James Tate

I gave myself a quick mental high five that the screaming need to feel him inside me hadn't made me shake like a cold Chihuahua.

"Fuck yeah," Kody snickered, then the two of them fucking high-fived over me. They slapped hands like goddamn teenagers. It was so incredibly arrogant and... yeah, okay, it was hot as sin.

"Same," Steele added, and the two of them slapped hands again.

Assholes.

"Because, babe," he replied, his whisper husky and raw, "no one can survive without their heart, and you're mine."

Archer drew a deep breath, not even opening his eyes as he replied. "But then you would have no reason to stay in Shadow Grove," he told me on a sleepy mumble, "and I might never see you again."

"I don't hate you, Kate," he mumbled, his voice so thick with sleep I could barely make out the words. "I hate myself... for loving you when I have no right to."

Archer D'Ath wasn't the big bad villain I'd always painted him as. He was more of a dark knight. My dark knight.

"You're right," he finally said, lifting his face back to lock eyes with me once more. "You're right. I lied. I did say that last night, and I meant it. I..." He trailed off like he'd just hit his word quota for the month

His blue eyes blazed with determination. "I push people away because being close to me means painting a target on your back. I never want my loved ones to be used as bargaining chips, to be kidnapped and ransomed or beaten and raped as punishment for gang world bullshit. I want better than that for you, Kate. I want you to have a normal fucking life away from all of this." He paused, breathing heavily. I could hear my own pulse racing in my ears, and suddenly the rain and cold may as well have been a million miles away.

"But I'm fast coming to the realization that if anyone can handle themselves in my world, it's you." His lips tightened, and his brow furrowed. "Which is a relief. Because as hard as I try to push you away, I keep drawing you back again. You're an addiction that I never want to quit, Kate. I'm tired of denying my own heart. Aren't you?"