ry

e of the sub-zero temperature, but because the fog in my brain cl

, plastered on the front pages of newspapers under headlines screaming about gang wars

rius M

king a lewd comment. The music had stopped. The room had gone silent. And from the shadows of the balcony, Demetrius had watched me,

stranger. I was desecrati

d with a mixture of agony and menace, "a

d fire that made my vision swim. My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird, the milit

e, or death

er," I whispered, my voice tremb

instinct that eclipsed all shame, I yanked his belt loose. The sound

lysis held him captive-some old war wound or a neurological reaction to the extreme cold-kept his lethal li

nties down and

e went through us both. I gasped, my head falling back as the cold bit in

)," he hissed, his hands twi

n as biology forced a traitorous reaction from him. I ground down, seeking the

, my heat thawing his paralysis. The relief was so intense it bordered on religious ecstasy. My vision w

ots on metal dragged

the lethal heat in my blood had subsided to a dull throb. I was spr

nd-large, calloused, and no longer

awake. And h

his face inches from mine. The

his thumb pressing into my windpip

rist, my voice a broken

true. My heat had jump-started his frozen system just as his

e is! In

the heavy iron door shatt

eleased my throat, shoving me off him with a f

he terrifying grace of a apex predator, pulling up his trousers and buckling

ess down, my fingers fumb

ezer door was

lantern flooded the small sp

ith venom. "She's been sneaking out to meet him for wee

lita, my father Christian, and my brother Ken. Her face was flushed with victor

on the shirtless, scarr

flying to her mouth. "Avery! Have you no shame?

wn scheme to realize the gravity of the shadow she had just stepped into

ley sneered, gestu

s turned

t Hailey, then at my father, and finally settled his gaze on me. It wasn't the look of a lover