The shove of psychic power that pulsed from him was so intense that the room dimmed for a moment. She clung to him, holding on, even as she tried to grab hold of her control. No, no, can’t take too much . . . can’t.

She’d taken too once much before and nearly killed her lover.

Death.

Not Sam! The hands that she’d had holding him so tightly suddenly shoved him back.

But apparently, he wasn’t in the mood to be shoved.

Sam’s body was like freaking granite. “Look at me, Seline.”

She’d squeezed her eyes shut a second before, afraid of what she’d see. Now, breath choking out, Seline slowly lifted her lashes.

Sam stared down at her. His hands held her tight. Seline shook her head and said, “I’m sorry.” The apology came because for just an instant, she remembered another time.

Another man.

She hadn’t understood her power then. Rogziel hadn’t told her how quickly the lust would build inside her and how she’d want to take.

No, Rogziel hadn’t warned her, not until after he’d found her lover’s weak body.

Never lose control. You could have killed him. Rogziel’s voice blasted from the past. Take only a little. You have to survive on tastes. Small sips of pleasure. That’s all. No more. Nothing more.

“You’re apologizing again? For what?” Sam demanded. He was still inside her body, and hardening again.

But was his c**k swelling because he truly wanted her? Or because she’d let too much of her power out and he had no control now?

“You need to let me go,” she told him, and hated that her voice came out so husky. He couldn’t afford to be weak with all the dangers closing in. How could she have taken such a foolish risk? He had to be at full power, she—

“And you need to tell me why you’re afraid to look me in the eye.”

Couldn’t he feel why? She forced her stare to meet his. “Because I took too much from you.” Her energy level was spiking so high she felt like she could fly right through the ceiling. Her fingers slid once more over his scars, almost helplessly.

He shuddered beneath her touch. “You gave.”

She blinked.

“When you came . . .” His head bent toward hers and his lips brushed across hers. “Sweetheart, you hit me with one powerful blast of energy. You didn’t take.”

Yes, she had. Her blood was pumping, and the energy all but crackled in the air.

“You gave me a surge of pure power, and it’s the damnedest thing I’ve ever felt before.”

She blinked eyes that had gone blurry. “That’s not possible. Rogziel—he said that I couldn’t ever transfer power. That if I wasn’t careful, I’d take too much from my lovers . . . all I can do is take, and if I take too much . . .” Her voice dropped. “I kill.”

Sam pushed his aroused flesh deep into her eager sex. “Angels are good at twisting the truth.”

She lost her breath.

“I’m not weak.” His gaze almost seemed to burn her. “I won’t ever be weak, no matter how much you take.”

He wasn’t human. Not a sixteen-year-old boy who had fumbled with her in the dark and gotten a near-death experience for his trouble.

“You can’t drain me, but, sweetheart, you’re not even trying. . . you’re . . .”

He withdrew. Thrust deep. Her legs wrapped around his hips as she pushed back against him.

“Giving to me,” he gritted, “making me stronger . . .”

He was making her stronger. Every touch. Every kiss.

His lips met hers in an openmouthed kiss. His tongue swept into her mouth.

Tension filled her body once more as they moved together. The thrusts weren’t as wild this time. Slow and steady, so deep. Her sex, sensitive from her climax, closed eagerly around his cock.

“Let go,” he told her. “Take, give . . . do whatever the f**k you want with me. You won’t hurt me.”

A lover who could handle her. She swallowed and held him tighter.

And took.

When the climax hit them both, the pleasure rushed through her body and flooded her being. She sent that pleasure out, working on instinct, and gave it right back to him.

The release she felt then was so powerful that it stole her breath. Her heart nearly burst from her chest, and she held on to Sam as tightly as she could even as the ripples of climax rocked between them.

When she could suck in a full breath, she tasted power and pleasure.

And knew—as she’d suspected from the beginning—that she’d found an addiction.