Hard to say when it had actually happened. Perhaps as a boy when she'd first come to him in dreams, surrounded by buttercups and under the sun's golden rays. Maybe it was the second he'd spotted the real her from his office window, standing on the sidewalk while leveling his foundation. Or it could've been the moment he'd kissed her in the lighthouse, knotting years of memories and opening his eyes he hadn't realized were closed.Regardless of when, the truth smacked him upside the head now. He'd been on the brink before with other women, had waded in that particular pool a time or two, yet hadn't fully engaged his heart. But he'd been fooling himself. All along, and without even realizing it, he'd been waiting for her.For Kaida. A restless soul just searching for a place to belong. Intelligent, adaptable, determined, and intuitive Kaida Galloway.Unimaginable heat filled him, shoving drafts out of the corners and cold from the cracks. Throat tight and pulse tripping, he succumbed.

At his repeat ministration, she whimpered and clenched his strands. Holding him to her, she wrapped a leg around his, desperate to cease the throbbing at the apex of her thighs. A groan, and he circled her navel with his tongue, then kept going. Lower, lower.Parting her thighs, he settled between them. Unable to breathe, to think, she ground her hips and silently begged. As if knowing just what she needed, he closed his mouth around her, and she bowed."Brady," she breathed. "Oh God." She chanted his name over and over until her lungs burned from the effort. Never letting up, he groaned like he loved the sound of her calling for him. The vibrations rumbled through her core and sent her on a one-way ticket to the edge of bliss. Gripping the pillow, she came, convulsing with her head thrown back.While she was still experiencing aftershocks, he rose over her and nipped her chin. Passion clouded his eyes and his lids fell to half-mast. In his gaze was sentiment she'd never witnessed

Once he finished a shower, he threw on a pair of gray slacks and a white button-down, then stared at the bed. Kept staring. The sheets were rumpled from their love-making, her scent lingered in the room, and recollection of their passion flooded him until suffocation loomed.All he wanted was more. More memories, more time together, more...everything. Interesting, because he'd never thought himself a sadist.The sisters had arrived by the time he'd made it back downstairs and were helping his brothers set out the food in the formal dining room. They hadn't dined in or used this space since their uncle had left the island nine years ago. Brady had almost forgotten what it looked like.Walnut wainscot paneling would've made the interior dim or moody if not for the elaborate chandelier over the massive ten-seater Palais Royale and the bay window facing the eastern side of the grounds. The space was still as ostentatious as he remembered. Monet on the walls, a Copenhagen china set too

If she were to dissect her choices, her experiences up to this point, she'd have to face the unsettling fact that she'd been directionless. Forget detours or destinations. All she'd been doing was putting one foot in front of the other. A blind work of autopilot and managing nothing more consequential than existing. "I have been in stasis," she numbly said, her voice hollow. Admitting such and realizing her life had been worth squat seemed a trivial insight, considering. It changed nothing and only shined a spotlight on the hulled-out person occupying space. "I don't belong anywhere. I've never had a...connection or bond to anyone or anything or anyplace." Actually, the few exceptions were encountering Brady in dreams, the instinct to study and teach Paganism, and boarding the ferry to Six Fates. Maybe she'd been looking at her destiny all wrong. It was entirely possible her life hadn't begun until two weeks ago."You always have a place here with us. You know that, right?""I do

Finally, she looked away and resettled. "Fiona showed me a photo album earlier today. They kept tabs on me growing up. School pictures and stuff. There were some shots of me and my sisters when I was an infant before the adoption. Mara and my mother, too. I look like her," she added quietly.He cinched his arms tighter, unsure how to respond. Like her, he'd been pissed off at what they'd done to her and how easily they'd cast her aside. But the more intel he gained on the circumstances, the harder it was to dispute their intentions. The Venatores had been hunting her kind for centuries, and had they been aware of her existence, she might not be here today. She was the final link in this fated chain. Erase her, and it wiped out any chance for breaking it.Still, he couldn't imagine what it had been like for her growing up. Thinking she was unwanted. Unloved. A freak, as she'd claimed. He hadn't had the best upbringing, but he'd always had his brothers. No matter what, he could and wou