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“And now?” Carson’s voice was steady, but the bond carried a thread of unease. “What does it mean with me here?”

Mathias reached out and settled a cool hand against the side of Carson’s neck, feeling the warm pulse under his palm. “It means the stakes are higher. They will not stop at the camp if they realize what you are to me. A human bound this tightly to one of us is...noticeable. Valuable to some. A warning to others.” He held Carson’s gaze. “If the pressure increases, we leave. No debate. No trying to hold the territory. We disappear.”

Carson covered Mathias’ hand with his own. “Together.”

“Together,” Mathias agreed.

Outside, the night remained quiet. But the iron trace at the edge of his senses did not fade.

Chapter Ten

Carson

He blinked at the calendar on his phone, the dates blurring into nonsense. Thursday? It had been Monday when he last remembered sitting at his desk, Drew’s worried face swimming in and out of focus. Whole days gone—blackouts that swallowed hours like smoke. He stood in his kitchen, staring at a half-eaten meal he didn’t remember cooking, the taste of heat with a metal edge still ghosting across his tongue. Tremors rattled his hands as he held to the counter.

Renfieldism. The word Mathias had warned him about slithered through his thoughts, the slow decay, a person’s mind unraveling while the body craved only the bond.

Another convulsive shudder ripped through him, knees buckling. He slid down the cabinets, cock twitching helplessly against his thigh at the phantom press of cool skin and possessive grips. Hallucinations again, ones filled with Mathias’ rough voice speaking inaudibly as fangs grazed his throat. He came untouched with a broken moan, a shattering orgasm leaving him gasping on the tile, bitter bile rising in his throat.

The door opened without a knock. Mathias filled the frame, eyes wild with concern and hunger.

“Carson.”

***

Mathias

Mathias had felt the fractures through their link, each blackout like a fresh tear in the soul-mate bond. He crossed the room with an inhuman quickness, gathering Carson from the floor and carrying him to the bed. The man’s skin burned against his chill, quivering with need that mirrored his own.

“You’ve been feeding from me more than you’ve admitted,” Carson rasped, pushing up on shaky elbows. His eyes—still sharp, still his—pinned Mathias with accusation. “The blackouts. The lost days. This is Renfieldism, isn’t it?”

Mathias knelt beside the bed, head bowed. The mutual addiction clawed at him too. Carson’s blood had quieted the sun’s jealous whispers more effectively than anything in decades, but the cost was heavy. “Yes. I’ve taken too much. Not just the feeding at the reaping or the healing exchange. Night after night, I’ve come to you while you slept, easing my hunger on your exquisite taste. The bond demands it. I vowed to stop after the rogue attack, but resisting you is like resisting life itself.”

Carson’s laugh cracked into a sob. “You swore you wouldn’t ruin me. And now I can’t even remember my own fucking week. My friends look at me like I’m a stranger. This is what your love costs.”

Mathias’ jaw tightened, but his voice stayed low, dangerous. “And you think I don’t feel the weight of it? Every night I fight the urge to give you more, knowing it could break you. Knowing I’m dragging you down with me.”

“You’re the one who keeps coming back while I sleep!” Carson jabbed a finger at his chest. “You talk about choice, about not turning me, but you take what you want anyway. What about my choice?”

Mathias’ control snapped.

He surged forwards with inhuman speed, slamming Carson back down onto the mattress. Strong hands pinned his wrists above his head as their bodies collided hard enough to knock the breath from both of them.

“You think the stream only flows one way?” Mathias growled, voice satin wrapped around gravel, raw and trembling with barely leashed need. His hips pressed down, grinding against Carson’s in a deliberate, possessive roll. “This mutual addiction devours us both. Every drop of your blood quiets the sun for me, and every time I take it, I hate myself a little more. But I can’t stop. Gods help me, I can’t stop wanting you.”

Clothes tore away in frantic urgency. Mathias entered him in one desperate, powerful thrust, bodies fusing with raw, aching need. Carson arched with a convulsive shudder, legs locking around the vampire’s waist as the shattering pleasure ripped through him. Each brutal stroke drove deeper, cool flesh against fevered heat, the bond flaring bright and painful between them. Mathias drank sparingly from his throat—careful even now—while Carson begged with broken, desperate cries.

“Harder—ruin me. I need the high. I need you.”

Orgasms crashed over them in relentless waves, convulsing shudders racking Carson’s frame as he spilled between them, clenching tight around Mathias. The vampire followed with a deep, guttural roar, flooding him with his release, binding them tighter than ever.

In the trembling aftermath, Mathias held him close, lips brushing sweat-damp hair. Carson’s mind cleared slightly in the euphoric haze, but the realization settled heavy and undeniable in his chest: He craved the ruin. The blackouts, the lost days, the shattering ecstasy—they terrified him, yet some dark, hungry part of him wanted more.

Mathias pulled back enough to meet his eyes, voice raw. “The choice is yours now, beautiful one. Break free while you still can...or you surrender to this completely. Stay with me on the edge, knowing it may consume everything you are.”

Carson stared into those ancient eyes, the snare around his heart tighter than ever, the high still singing in his blood.

What would he choose?