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Dropping my hand from Cassia, I faced Elijah. “The man is Wyvon, I have no doubt.”

He nodded. “I haven’t heard back from anyone else.”

I hadn’t expected he would, although disappointment wounded me. “No matter, I’ll deal with it.”

Fighting ten thousand men wasn’t something I’d ever done before on my own. Neither was conquering a vampire king and queen. It was a strange feeling, the sourness filling my chest. I’d never faltered, not once, but I also hadn’t had as much to live for.

Two thousand years was a lengthy time for a vampire. Not many survived this long, and those who did or surpassed it rose to esteemed positions like Annalise and Wyvon’s.

My ambitions had never stretched that high, but if I survived this, I wouldn’t have a choice. It’d be expected. To deny it would mean a life so fraught with danger that Cassia wouldn’t last five minutes. Every hour of every day, someone would be conspiring against us. That wasn’t something I would allow.

Elijah stared at me for a moment and nodded before his gaze flicked at Cassia. “I’ll make sure she is safe.

“Thank you.”

Elijah and Selena left the room, leaving the two of us alone. Cassia was sliding the curtain back into position. “So, you’re just gonna go take on ten thousand and two people on your own, right?” Her voice wavered as she tried and failed to keep her tone light.

My hands found her shoulders, and she stilled after dropping her arms by her sides. “Mm hmm,” I said.

“You do realize, don’t you, that you won’t be coming back.”

Her energy retracted, coiling inside her chest in a tight ball. “You don’t know that.”

“I’m not an idiot, Lukas.” She squirmed away from me and crossed her arms, facing me. “Obviously, you’re strong, I’ve seen it, but this is suicide. You can’t survive that many vampires and demons, if that’s what this army will be.”

I glanced down at my shoes before looking at her again. “You forget all the magic I took from the wraiths. I have some of Annalise’s now. Not to mention I also took advantage of that abomination at that woman’s house. No one has what I am now in possession of. Demon blood and angel. Pureblood.”

“So? Is that supposed to make me feel better? You’re not God, you’re not as immortal as I’d like you to be.”

“What the fuck do you want me to do!” I suddenly yelled at her. To her credit, all she did was blink. “If we do nothing, we both die—including your new friend. I am not going to stand around and pretend there isn’t thousands of beings out there waiting to tear you to pieces.”

I ran a hand through my hair and lowered my voice, “Maybe I won’t make it back here. Maybe they will kill us all, but at least I will know I killed a few, and that I did everything I could to protect you.”

Cassia placed her hand over her heart and then her hand trailed up to her face. She rubbed her temples with her fingers. “Maybe I should go home,” she whispered. “I don’t want to be responsible for anything happening to you.”

She gasped when I grabbed her waist. I slammed my lips to hers and walked her backwards to the bed, thrusting my hand behind my back to ward the door shut. “I can hear your heart racing. I can smell your fear,” I whispered in her ear. “Normally, I’d be flattered, but right now I want to smell something else of yours.”

Cassia’s face flushed prettily, and she placed a trembling hand on my waist. “Don’t you need to leave? What if they come here?”

First, I pressed a kiss on her forehead, and then the tip of her nose. Finally, I kissed her on the mouth and clutched her cheek, feeling the smooth skin beneath the pad of my thumb while I memorized every pore with each stroke.

“I’m not leaving without tasting you,” I said, my lips vibrating against hers with each syllable. “And I never will.”

Scooping her up into my arms, I laid her on the bed. “What do I do if you don’t come back?” She asked.

I braced myself above her and looked down into her eyes. “Elijah will take care of you. You’ll be safer here, with him, than you would be anywhere else—including what you called ‘home’.”

She wasn’t going to be happy with what I had planned, but I knew her. I knew what she would try to do.

I’d wanted to drive myself deep inside her, feel her pussy flutter around my cock one more time, but she was too distraught, too distracted, and I didn’t want to cause her anymore pain. She wasn’t turned on at all. I couldn’t fault her.

As if she could read my thoughts, she said, “I’m sorry. I think my mind is all over the place.”

My smile seemed to comfort her a bit, and her energy took on the slightest glow. “We can do that when I get back. For now, you’ll just give me your neck.”

With one hand, I gathered her hair and held her head to the side. Her cheek pressed into the pillow while my tongue slid up her neck in one long luxurious sweep. She shivered and I caught the lightest drift of her fragrance.

She tasted like almonds and smelled like honey, a combination I knew I’d never get enough of from her. I wanted to linger, to lose myself in the spell she so effortlessly spun around me, but I was running out of time.