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I cover her hand with mine. “You weren’t.”

“I know that now.” Her eyes lift to mine, glassy, overwhelmed in a way she doesn’t try to hide from me anymore. “But this is different. This is real.”

I curl my hand around the back of her neck and pull her in until our foreheads touch. “Everything about us has always been real, Echo. This is just the part where you finally get to hear me say it.”

She makes a sound against my mouth that isn’t quite a laugh or a sob, and then I’m kissing her, slow at first, letting every word I never got to say pour into it instead. Her fingers fist in my cut, and I walk her back toward the bed, a low growl building in my chest that I can finally let loose instead of choking down.

“Say my name,” I tell her against her throat, my voice dropping into something darker. “I want to hear you say it while you know I can answer.”

“Carnage.” The sound of my name in her mouth hits different now that I can answer it.

“Again.”

She swallows. “Carnage!”

I growl low against her throat and bite down just hard enough to make her gasp. “That’s it. Keep saying it. I want that fucking name in your mouth while I take what’s mine.” I walk her the rest of the way to the bed and push her down onto it.

She lands on her back, her eyes dark, already breathing harder.

I shrug out of my cut and toss it to the desk, then reach back and drag my shirt over my head. Her gaze drops over my chest, my ink, the scars, and something hungry settles into her expression.

“Clothes off,” I tell her. “Now.”

She doesn’t argue. Just sits up and starts stripping shirt, bra, jeans, everything, while I work my belt open and shove my jeans down. By the time I’m naked, she’s already bare and waiting, silver hair spilled across my sheets, her eyes locked on me like she still can’t quite believe I’m real.

I climb onto the bed and plant a knee between her thighs, forcing them wider. My hand closes around her throat, not hard, just enough pressure to make her feel it, and I lean down until my mouth is right next to her ear. “You spent twelve years running,” I say, my voice rough. “Hiding. Letting other people decide what happened to you. That shit ends tonight.”

Her breath stutters, and I drag my mouth down her throat, my teeth scraping over the silver scars, then lower. I take one nipple into my mouth and suck hard enough to make her arch off the bed. She gasps, her fingers flying to my hair, but I catch both her wrists and pin them above her head with one hand.

“Stay,” I order.

She does, and I keep working her breasts until she’s shifting restlessly under me. Only then do I start moving lower. I kiss down the center of her stomach, feeling every muscle jump under my mouth. When I reach the top of her pussy, I pause, looking up at her. “Eyes on me.”

Echo forces her gaze down. I hold it while I drag my tongue through her in one long, slow lick. She jerks, a broken sound leaving her throat. I do it again, slower, spreading her open with my free hand so I can get exactly where I want.

She’s already wet. I can taste it.

I settle in properly and start eating her like I’ve got something to prove, long strokes, then focused attention on her clit, two fingers sliding inside her and curling. She tries to close her thighs around my head, but I shove them wider with my shoulders and keep going.

“Fuck… Carnage—”

“That’s it,” I growl against her. “Make noise for me. I want to hear every fucking sound.”

I add a third finger and work her harder, my tongue relentless on her clit. Her power starts rising under her skin, answering the heat of my hellfire, and I feel the exact moment she starts climbing. Her thighs shake, and her breath turns short and desperate.

I pull back just before she tips over, wiping my mouth on the inside of her thigh.

Echo makes a wrecked, frustrated sound while I crawl back up her body, then pin her wrists, and look down at her flushed face. “You’re mine now. My old lady. My siren. And I’m going to fuck you like I own every goddamn inch of you until you understand exactly what that means.” I kiss her hard, claiming, no softness left in it.

She opens for me immediately, tasting herself on my tongue, her fingers digging into my shoulders the second I free her wrists. I settle my weight over her. My cock drags against her pussy, and I feel how soaked she is now, ready and aching for it. I break the kiss just long enough to look down between us, watching the way I slide against her.

“Look at that,” I mutter. “Already soaked for me. Been waiting for this, haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

Her eyes flash. “Yes, Carnage.”