He’d endanger his future.

I run up to him, ignoring my fear of the water nearby. “Stop it, Aiden. Let him out.”

“Not yet.” He uses both his hands to keep Adam underneath the surface. “He hurt you. He hurt what’s mine.”

“You’re going to kill him,” I hiss.

“Small price to pay for touching you.”

“I hate him, too, but I’m not ready to lose you this way.” My voice is loud and clear. “He’s not worth it.”

Aiden’s head tilts in my direction. His steel eyes immediately soften when they meet mine.

I fall to my knees beside him, uncaring about the water soaking my skin, and grip his arm. The tight muscles ripple underneath my touch.

“He’s not important, Aiden. You are.”

That must’ve worked.

Slowly, too slowly, Aiden allows me to pull his hands from Adam’s head. The latter surfaces, gasping for air.

Neither of us pay him attention, not even when he climbs out, wet and shaking like a dog.

We’re too lost in each other’s gaze to pay attention to the world surrounding us. We’re barely touching, but I feel him all around me, like a constant.

Right now, I’m sure that if I somehow fell into the pool, he’d bring me out. He’d protect me and be my hero once again.

I should probably stop thinking about him as a hero.

“You’re a fucking psycho,” Adam spits once he’s out of the water. He’s wet and dishevelled, but I couldn’t feel sorry for him even if I tried.

Aiden’s left eye twitches as he meets Adam’s ashen face. “Fuck off before I finish what I started.”

Like the coward he is, Adam limps out of the pool area with his tail tucked between his legs.

And then, Aiden is back to watching me as if I’m the only person in his sights.

What does he see when he stares at me this intently? Is it Ma? Or is he perhaps trying to erase her similarities from my face?

Both Knox and Teal admitted to wanting to hurt me due to how much I look like her, so maybe Aiden feels the same.

Maybe deep down, he wants to hurt me, too.

What if everyone I love hates me because of my genes? It would be tenfold more painful if it’s Aiden.

But would he have been willing to commit murder for me if that was the case?

And yes, he was seconds away from killing Adam. If I hadn’t intervened, his body would be floating in the pool by now.

Aiden’s lack of boundaries should scare me, but for some reason, a halo of calm submerges me.

I stopped him. He allowed me to stop him when he easily could’ve kept going. That fact fills me with overwhelming internal peace.

“Repeat it,” Aiden says.

“Repeat what?”

“The part about how I’m important.”

I suppress a smile. Why am I not surprised he only focuses on that part?

Inching closer, my space fills with all that is him. His scent and his warmth. His cloudy eyes and the chaotic emotions swirling inside of them.

Those emotions are mine.

I want to snatch them up, hug them, and somehow insert them into my chest so they can find company with my own erratic feelings.

The closer I am to him, the more the world disappears. The entire universe is tucked into the small space between us where my knees nearly graze his. “You are important.”

He wraps a strong hand around my nape and his lips crush to mine.

I don’t resist this time.

I don’t stop to think about the consequences.

I just let myself be.

The kiss might’ve started on my lips, but it possesses my entire body. It pools in my stomach and races down my spine. It paralyses my limbs and awakens my internal organs.

His teeth nibble on my lips, his hand fists in my hair, angling my head back so he can get better access. His tongue finds mine, feeding off me, tasting me, inhaling me.

I do the same.

I consume him as hard as he consumes me.

If a kiss had a purpose, this one would be all about finding each other. It’s about a connection that existed since the moment I laid eyes on Aiden in that basement.

Everything started then and it’s since refused to end.

For the longest time, I tried to fight our connection, but it keeps winning.

Losing never felt so good.

My arms wrap around his neck as I kneel, mirroring him. My fingers run into his black strands, and he groans into my mouth.

It makes me proud, that groan. It makes me proud to bring him pleasure and have this effect on him.

Still clutching me by the hair, Aiden tugs on it. My back hits the cold ground, but my burning skin hardly registers it.

He crawls atop of me, larger than life. His solid body covers mine, his muscles and arms mould to my curves like we’re two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle coming together.

He’s everything I shouldn’t want, and also everything I need.

He shoves his knees between my thighs, and they part of their own accord. He doesn’t even have to try twice. I hiss out a whimper at the contact of his trousers against my most intimate part.

Still kissing me, he yanks my skirt up and loosens his belt with the other hand.

The air ripples with tension and heat. I can taste it on my tongue and sense it with the goosebumps covering my flesh.

I curl my nails into his jacket, breathing heavily against his skin. He stole my breath, my heart, and my freaking sanity.

Aiden isn’t only a monster, but he’s also a thief — the kind who never gets caught.

“A-Aiden… Anyone can walk in.” Even as I say the words, wetness shamelessly coats my thighs.

“Fuck them.” Aiden grips my chin with two fingers as his other hand yanks my boy shorts down my legs. “I need you, sweetheart. I fucking need to be inside you like I need air.”

I need you, too.

But I don’t have to say it aloud. Aiden must’ve read it in my eyes. He really knows me more than I know myself.

He wraps a hand around my throat and thrusts balls deep, filling me whole. I gasp, but no sound comes out.

He stole my ability to breathe, talk, or even think.

He stole my fucking heart and soul, and there’s no way I’ll be able to get them back.

He’s a thief, remember? A damn thief.

“Fuck, fuck!” His entire body tightens with the force of his initial thrust. I can feel his rigid abs without having to touch them.

My eyes brim with tears. Could be due to being filled by him.

Could be because of the way he’s squeezing his hand around my throat, barely allowing me air.

Could be because of the intensity in his gaze.

Could be because it’s been such a long time that I felt this whole.

Could be all of them.

Being with Aiden is like going through a roller coaster ride in a dark tunnel. There are ups and downs. There’s black and danger. But most of all, there’s excitement and the euphoric feeling of being alive.

I’m alive.

With Aiden, I never stopped feeling alive.

He picks up his pace, ramming inside me like a mad man, like his body can’t contain his passion. Passion that bleeds into me, flaring inside me in the form of sparks and fireworks.

It’s slightly painful, and I’ll be sore for days, but I revel in that sting of pain. I revel in the way he can’t control himself when he’s with me.