“You will.”
He draws himself up to his full height, and once more I am struck with how big he is, how powerful, how lethal. He could force himself on me and I wouldn’t be able to resist. Yet he hasn’t.
“What if it’s you who breaks first?” I tap my toe on the ground.
“No one’s ever brought me down—yet.” He props his arms on his waist.
“Is that a challenge?” I raise my chin.
I am insane. No way can I resist this man, not living in such close quarters with him. But what is the option? I can’t escape this place either. And damned if I’ll just submit to his will. No, I have to find a way to break this bond between us. I have to. Before I submit and accept my fate.
His forehead creases and he pins back his ears…his back-to-normal human-shaped ears. Perfectly shaped to complement his face. Those high cheekbones, those intelligent blue eyes. My fingers tingle with the need to trace his profile. Touch his lips, feel his skin. Instead, I hold out my hand. “Don’t tell me you are worried about me getting the better of you?”
His gaze drops to my hand, then he grips it, his thumb making slow circles over my wrist. His touch seeps into my blood, and my stomach flip-flops.
I am definitely going to lose this game but damned if I am not going to fight until the bitter end.
His lips flatten. “Challenge accepted.”
18
Dante
I’d been so sure of myself when I’d accepted her challenge. I escorted her back to the safe house, to a room separate from my own bedroom, then left.
Only I’d been worried about her.
Enough to not have slept in the last two nights. Or maybe it was the frustration of knowing that she was next door that made me walk around with a raging hard-on.
Carrying a tray filled with water and the sandwiches that I made, I shoulder open the door of the room and barge in.
“You haven’t eaten much in the last few days.”
“What do you care?” She sits up in bed, her shoulders tense. Then she scrambles back to rest her back against the headboard.
Fear radiates from her.
“I won’t do anything to you.” I keep my voice low and reassuring.
She snorts, and I can’t stop the smile that curves my lips.
I stalk over to the table and place the food on the bed. “Well, not anything that you don’t want, that is.” I straighten and turn to face her.
No way is she going to best me. How can she, when she has no access to the knowledge the Fae have? We are well-versed, and not just in weaponry.
Every warrior trained by the Fae is schooled in the pleasures of seduction by courtesans. Women who taught us how to give and take pleasure so that we will never confuse the high of sex with emotional gratifications. Everything we needed to perform our tasks with the utmost efficiency.
I hadn’t quite explained to her the nuances of what it means to be in a bonded pair either.
A better mate would have done so. He’d have told her that sooner or later the force of the bond would kick in and bring her to me. The soul needs the body to comply, will make it comply.
She stands no chance.
Only I haven’t revealed that to her. I want her to think she has some kind of semblance of choice. Some measure of control over her destiny at least.
All a charade. That’s what I am good at. Acting things out. Fooling myself. Like I have been all these years.
Being a part of the Fae Corps is the only life I’ve ever known. I’ve always thought I’d been content with my choices, too, until I met her. Until I realized I wanted more with her. For the first time, I saw a future, with a mate, a family of my own.
A vision powerful enough to have prompted me to flee with her.
It had invigorated me enough to decide to go up against the Elders themselves. I realize that now.
Already, I’ve turned my back on the only way of life I know…because I couldn’t leave her.
The thought brings me up short.
I can’t abandon her, not with an unconsummated bond. That will only drive her out of her mind with frustration.
It will drive her insane with need.
She just doesn’t know it yet. I simply have to wait it out and she’ll come to me, I know that.
Not that it’s making things easy for me either.
“You know you won’t be able to resist me for much longer, right?”
She scowls at me. “Your confidence is something.”
I straighten then turn to lean my hip against the table. “So I’ve been told.”
“Oh, by who? The victims you’ve assassinated?”
Blood rushes to my face. Anger spikes my blood. It’s only when I find myself standing in front of her that I realize I’ve crossed the floor to her. My chest heaves as I bend down and shove my face close to hers.
She winces but doesn’t back away.
No, of course not.
The human has a strong spine and lots of courage. She’s fearless or just stupid. Or both. “Don’t push me.”
“Or what?” She gnaws on her lower lip.
The scent of her creeps over me. Insidious, seductive. All female. And mine. My groin tightens. My pulse pounds at my temples.
Her chest heaves, those luscious breasts rise and fall, and the flesh of her cleavage trembles.
I drop into myself then project my phantom self toward her, trail my telekinetic touch over her skin.
I know my ears are lengthening, but I can’t stop myself. Just looking at her on the bed is enough to arouse me.
Her spine curves, her gaze widens, and her pupils dilate. “Wha…what are you doing?” She shudders, then brings her thighs close together and folds her knees close to her chest. “You…you are touching me.”
“Not with these.” I hold up my hands.
