I WAS DEAD.

I had died.

I was in heaven.

I was fucked breathless, barely able to even gasp at the raw potency of my orgasm.

My every muscle and fiber and shred of consciousness contracting and expanding, my climax and the feel of him coming inside me, filling me, knowing he was as torn apart by this as I was.

He thrust in and out, and I moaned every time he did, digging my nails deeper into his back, knowing I'd leave marks. Because I wanted him to stop. Because I wanted him to continue. Because I never wanted to leave.

"Breathe, baby." he whispered against my neck. "I got you, Butterfly."

He snaked one of his hands down between us and started rubbing my clit, applying pressure. I gasped a little when he flicked it up and down with his thumb.

"Oh, God," I panted.

He kissed me, darting his tongue between my lips. Even his tongue fucked my mouth. The massive bed creaked a little with every push, the headboard banging against the wall with every thrust.

Wild. Possessed. Abandoned.

Kade owns my body. That much is true.

For hours he claimed me and I'm a writhing, crying mess beneath him, but I can't tell him to stop.

I don't want to.

I'm done pretending he means nothing. I'm done fighting against myself and the pull he has on me. I haven't felt such an onslaught of emotions in my life before and I'm craving it.

I'm craving more.

It was a few hours after our nonstop marathon that he finally slowed down when I started to begged him to stop. A bruising soreness had settled between my legs. It wasn't just there. Everything felt sore.

We get cleaned up and he sat me on top of the sink before applying a cream inside me just like what he did the first time we had sex.

He then tucked me under a mountain of blankets on the bed, his hands roaming freely against my sides, and I know the soothing massaging is just a build up before he tortures me with pleasure again.

He does the same to the swell of my breasts and the soft skin of my stomach before travelling down. His hot lips was peppering kisses down my mound and up to my breasts before I finally break the silence.

"What's over Kade?" I asked quietly.

He tensed. And I waited.

"Everything." His voice is husky and filled with the deep lust that's coursing through my veins.

My mind raced and I struggled to understand his word. Before I could stop myself, I asked the question that's been bugging me since he left yesterday. I knew in my gut that something big will happen.

"Did you kill him?"

A moment.

Kade's body was like cement now.

Then he shoved up to his feet, sucking the warmth with him and grab the towel hanging on the chair before wrapping it around his waist.

It was still dark outside and the moonlight shone inside the room, casting a shadow over his physique as he walks over to the table where he keeps his decanters of whiskey and pours himself a glass.

I sit up and wrapped my arms around myself, wishing they were his instead. "I need to know."

He turned and met my gaze with some reluctance and asked a question of his own. "Why?" The way he stressed the word let me know he wasn't questioning my curiosity. This was something else entirely.

"To understand you."

He was silent for so long that I didn't think he'd answer but then he said, "They went out to buy me a cake that night,"

I lifted my head and met his eyes and even though the room was dark I still saw the pain in them.

"I was trying to act cool and thought it was silly so I told them I didn't want it but my little sister..," he paused and I watch as his hands curl up into fists at his side. "She argued with my parents and insisted that her brother should have one. She was only five." A faint smile appear on his face as if remembering that day.

He throws back the shot.

Then he stares at me, but he's not really seeing me. His green eyes turn into a raging storm. "They were still alive when your mother crashed through them,"

His eyes are bright with unshed tears and I forget my fear and have only empathy for him. I watch him, unable to move and afraid to even take a breath as I wait for him to speak.

"Dorian reached out to a mob leader for help. It was only a few years ago when I found out that she wasn't in the car when they pushed them off the cliff that night. Dorian knew all about Estrada's dealings and sexual slavery so he offer her in exchange," he practically snarls the words.

I can feel the moisture on my cheeks and I know tears are streaming down my face.

His voice had grown hoarse, "For years they tortured her, used her whenever they pleased,"

I begin to cry uncontrollably. I feel like my stomach is going to come out of my mouth. It was evil enough that they killed his parents but the fact that they took his sister too...a child...

"She was finally able to escape from that hell but she was beaten and bleeding so badly that she just died right there on the side of the street before I could even find her..."

"I'm sorry..." I wrenched out a sob as I shake my head in despair. My heart aches for his pain. For the poor child who didn't get to have the life she deserves. Traffickers were sick and they deserved everything that was coming to them.

"Why are you sorry, Butterfly?" he slowly pronounced as he stalked across the room, "Didn't you hate me for making you my prisoner?" He stopped at the edge of the bed. His green eyes hard as he stared down at me and his voice grew colder, quieter, each time he asked. "Did you think now that I was just like them?"

The venom in his voice made my heart race as tears welled. "Don't."

"Don't what?" he grits out.

I crawled to the foot of the bed where he stood and tugged him close with my hands gripping his shoulders when he tried to back away. "Don't make me hate you again. Don't become cold again. Just...don't."

"Why should I spare you when I already killed them all?"

"Then take something from me. Whatever you want. All that you want. Take until it's enough to make it right again."

So many emotions swept through me—sorrow, pain, tears. But above it all, the anger, resentment, and foolish feelings all vanished.

"What if I told you that you're free now?"

My eyes roamed his face. Fully expecting my heart to feel the pain from hearing his words but it didn't. I was a fool to have just seen it now. Because there's something there in his eyes. Something more. Something I've longed for since the moment I met him.

It's love.

Kade waited for me to say something. His mouth didn't plead—didn't utter the words I'd like to hear—but hell, his eyes were curious, and full of beautiful, ugly, raw feelings.

It was wrong. All of it. To know what he did. To keep it from the police, from my best friend. To carry his burden for him in my gut.

It was wrong...but it was ours.

"I chose you," I say softly. I lifted my hand to cup his cheek as his emerald gaze burns into mine. "I love you."

His lips found mine hungrily, demanding to be back where they belonged. His tongue parted my mouth, hot and familiar and addictive. His arms moving down my body, he placed one hand over my heart. There was nothing I'd rather do, nowhere I'd rather be, than right here with him.

Another tear fell from my eye, but he brushed it away and pressed a tender kiss against my cheek. As he did, I knew that my entire life had changed and this was the first time that I accepted it.

I was his, he was mine, and everything else we did and didn't do to each other was just that.

Our past.

So the rest of the night, he cradled me.

The rest of the night, he made love to me.

The rest of the night, he showed me just how much he cares about me.