No matter how hard I try, for the next week, my dreams elude me. When I sleep, it's like a dark void of nothingness, not even a flicker of light or even a shadow. Just a black hole.

All I want is to reach Elias in one of my dreams. After months of trying to keep him out, I've dropped all defenses and I want him in so badly. But he doesn't come. And neither does anyone else.

I'm getting close to despair, and I don't know what else to do or try. Nothing is helping, and I've managed to keep Cane and his advances at bay due to the appearance of my period. It turns out I wasn't lying about that after all. It was also a plus because I was able to get out of training with the excuse of "cramps" and "a killer headache."

But it's over now, and he knows it. It's been a week since I killed the squirrel, since he told me he wanted me to be his queen and take his brother—my soulmate—down to do it.

The sun is setting and I'm in the bathtub soaking in a bubble bath when he knocks on the door.

"Delia? You in here?"

I sink lower in the tub, shielding my body with the bubbles. "Yeah, just taking a bath."

"Can I come in?"

I chew the inside of my cheek. I never would've said no before. I can't say no now, or it will throw him off. I can't let him know I'm planning to go against him. Not when I am literally defenseless.

"Yeah, of course."

The door opens and he leans on the frame with his arms crossed. His dark hair is tussled and his long-sleeved t-shirt tight across his chest. That mischievous smile that had me melting a week ago pulls on one side of his lips as his gaze roams over me.

"Do you need help washing your back?" he asks.

"I already did my back," I say, flashing a smile back. I'm getting good at faking it. "Got any other offers?"

He reaches behind his head and pulls the neck of his shirt up, revealing his chiseled torso. He tosses it on the floor with my clothes before reaching back into the bedroom, returning with two glasses in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other. "Do you mind if I join you?"

Cane doesn't give me a chance to answer as he sets the items on the edge of the tub and motions for me to sit forward. I gasp as he gets in behind me with his pants still on. If it weren't for my newfound feelings toward him, I might find it sexy.

He slides his legs on the outside of mine and wraps his arms around my waist. "Fancy meeting you here," he whispers and places a kiss below my ear.

I hum a greeting and lean back against his chest. "Couldn't even wait to remove your pants, huh?" I joke, picking up a long-stemmed glass and holding it out for him to fill it up, simply to have something to do with my hands.

"You've not been at your best that last few days. I saw my opportunity and knew I had to seize it."

I try not to cringe because he is absolutely the type of man to seize what he wants no matter the cost to others. Instead, I watch him fill my glass and motion for him to top me off. I have a feeling that alcohol is the only way I'm getting through this.

Before doing so, he rests his head on my shoulder and says, "You've eaten today, right? I don't want you getting sick. This is a big wine glass. Holds almost half the bottle."

"I'm fine. Promise. Fill 'er up," I say, and he chuckles as he does what I ask before emptying the rest of the bottle into his.

He takes a sip and sets the glass on the edge of the tub. "That's good wine. I'll have to ask Ruth where she got it."

"No blood for you tonight?" I ask, taking a sip but keeping the glass in hand.

He brushes my hair away from my neck and plants kisses down the side of my throat. "Not yet..." he murmurs, and my heart speeds up, thumping faster.

I'm sure he can feel it.

"Oh," I whisper, not knowing what else to say, not wanting to give him any indication that I'd be willing to give him that part of me.

"You know my venom releases endorphins. I've heard that it is not uncommon for someone to come just from a vampire feeding."

Just those few words take me back to that night in the cemetery with Elias, and I clench my thighs together under the water for some relief. Unfortunately, Cane feels that and mistakes it for something it isn't—arousal at the idea of him feeding from me, and runs his palms up and down the outside of my legs.

The idea of letting Cane feed from me is abhorrent, but I remain calm and say, "I've heard that too. May not be best to try that right after I've just spent a week losing blood at what felt like record levels, though."

He sweeps my hair to the side and angles my head to expose my neck. He places an open-mouthed kiss over my pulse point. "I can just take a bite while I slip my finger between your legs and play with your wet pussy."

A whimper slips from my lips and I hate myself for it. All I've thought about all day is Elias. All I've thought about all week is getting him into my dreams and how I can see him again, and along with those thoughts of him come these types of thoughts.

And fuck, the last time I was with Elias, he fed from me, and it felt so fucking good.

But that's what the problem is, isn't it? The primal bond and the fact that he should be able to find me because of it. If Cane feeds from me, won't we have that bond too? Does he really want that from me?

"Won't we be primal bonded if you do that?" The words just slip out of me, and I tuck my lips between my teeth as soon as I say them.

He groans as his tongue glides down the side of my neck. "Would that be so terrible? We would share two bonds. It is rare and beautiful and would only intensify what we feel for one another."

Sharing two bonds. Isn't that what I have with Elias already? According to Cane himself, Elias bonded with me that night in the cemetery, and of course the soul bond...what would happen if I bonded with Cane too?

But...wait.

Cane said that it took an "exchange of power" to complete the primal bond. That night in the cemetery with Elias, my power was activated. Everything about it was working; I wasn't in a stagnant state like I am right now.

Cane has no idea that I am struggling to use my power. He doesn't know that I can't invite people into my dreams and haven't been able to since the day I killed the squirrel.

What if I let him feed from me and he thinks we share the primal bond? There would be no better way to make him think I am all in on this plan to take Elias down.

You can do this, Cordelia. Just imagine it's Elias. It's not hard; they look exactly alike. You're doing all of this for him. For your relationship to have a fighting chance in hell of working again one day. I close my eyes and turn my head to the side just enough so I can see him.

"No, Cane. It wouldn't be so terrible," I whisper.

He pulls me closer, and my ass rubs against the hard length of him straining in his pants. "I don't think so either," he says, his fingers slipping between my legs.

I rest my head to the side and close my eyes as I part my thighs. My mind drifts to Elias standing between them, his body firm against mine. I picture his fingers and his mouth on me as Cane presses against my clit. A gasp leaves me when his fangs scrape against my neck.

It's Elias.

It's Elias.

The sharp sting of his bite is joined by his fingers thrusting inside of me. His thumb rubs that place which throbs with every beat of my heart. The endorphins in Cane's venom course through my veins, heightening my senses. My hips lift from the tub as I chase the feeling of being filled as another finger joins the first. Every nerve in my body is aware of the pleasure I'm receiving.

"So fucking good, Delia. You are the sweetest thing I've ever tasted."

The good thing about this moment is I couldn't speak even if I wanted to. I am on cloud nine right now, and all I can manage is a high-pitched mewl in response as I buck my hips against his hand, just a breath away from my release.

"You're almost there, aren't you?"

I hum my agreement and tighten around his fingers, squeezing my eyes tighter, picturing Elias on his knees on the bed, hovering over me before diving face first between my thighs.

"I got you, coelhinha," Cane whispers, pressing his mouth to the open wound on my neck and sucking one more time, taking one more mouthful of my blood.

"Fuck, C-Cane," I cry, using every bit of willpower and concentration not to call out Elias's name on accident.

My body shudders as my bliss is found. Behind my closed eyes I see one person. The only man who could infiltrate a heinous moment like this and turn it into something mind-blowing. I imagine his smile, his soft yet commanding touch, his voice. I surround myself in him as I ride out my release on the fingers of another.

I slump back against Cane and center myself again.Craning my neck, I place a kiss on his jaw. I can't take the risk of slipping up. He can never know about my true intentions. Even if I can't find my way back to Elias, I won't let Cane take him from this world either. Nothing in the past matters. All I want is to save the man I love, and I'll do anything to ensure that happens, even sell my soul to the devil himself.