After dressing her in a soft robe and pulling on his own pajama pants, Gavriel walked back to the bed with her tucked securely in his arms.

He laid her down gently, tucking her safely beneath the heavy blanket.

He was about to pull away when her brows furrowed unconsciously, her hand reaching out to hold his arm as if her body were actively protesting the loss of his heat.

His gaze traced her delicate features, and he found himself raising his hand to caress her cheek with the back of his fingers.

He was so incredibly gentle that if anyone from The Bone were present to compare the Gavriel of the underworld to the man sitting here now, they would never believe they were looking at the same person.

Even he didn’t notice the way his gaze softened, looking down at her as if she were a rare treasure he had just discovered in his long, dark existence.

Gavriel could hardly believe he had gone this far with her.

Yet, he knew he had been bound to reach a breaking point eventually. Holding himself back around her was becoming far too torturous to endure.

But hell, he would be lying if he said it hadn’t become infinitely more torturous to hold back now that he had finally gotten a taste of her.

Deep down, he knew he would have continued to take her on and on if she hadn’t passed out on him.

He remembered just how rock-hard he was....or rather, still was.

Being near her was a double-edged sword.

It gave him immense pleasure to please her over and over again, watching her shatter so beautifully because of him.

Yet, while he was deep into it, continuing to lap up her sweet nectar, he couldn’t suppress the maddening desire to see her come undone while he was buried deep inside her.

He wanted to feel her warmth wrapped tightly around his length, reaching that same heavenly peak he had taken her to seven times over.

But he had temporarily forgotten her fragile limits. Her body could only take so much, no matter how insatiable his demonic hunger felt, and the last thing he wanted to do was break her.

He had taken his time to thoroughly clean her up afterwards.... something he had never done for anyone before. Yet oddly enough, he had found a strange sense of peace in doing so.

Releasing a heavy sigh, he shook his head at how hopelessly unrecognisable he sounded, even in his own mind.

"Just what are you doing to me, little rose?" he whispered before shifting his gaze to the empty side of the bed.

He then gently pried her hand from around his wrist before lying down beside her. Moving closer, he wrapped his arms around her, only for her to instinctively scoot nearer to him in her sleep.

A small, satisfied smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he securely tightened his grip around her waist while burying his nose in her hair.

Taking a deep inhale of her heavenly scent, he finally felt the restless, angry beast within him grow quiet.

No sooner had the beast settled than he drifted off to sleep himself, completely uncaring of the storm that continued to rage outside, or of the enemies lurking in the shadows who desperately wanted to see his downfall.

Enemies who now had their eyes on his little rose... even more so after today.

.....

As the night deepened, every single occupant of the Victorian Heights penthouse was in a deep state of slumber, each passed out in their respective rooms from the whirlwind of the day.

On the opposite side of the floor from Aliana and Gavriel’s room lay the guest rooms.

Inside one of the rooms, Jade slept blissfully unaware on her bed, never waking once despite the loud, continuous roar of thunder outside. She didn’t stir or shift even when a quiet presence slipped through into her room.

When a sudden burst of lightning illuminated the room, a dark shadow loomed over her sleeping figure, creeping closer and closer to her bedside....until...

.....

It must have been around eight o’clock on Sunday morning, yet there was still no sign of the sun. Thick storm clouds continued to blanket the sky, casting the world beneath in shades of grey. The tempest that had raged through the night had finally weakened, but the relentless rain still drummed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse.

As the muted morning light seeped into the room, Nigel finally stirred awake.

His brows knitted slightly as he blinked away the remnants of sleep and looked around, only to realise that he had once again spent the night in his boss’s apartment.

Although he did not have much official work waiting for him today, there was still plenty to be done. Aliana’s engagement preparations could not simply be put on hold.

He needed to make several calls so the planners and designers could come directly to her house instead. After yesterday’s accident and the media frenzy it had sparked, allowing her to step outside anytime soon was far from a wise idea.

Releasing a sigh, he got up groggily and headed to freshen up before making his way downstairs in search of caffeine to kick-start his day.

Just as he stepped close to the open kitchen, Nigel rubbed the sleep from his eyes when his footsteps came to an abrupt halt on spotting a familiar figure standing in front of the open refrigerator.

Meanwhile, in the room downstairs, Cillian was in a deep sleep when his eyes suddenly snapped open.

His brows furrowed slightly as he sensed an unfamiliar presence in the house.

Without hesitation, he got out of bed and headed outside, following the source of it.

The moment he stepped through the doorway, he, too, came to an abrupt halt.

His gaze landed on Nigel, who was staring at something with wide eyes.

Following the line of his sight, Cillian looked towards the figure standing before the refrigerator.

A muscle twitched beneath his eye.

For a long moment, he simply stared at the sight before him, struggling to comprehend exactly what he was witnessing.

Then a disbelieving whisper slipped past his lips. "What the fuck am I looking at?"