Released (The Eternal Balance #3)(42)

“Okay,” I said, resigned. I would either spend my last hours, minutes, whatever, attempting to fix this, or I’d be with her. “Is your offer still on the table?”

“I will return control over to you for the time you have remaining.” It drifted back into the corner, enough of the smoke dissipating so that I could see its lips moving. “You can say good-bye.”

I wasn’t ready to say good-bye.

Standing, I nodded. “You’ll let me keep it until the end? No matter what?”

“Yes—but I fear that will not be long. A day at best. Possibly less.” The smoke around my shadowy self thickened again until it was nothing more than a churning maelstrom. “But remember there is a task to complete. That has not changed. If we do not get to the stone before Zenak, there will be nothing I can do to keep Samantha Merrick safe.”

“I know.” I sucked in a breath and held it. If it was the last thing I did on this earth, I would make sure she stayed safe. “Do it.”

…

When I opened my eyes, I was aware of two things. One, it was still dark, and two, I wasn’t alone. I sucked in a breath and detected a familiar scent in the air. Sam mumbled something, still deep asleep, and scooted closer. For a second, I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

I moved slowly, careful not to jostle her, and wrapped my arm around her waist. She felt like heaven. Like home and peace. I leaned close to breathe her in. She’d left the light on across the room, and I could see tufts of emotion rising into the air. There wasn’t any one particular color. They were jumbled—which I’d found was pretty normal for sleepers unless they were having a dream.

We lay like that, for how long I wasn’t sure, but Sam stirred first. She stretched and, when she went to shift, froze. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I didn’t put you here. Looks like you crawled into bed with me.” I lifted my hand and laid it against her cheek.

“I wasn’t the one who put your damn hand—” She tensed. “You’re—it’s warm,” she whispered. With a sharp intake of breath, she shifted around so that we were face to face.

“Come on,” I said, running my index finger across her bottom lip. “Warm, Sammy? Really? I’m f*cking volcanic and you know it.”

“It’s a trick,” she said. There was the slightest tremor in her voice as she shook her head once. She threw off the covers and eyed me as she scrambled into a sitting position. Her colors were red, but there were ribbons of pink. Of hope. “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

A stream of lavender swirled around her. Guilt. “Azi did trick you, Sammy. What happened at the cabin wasn’t your fault.”

“Nothing happened,” she countered, the swirl of emotion growing just a bit thicker.

The demon had played on her emotions and used them as a weapon. I didn’t blame her at all, but a part of me was still jealous. And hot as f*ck.

I was there for every touch, every moan. I felt the sensation of being pressed against her, her skin beneath my fingers and her lips on mine, all while incapacitated. I’d felt the painful build up that came without release. Those moments in the cabin rushed back to me in vivid detail, cranked the temperature in the room to just above blistering, and made me hard in an instant.

“I don’t know how long I have.” My voice was hoarse, rough with need.

It wasn’t a lie. Azi said it didn’t know how long my essence would hold on. An hour. Two? Twenty-four? Yeah, we had a job to do, but there was time to kill. Time I intended to use well.

There was nothing standing in our way. For the first time, there wasn’t a demon fighting for control. Azi was still there, but it had settled in the background, honoring our deal. It didn’t need to be front and center to be with Sam. It felt what I did, experienced everything my body did. There was no power struggle. And I didn’t have to worry about accidentally claiming an energy that could send the balance of the universe sprawling on its ass. There was just Sam—and me.

“It is you…” She watched me for a moment before bringing her hand to my face. “But Azi said—how is this possible?”

“Does it f*cking matter?” I leaned in, took her face into my hands, and guided her closer. I kissed her with every intention of making it a slow burn. The first time we’d been together, it had been frantic. Desperate and raw—which had been amazing. But in those few seconds after our lips met this time, I came to a conclusion. There was no such thing as a slow burn when it came to Sam.

Everything about her set me on fire, and restraint was impossible.

She moaned into my mouth and tugged on my bottom lip, and I f*cking lost it. I gripped her hips and dug my fingers into handfuls of denim. In the back of my mind, a tiny voice said I should pace myself. Exercise some control.

Fuck that.

She gasped as I hefted her onto the middle of the bed and swung my leg around to settle over her left leg. I slipped an arm beneath her right knee and lifted so that her leg was high in the air, above my head, which gave me unfettered access to her. She gasped as I ground myself against her.

A husky laugh escaped her. “That feels much better without clothing.” She caught me off guard as she hooked her raised leg around my shoulders and knocked me sideways. As I readjusted, she hopped off the bed and started backing toward the far wall. The grin on her face almost made me explode right then and there. “But what makes you think that’s what I want?”