The Beautiful Destructions ORIGIN

"I am sorry, for the things I said, for everything," my voice broke and I hid my face in his strong shoulders, breathing him in, finding life again.

"It's unfair", he whispered and his words melted on my throat. "I don't need any more temptation. Do you know just how much I want to steal you away from all of them?"

His heated fingers drew a circle on the small of my back, exposed between the rows of pearls. I gripped his neck tighter. I was so weak when he touched me. My legs were like cotton and he held me closer. We weren't dancing anymore but I felt lightheaded. I opened my eyes.

It was now or never.

"I want to see the Voice", I pronounced as calmly as I could.

I could feel the heat of his gaze burning me even though I didn't dare to look.

"And why would I do that?"

He had moved to the nape of my neck. How could I sense his tongue on my skin without him touching me? The nearness of his lips to the sweet spot where my shoulder meets my throat was electric.

"Don't you want a chance to make me stay with you?"

It was my gamble, my last card.

His hands became steel behind my back. I stepped away to face him but he brought me back to his chest.

"Continue..." He commanded in a low voice, moving one hand to my hair, keeping the othed firm, low on my back.

"If the Guardians can take us home, you help me".

"What if they don't? They might no even speak to you," he whispered in my ear, like a secret, still busying his burning fingers in my neck. The dizziness was returning fast, too fast.

"If there no way back..." I took a deep breath. I needed a credible offer or he would ignore me. "If we truly cannot return to our world, I will spend the rest of my life with you."

My stomach fluttered with the meaning of my own words. His teeth grazed my throat gently, and his hands were securely around my waist before my legs could betray me.

"Interesting proposition," his voice trailed on my too sensitive skin, husky and intense. "But I want more."

"More?"

"You are condemning me to serving the balance, the Guardians, forever. A few decades together is not enough."

He made me twirled, dancing effortlessly while I desperately tried to remember how to breathe.

"What do you want?" I murmured in his mouth as he leaned for a kiss. I knew. I knew what he was about to say.

"Your soul. Become a Pathfinder too. If returning to your world proves impossible, I want to spend forever next to you.

He kissed my neck just where my heart was beating, and I knew I was lost when he smiled his victory.

I had sworn to do anything to bring Emily back where she belonged, to her world, her family, her parents. To honor Lucy's memory. But the way my heart beat in unison with his, held in his possessive embrace, I wondered what part of me was so desperate to say yes.

"Deal," I breathed my answer before I could change my mind. His magnetic eyes lit up his perfect face, and he owned me in a burning kiss. He was so confident.

But in the end, our fate would be in the hands of the Guardians.

He turned around to clap and I realized I had completely forgotten that we were not, in fact, alone. His arms closed around me and we began to dance again.

"I will get back home", I reminded him.

"We will see," he replied with his darkest smile. "Because you're mine."

There was a black promise in his eyes.

I hoped he was right.