Page 23 of Shifting Desire
“Sweetheart...”Her voice softens.“Wanting him doesn’t make you weak.It makes you honest.He made a terrible choice, but you’re allowed to want more than just vengeance.You’re allowed to want answers.Closure.Him.All of it.”
“I’m scared.”
“Of him?”
“No.”I pause.“Of what it means if I don’t walk away.”
She doesn’t say anything.Because she knows.If I let this bond in, if I claim it, him, it changes everything.I’ll never be just me again.I’ll be us.
Bound to a man who’s feared.Powerful.Loyal.Vicious when crossed.Unforgiving.
But also, a man who’s spent years choosing me in silence.Who gave up the only thing that’s ever mattered to his kind, an untainted legacy, for a half-human girl with mismatched eyes and a messy apartment.
Who brought me dinner.Who didn’t push.Who waited.Even when it tore him apart.And maybe that’s love, too.
Not just fire and fate.But choosing to stay, even when it hurts.
****
Idon’t sleep again.
But just before dawn, I grab my jacket and walk.To him.
Because if I’m going to burn for anyone, it might as well be the dragon who’s already on his knees.
Chapter Ten
Malichai
Let Her Burn Me
The city is quiet beforedawn.
Not peaceful, New York never is, but quiet in that way a storm goes silent before the thunder hits.Like the entire world is holding its breath, waiting to see if something beautiful or catastrophic is coming next.
I know that feeling.Because I’m standing in the middle of my office, shirt half-buttoned, eyes on the elevator, waiting for her.
