He stepped forward, shedding his clothes as he came. He prowled. He stalked me.

His muscles rippled. God, those muscles. I was in a shower, and my mouth dried at the sight. That said everything. Every inch of him was defined, all the way to his stomach and past when he pushed his pants down. He dropped them on the ground, lifting his feet clear.

He toed off his shoes and socks. I knew he had a gun. But I didn’t know where it was.

He paused right before coming into the shower, his boxer briefs still on, and he waited. He waited for me.

He was giving me this decision.

I stopped thinking. Stepping out of the shower spray, I walked to him. His eyes never left mine, and they grew hungrier with every inch of space that disappeared between us. I stopped right before him.

My body was slick.

His chest lifted in a slow breath. He still didn’t move. He waited.

And then I lifted the bottle, took a last swig, and handed it over. He took it, set it behind him in the sink. And he waited again.

My chest rose, a small motion as I filled my lungs once, then closed the distance.

His heat. He was power. I’d felt it before, but not like this, not when I knew he was going to be inside of me. My breasts touched his chest. My hand skimmed down his side, following the dips and rises of his muscles until it came to his waistband, that one last bit of a barrier between us. My lips grazed over his shoulder as I began to push his boxer briefs down.

His mouth found mine, and that was it. He took command. Demanding.

He picked me up, walking back into the shower, and my hand found him. My fingers wrapped around his cock, and I held him as his tongue swept into my mouth.

He wasn’t inside me yet, but I still felt him. He pushed all the darkness away. It didn’t matter in that moment that he was the reason it was there in the first place. He claimed me, and if I were being honest, I would’ve admitted he’d claimed me long ago.

He pressed me against the shower wall, and I wound my legs around his waist.

Our mouths opened over each other, and I groaned, my fingers tightening over him.

A rush of air left him. He pulled back just enough to growl, “If you don’t put me inside you in the next second—”

I lined him up with my entrance and pushed my hips down. He waited, letting the tip sink in before he dropped a hand to my waist and thrust the rest of the way.

There.

That’s how we were supposed to be, as one.

Another savage growl left him as he dropped his mouth to my throat. He paused. He was waiting for me again.

I began moving my hips, rocking into him.

His hand slid back up my side, grabbing my breast and covering my nipple. He bent, his mouth taking one breast as he kneaded the other. Then he started thrusting. Hard.

I gasped, a shout working its way out of my throat.

There was no foreplay here. The entire time I’d been with him was our foreplay. This was now. Enough waiting.

I rode him as hard as he was fucking me.

I needed more.

I laid my head back against the wall, my mouth gaping at the pleasure coating every fucking inch of my body.

He moved in and out, forceful, and I met every roll of his hips.

Fucking hell.

In. Out.

Harder.

Deeper.

Faster.

I raked my nails down his arms, curving in and holding on for balance.

I slammed down on him until a guttural groan left him and his hand grabbed my waist. He held me still, then began thrusting harder. I didn’t think he could’ve, but he did.

I screamed as I went over the edge and my body spasmed in his arms. My back arched and stayed arched as the waves rammed over me. I dissolved into a puddle as Kai stopped moving.

“Wha—”

He carried me out of the shower, still inside me, and took me to my room. Before laying me down, he pulled out, but immediately climbed between my legs once again. I wrapped my hand over his dick.

He hadn’t come yet.

As in the shower, I lined him up, and he didn’t wait this time. His hand flexed over my hips, and he moved in. He took his place, and then he screwed me. My entire body moved with the force of his thrusts, and before he’d finished, I felt another climax rising in me. Reaching blindly, I grabbed above me, taking hold of the headboard. Lifting up off the bed, I crossed my ankles behind his back and pushed back at him. He caught my ass, his fingers sinking into my skin. His mouth fell to my breast again. He tasted me as he came, exploding inside, and then I was meeting him.

I came apart in his arms once again, the fourth time in a span of twenty-four hours.

Easing out of me, Kai moved to lie next to me.

