her, even though my wolf was still dormant from the silver.

I remembered her hands on my forehead, soft and cool and caring. I closed my eyes and tried to fight it, tried to remember I had a pack that depended on me for safety.

A fiancé who was having my child.

Maybe I didn’t love Evelyn. Maybe I had realized I never would. But I couldn’t betray her… I couldn’t…

Betray…

I heard Aurora move in the darkness. Her sweet lilac scent washed over me, but also the sharp edge of fear.

Was she afraid?

Chapter 27

I stood, said her name. She begged me to fight the magic, and I did.

But I had been fighting the way I felt about her for eight fucking years. My strength to resist her was thin at the best of times.

Now it snapped.

I said her name, stalked her movements in the dark, then struck. I pulled her against me. She didn’t fight. She melted into me, like honey. So fucking sweet.

I kissed her.

Not the harsh, possessive kiss like the one at the gala. That kiss had been about ownership, about vengeance.

But deep inside me, somewhere so deep I hardly knew it was there, I didn’t want to own her. I didn’t want revenge.

I just wanted her. Her sweetness, her cleverness, her strength. I wanted her.

Above, Esther laughed quietly. “So, you won’t kill her. I should’ve known. The Montagues think they’re the knights of the goddess. But Dane Montague is just as low as the rest of us. He doesn’t want his pregnant fiancé. He wants the woman who betrayed him, over and over and over again.”

I knew she was speaking, but my mind rejected her words.

They didn’t matter.

Chapter 27

Nothing mattered but the fact that I had Aurora in my arms, and I was kissing her, and she was kissing me back.

I lifted her, and her legs wrapped around my waist. I was hard for her. So fucking hard. She moaned and rocked against me, and this was right. This was how it was supposed to be.

Sounds echoed through the cave. Above us, Esther cursed. Her footsteps echoed, then faded as she ran away.

I didn’t care.

“Dane,” Aurora’s voice caught and shuddered as she whispered my name. Her fingers dug into my back as she arched, trying to get closer. Her body was so perfect, so soft. She was everything.

I walked forward until we came to the cave wall. I touched it, making sure it was smooth, that it wouldn’t bruise her. Then I pressed her back against it, leaned my weight into her. She gasped.

Words flooded from my mouth. “You’re all I want. I never moved on. I never should have severed our bond. I never should have let you go.”