Chapter 3
Iris
Iopen my eyes to a dark room. A few streaks of silver light shine through the floor-to-ceiling windows, only a portion of the moon visible through the thick blanket of clouds.
Sweat dots my hairline. I realize the reason I’m feeling as though I’m lying near a blissfully searing fire is Kaiden’s body wrapped around mine, radiating heat.
Untangling myself from him, I pat my hand on the nightstand to search for my phone.
The sudden burst of light when I find it burns my retinas.
I blink a few times for my vision to adjust. I’m glad to see that, despite a crack down the middle, the screen still functions.
As Sam said, I have numerous missed calls from Noah and a few texts, but I don’t bother looking through them yet.
She must have charged it, too, because the battery is full.
The clock shows it’s a little past midnight, and I’m dying of thirst.
I get up slowly, not wanting to wake Kaiden.
He looks so peaceful in his sleep—eyebrows relaxed, lips parted, while the shadows dance with the streaks of moonlight along the hard planes of his body, accentuating his mesmerizing tattoos and sinewy muscles.
He is breathtaking and entirely otherworldly.
I could stand here forever watching him and not get bored in the slightest.
’Cause that’s not creepy at all, Iris.
I use the screen light from my phone to search for the tee Kaiden dressed me up in earlier.
I find it under the bed and slide it on.
After taking care of my business in the bathroom, I tiptoe until I reach the door and shuffle out of the bedroom, making my way to the kitchen on the first floor.
I stop at the bottom of the stairs to look through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The glimmering city lights resemble tiny diamonds.
Now that I can compare this view with the last time I woke up here, I can say I much prefer it at night.
It’s easy to understand the appeal of having the world sprawled at your feet.
But then it hits me. The blinding sun reflects through these massive windows at daytime and bathes the entire penthouse.
This is why Kaiden chose to live here—not to feel like a king, but to be as close to the sunlight as he could get.
To somehow erase the years his father had kept him locked in the dark.
Every time I unwrap another layer of who Kaiden is, I inevitably fall harder.
I wait for that crippling guilt of losing my virginity to an Elite demon to rear its ugly head…
but it never does. Instead, I feel at peace, as though my soul has been forever searching for its missing half. Turns out, Kaiden had it all along.
However, the peace doesn’t last long. In fact, it’s the newfound serenity that reminds me I almost died the day before, and triggers the constant state of fight or flight I’ve been in for the last two months.
Fuck. My lungs constrict while flashes of Erik’s attack play behind my eyelids.
Pressing my hand to the center of my chest and leaning my forehead on the cold glass, I inhale and exhale slowly until the panic subsides.
On shaky legs, I stride to the fridge, take out a water bottle, and down its contents in three gulps.
When my ears are working again, a constant drip, drip, drip makes me turn around.
The sound is made by the greenish slimy goop trickling down the counter and onto the marble floor, where a disgusting puddle has already formed.
A surprised laugh bubbles out of me at the destruction left behind by Hurricane Sam—splattered walls and stove; the blender turned on its side, which seems to be the source of the goop splatters; the breakfast bar buried under ingredients.
This is worse than I imagined. I’m surprised Kaiden didn’t suffer an aneurysm.
“NO!” Kaiden’s blood-curdling scream breaks through the dead silence of the penthouse. I drop the bottle. A loud thud resounds when it smacks the floor. Luckily, it’s plastic, so it doesn’t shatter.
The penthouse must be under attack. I can’t imagine any other reason for him to yell in that manner.
I grab a knife from the magnetic strip mounted on the wall and ignore the way my ribs stab my lungs as I sprint toward the bedroom at warp speed.
Squaring my shoulders to prepare for the incoming fight, I press the blunt edge of the blade to my forearm before barreling into the room.
My eyes sweep the perimeter, taking stock of the situation.
But there isn’t anyone in here except Kaiden.
He is thrashing in his sleep. Incoherent grunts and sounds of agony tumble free from his lips while his fingers fist the silky sheets and sweat courses in rivulets on his exposed skin.
“Kaiden,” I call out his name softly as I approach the bed, dropping the knife on top of the bedside table.
He doesn’t hear me. I know from personal experience that it would be better if I let the nightmare run its course and not wake him until the episode is over.
But I can’t stand anymore the weird feeling folding my lungs in two at seeing the anguish painted on his face.
So, I lie next to him, trying not to get hit in the process, then frame his stubbled cheek with my hand. “Kaiden,” I whisper again.
His eyes fly open, the abject terror of the nightmare lingering in his gaze as it slams into mine. In the next breath, I’m pulled under Kaiden’s muscular frame. My ribs scream in protest at the jolt. He looks manic—gold and crimson crashing in the tumultuous obsidian sea.
“You’re okay. You’re alive. You’re here,” he repeats like a mantra as though he’s trying to reassure himself that I’m not a figment of his imagination.
His trembling fingers coast over every inch of my body, his eyes glistening through a curtain of unshed tears.
Amidst whole body jitters, he envelops me in a hug like I’m the only thing tethering him to sanity.
A few seconds later, Kaiden’s lips crash into mine.
There’s nothing soft about the way he kisses me.
It’s desperate. Bruising. Consuming. He sucks the soul right out of my body as his lips and tongue move against mine.
Without preamble, he pops off. Only to appear standing at the foot of the bed, startling me.
His chest heaves. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! I’m so sorry; I shouldn’t have jumped you—”
“It’s oka—”
I have never seen Kaiden so distraught. His next words pour out of him in an incoherent mess as he fists his hair, cutting me off. “No, it’s not, not after what you went through. I just…I wasn’t thinking. Please, Iris, forgive me.”
Jumping out of the bed, I stride to him, ignoring the explosion of pain at the swift move. I place my hands on his jaw and lock our gazes. “I’m okay. And I love when you touch and kiss me as if it’s your last time. I want you as much as you want me. You hear me?”
He rests his forehead against mine, his next words nothing more than a gravely rasp. “I need to hold you.”
Wordlessly, I take his hand in mine and lead him back to the bed. We lie down, and Kaiden drapes me across his chest. “Do you want to talk about it?” I ask as I trace imaginary circles over his chest tattoos.
“Not necessarily,” Kaiden replies. He sighs, though, and after a while, his voice fills the air.
“When I was a kid, I used to get nightmares about the times my father tortured me. I told you about my shattered hope that my mother would eventually come to rescue me from his clutches. She took the appearance of a mortal woman and seduced my father. Only for her to abandon me on the steps of the same facility where my father locked me up. He tortured me daily, calling me an abomination, telling me over and over again that I should have never been born because I ruined his life. Even when I escaped, he followed me into my nightmares.” We sit in silence for a few seconds.
“I used to think those nightmares were the worst thing my mind could torment me with—until tonight. Tonight, I dreamed about you.” His voice is rough, anguished.
“It was a replay of the moment I found you lying in the alley at the back of the club…only your heart was not beating anymore.” His arms tighten around me as he expels the air in his lungs.
Why does he care so much about me?
Lifting my head, I take in his striking features—soot-black lashes fanning across angular cheekbones, full lips turned down, forehead scrunched in anguish. Unable to resist the impulse, I close the space between us. Kaiden’s expression instantly softens when our lips meet.
It’s the first time I have initiated a kiss between us. Kaiden groans in my mouth. He kisses me like he’s drowning, and I’m the last breath of air left in the atmosphere. I return the sentiment, and we get lost in each other until the first rays of the sunrise trickle in through the windows.