Page 47 of Judge of Saints and Sinners

He swallowed against my lips, so I settled back. “A monster in pretty clothes.”

“Everyone is a monster on the inside. You have to be okay with that monster. I am okay with your insides, Nephesh.”

“You haven’t seen them.”

“I don’t need to.” I purposefully closed my eyes, breathing him in, feeling the soft pressure of his fingers against my lower back. Here, we fit together. And while this conversation validated all those strange emotions that had come on so strongly, it scared me for a whole different reason than Nephesh’s fear.

Because for the first time in ten years, I had someone to lose now too.

And I might already be losing him.

I was done not experiencing life. I was done hiding in corners and cowering at bullys. I was going to take what I wanted.

And I wanted him, any way and for whatever time I could have him. There was a pain in losing a loved one, but there was an even greater one in knowing that you never had them at all.

I refused to know that pain as well.

“Nephesh, tell me again.”

“Which part?”

“That part about being yours.”

I felt his smile against my throat as he hitched me up higher on his lap and pressed his mouth to my pulse. “You, little thief, are mine, just as I am yours. And no creature, human or otherwise, can come between us for as long as we live.”

I kissed him then, yanking his face up clumsily until I could feel his lips against mine. They were hard now, desperate and hot. There was no more sweetness, not when there was so much to be done. So much life to be had. And such little time.

I dug my hands into his hair, letting my nails scrape against his scalp as I ground myself against his belly. My body was already on fire for him, my skin tingling everywhere we touched. But most desperate was the way my core throbbed as his hands slid lower, cupping my cheeks and spreading them wide against his body, bringing the most sensitive part of me flush against him. As he rocked up, I was acutely aware of his fingers, how they brushed low between my legs as they guided me up and down, up and down against him.

As he eased me lower, I had to break the kiss, my head falling back as a soft groan slipped out of my mouth. “Yes, yes,” I encouraged him, the tiny muscles below my belly growing tight as Nephesh’s mouth landed back on my neck once more.

“What happens, in the dream world if…”

Nephesh’s deep laugh echoed across my throat. “All of the pleasure, but our physical forms remain sleeping.”

16

Justine

I whimpered a little as he licked a trail up my neck to my ear, where his lips tugged at my earlobe. I could feel his razor-sharp teeth barely graze my skin—not enough to hurt, but enough to draw out my pleasure.

“I should wait, insist that we do this in the living world or even the Underworld, where you can be properly courted and wooed and fucking seduced. But I can’t wait. When I was imprisoned, all I thought about was the fact I would be alone for the rest of my life. And then, here you are.”

“Ruining everything.”

“Absolutely everything. And I love it.”

“You do?”

“I do. I’m going to keep pretending I hate it, but I love it. Never change, little thief.”

“I couldn’t if I tried.”

And then, with a soft growl, Nephesh flipped me over until he loomed over me, his bulk blanketing me in a warm, solid wall of muscle. I shifted my hips, trying to get comfortable, when Nephesh’s hand suddenly gripped my hip where my shirt rose up, his claws biting in there. “Justine…I’m begging you.”

“What?”

“You can’t just…”