Chapter 2

The comments didn't lie.

Before pushing the door open, I genuinely thought it was a sick joke.

How could the rumored ruthless vampire prince be hiding under the covers, shedding tears?

Until I pulled back the blanket. Kaelen was gripping the hair tie I'd left behind, his shoulders trembling.

A soft chuckle escaped my lips.

The man on the bed quickly wiped the moisture from his eyes.

In a split second, he reverted to that terrifying apex predator.

But when he looked up and recognized me, his icy facade instantly shattered.

Damp mist still clung to my skin, and my siren scales faintly gleamed in the dim light. Once out of the water, it took thirty seconds to shed my true form.

I lunged forward, pressing my cool palms firmly over his eyes.

"Don't look. Give me thirty seconds."

Stripped of any questions, his response came raw and unbearably hoarse: "Okay."

The thirty-second countdown began.

The room fell dead silent. Only a violent heartbeat drumming against my ears served as a timer.

Veins bulged on the back of Kaelen's hands; his knuckles practically tore through the bedsheets.

He was holding back to the extreme, but a glaring issue dawned on me—I was completely straddling his lap.

The overwhelming bodily proximity made me instinctively want to pull back.

I shifted just an inch, only to brush against the blistering heat beneath me.

Kaelen inhaled sharply.

"Don't move."

[You think he's shivering? One touch and you'll know exactly what's running hot.]

[An incubus half-blood gets crazier the more he represses it! He's not even wearing a shirt—use that natural advantage and hit a home run already!]

Following the comments' advice, I looked down.

My gaze locked onto his bare chest. His broad shoulders and cut abs created the ultimate size difference. His skin bore the cool pallor of someone who rarely saw the sun, yet rippled with explosive power.

Dorian—that scrawny hypocrite who paraded his so-called devotion—was painfully bland in comparison.

To protect Dorian's fragile ego, I had actually suppressed my siren's carnal instincts.

Now, that deep-seated, primal hunger was reawakening in my blood.

Yielding to instinct, I flattened my palm against Kaelen's pec, only for a large hand to instantly clamp down over mine.

Thirty seconds were up.

My scales melted away, leaving me fully human again.

Kaelen instantly flung my hand away.

A storm of dark emotions surged in those crimson eyes.

"Why are you here?" His voice was ice, barely masking the tremor in his final syllable. "Looking for Dorian?"

My eyes traced his moving, thin lips.

I completely tuned out his mockery. My siren instincts focused on a single demand: I was thirsty. I needed moisture.

Ignoring his shock, I grabbed the back of his neck, leaned down, and crashed my mouth against his.

Kaelen froze like solid stone. Every muscle locked up, fiercely refusing to respond.

The pop-up screen exploded again.

[Argh, this is killing me! You gotta use heavy doses on an ice king like him!]

[Quit just kissing! Go lower! The nipples! Pinch right there—an incubus half-blood will absolutely break!]

Not a bad idea.

I freed my left hand and slid it down his chest, deliberately flicking that sensitive peak.

Kaelen jolted like he'd been struck by lightning.

His last thread of reason snapped.

Flipping the dynamic, his iron grip claimed my waist. He crushed me against his chest with enough force to fuse our very bones.

A tempestuous plundering ensued. To be stripped of oxygen so rapidly—that dizzy, breathless edge of suffocation—was utterly intoxicating.

The twin hungers of Siren and Incubus violently collided.

We finally broke apart, gasping for air.

Our scorching breaths tangled in the practically non-existent space between us.

"Do you realize I'm not Dorian?" Kaelen gritted out, a dangerous crimson flaring in his eyes.

Draped over his chest, I dragged a fingertip slowly up his jawline, resting it against his mouth.

"You're Kaelen."

The second the words left my mouth, I tilted my head and bit down onto his lip.

His body went completely rigid beneath me.

"Aren't you Dorian's?"

"We're done. From now on, there's absolutely nothing between us."

I leaned into his ear, breathing hot air against his skin. "Besides... the one making me feel this good right now is you."

[Holy shit! Lysandra's going straight for the kill! Anyone else would've had their neck snapped by the Prince by now!]

[She's literally holding nothing back. With these two canonically hypersexual beasts going at it, this whole tower is coming down tonight, right?]

Cued by the comments, I slipped my hand beneath the sheets.

Just as I thought.

A distinct appendage coated in fine scales greeted my touch, ending in a spade-shaped tip. It was feverishly hot, every pulse broadcasting its owner's desperate restraint.

I curled my fingers around it, tracing its length with a wicked caress.

"Your Royal Highness," I chuckled softly. "You saw my scales, and I've caught your tail. I'd say we're even."

Kaelen sucked in a sharp breath, the corners of his eyes flushed a deep, feverish red. Lust completely drowned out his icy arrogance, tearing a raw groan from his throat:

"Let go... stop touching me. I'm going to lose control."

Dropping my gaze, I pressed a deliberate kiss directly against his aggressively bobbing Adam's apple.

"Then lose control."

[WARNING: Explicit content detected! Visual link severed!]

All that remained was the phantom ringing of the chat melting down in a rage, drowned out by breathless pants and the wet, undeniable sounds of friction inside the canopy bed.