I could feel his heart rate slowing, and I knew he could feel mine. He draped an arm over me, his leg twined still with mine.

“I’m clean. I’m on the pill,” I told him.

He nodded, his lips grazing my shoulder. “I know.”

“You know?” I tensed, turning my head to him.

His fingers circled my breast. “Jonah forwarded your file to me.”

Jesus. Even with sex, he didn’t mess up.

I shouldn’t have been shocked. I should’ve learned by now.

He ran his hand down my stomach, dipping between my legs, and one of his fingers moved inside of me.

I grunted, lying back down and spreading my legs.

I’d already come. I didn’t know if I could handle another, but he began moving in and out of me, a slow fucking, almost lazy. As he kept going, I began to move with him. This time, the climax was a slow journey, like the best blanket I’d ever felt warming my insides until the pleasure built, built, and I snapped, the edge coming at me with breakneck speed.

I gasped, sweat covering my chest. Kai dropped his mouth down, teasing me, trailing between my breasts before running back up, lingering at my throat, then finally moving to my lips. It was a soft kiss, like dessert after a five-course meal.

My entire body was boneless. I was a puddle of contentment. The self-loathing was gone. I knew it would come back. It was inevitable. As long as I couldn’t say no to this man, I would be on this ride of exhilarating highs and pleasure to dangerous lows.

The sound of someone outside my door had Kai stiffening next to me.

There was a knock. “Sir?”

Kai gave me an apologetic look before sliding off the bed. He snagged a blanket from the closet, draping it over me and bent to kiss me.

“Sleep, if you can,” he whispered before standing up. “I’ll be back.”

He went through the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

A moment later I heard the door across the hall open and the faint sound of a conversation. They must’ve moved into his room.

I could’ve gotten up, gone to the bathroom, tried to eavesdrop.

I did nothing.

I fell asleep, just as he said.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Blade: I found Brooke.

The text came in at 6:43 am.

I woke up, hearing the buzz, and grabbed the phone from the nightstand. It took a second for the brevity of those words to sink in. Blade wouldn’t lie. Not this time. The timing wasn’t right for that. No. This was the truth.

I glanced over, but Kai wasn’t next to me. The bathroom door was closed, so I couldn’t see to his side. I decided not to think about where he might’ve gone.

I sat up and texted back.

Me: Where?

Blade: 44, 93

They were coordinates. I plugged them in and stared a moment.

I felt a burn starting in my gut.

The train went to Winnipeg. It made sense for her to go south on 29, then take 94 all the way to Minneapolis in Minnesota. It was a seven-hour drive. Seven. Hours. The train might’ve been longer from Edmonton to Winnipeg. How had no one considered this?

Me: How was she missed?

Blade: She stayed to the corners, like you instructed. Switched trains walking with an elderly man. She had a full disguise.

The disguise wasn’t from me. The elderly man hadn’t been either, but it was perfect. The elderly were overlooked so easily.

Me: I have my Raven passport. Can you book me on a flight…

I stopped typing. What was I doing? I didn’t know where I was in New York. Turning on GPS could get me an Uber, but I had to be serious. Kai would know about these texts—maybe even knew already—and the chances of me sneaking away, getting a ride to the airport, getting on a flight to Minneapolis before Kai did were slim to none.

I’d gone into Hider mode.

It was a relief to know I still had it in me. It hadn’t left me, like so much of my resistance had.

Instead, I texted:

Me: Can you narrow it down? House, apartment?

Blade: I did better. She’s in a basement.

And he gave me the actual address. We only needed to drive up and knock on the door.

Me: Is she using a phone?

Blade: Working on that. If I get all this, and she’s safe when the big bad brother finds her, does that mean you come back?

Me: If 411 will have me.

That was the truth. I wanted to go back. I wanted that normalcy again. Everything made sense as a Hider. I knew right from wrong, top from bottom, and I knew which side I stood on: the right side. If I stayed…

Me: Thank you, Blade.