Another trembling grips her, and her head falls back. “I can feel your fingers trailing over my chest, around my nipples.” A small scream tumbles from her lips. “You didn’t just do that. You pinched my nipples.”
“I did…”
Her breath comes out in a gasp. Her nipples are so tight and hard that they push out against the shirt over her chest. Her hands grip the mattress on either side of her body. “Please.” She mewls.
“Please what?" Touch you? Caress you?
“Please don’t do this.” The anguish in her voice slinks over my skin. My chest tightens.
Damn. What is it about her that there is no way I can hurt her? And yet if she doesn’t come to me, if she doesn’t ask me to take her…very soon I’ll have to do it anyway and consummate the bond or it will begin to affect her. It will begin to affect me, too.
I drop my hands to my sides and step back. “I’m sorry.”
Her shoulders slump, and her body goes limp on the mattress.
I swivel around and walk to the window, then grip the ledge. The skin across my knuckles stretches white.
“What is it?” Her voice is low and unsteady.
I sense her sit up in bed.
“I haven’t been completely honest with you.” I stare outside. “You know when I said I rebuilt you?”
“I thought you meant it as a figure of speech.” Her voice falters.
“Not quite.” Turning, I lean my hip against the window frame.
“What you don’t know is that the soul bond needs to be consummated on the physical level, too.” I set my jaw.
Her brows draw down. “What happens if we don’t…” She worries her lower lip. “You know…”
“Fuck?” I tilt my body toward her.
Her cheeks redden. "Yeah... that."
She can't bring herself to even say the word? What the hell? She can't be that innocent. Can she?
I drum my fingers on the windowsill.
“If we don’t mate on the physical level, it will only weaken me. You will continue to drain me of my life force through the bond.”
“It’s a ploy.” Her lips turn down.
�
��I wish it were.” I fold my arms over my chest. “If we don’t fuck—" Yeah, I say that word, just to see how she reacts. Obviously, I am not a caring kind of guy, one who is considerate of his mate's feelings—"Well then, you will survive, but I will get progressively weaker until I die.”
19
Gia
“So if either of us breaks the unconsummated bond, it will eventually kill you?”
He angles his head but doesn’t reply.
“And you shared your life force with me, knowing it would put you at my mercy?” I press my palm to my cheek. Why am I still blushing? We're just having a conversation. A life and death kind of conversation, that's all it is.
He straightens to his full height. “Don’t go making me out to be something I am not, Starlight. I just acted on instinct to save your ass.”
"My gorgeous ass." Don't know why I said that...except well I am tired of being on the defensive. He'd been trying to get a rise out of me and well what do you know, seems I am not done challenging him either.
He stiffens, then a smile cracks his face. "I stand corrected, your drop-dead-gorgeous-ass-ness." He half bows from the waist. “Even a warrior like me is not completely heartless, it seems.”
“Why do you find it so difficult to accept that perhaps hidden behind all those barriers you put up against the world is someone who wants to do what’s right?” I prop my hands on my waist.
“Now you are making me out to be something I am not.” He widens his stance. “I told you already there is no redemption for people like me. We live by violence and die by it, too.”
He rolls his head from side to side. His joints pop.
I am sure he does that just to look menacing. It only makes him more vulnerable. More open. More like he’s as unsure as me as to where all of this is leading.
“I don’t agree.” I take a step forward.
His shoulders freeze.
“Don’t come close.” He thrusts out his chest.
He looks strong and lethal and one hundred percent alpha male. Desire curls low in my belly. I swallow and take another step forward, so it brings me within a few inches of him.
His gaze narrows. Heat rolls off his body and swirls around me. I scent that very male essence of him. That hint of morning rain laced with dark chocolate. My mouth waters.
“Don’t do this, Gia.” A pulse ticks at his jaw.
I angle my head back, all the way back so I can meet his gaze.
His blue eyes deepen until they are almost turquoise. Flickers of amber dance in their depths. Mesmerizing. Alluring. Yet there are so many secrets in them.
I want to throw myself at him and ravage him, tear off all the walls he’s put up between us until I can see who he truly is.
I raise a hand to touch his cheek.
He snakes out his arm and grabs my wrist.
His touch shivers over my skin, all the way to my core. My pussy clenches, and moisture pools between my legs.
His nostrils flare. “Don’t start something you don’t intend to finish.”
I tighten my lips. “Don’t try to tell me what I can or can’t do.”
“You don’t realize the repercussions of your actions.”
“Don’t I?” I toss my hair. A strand goes flying and curls over his shoulder.
A vein twitches at his temple. He leans in close enough for his nose to bump mine. “If we cross this line, there is no going back.”
“I know.”
“You don’t.” His lips curl up in a smile that doesn’t meet his eyes. Those blue eyes of his go dark.
The skin over his features stretches.
He seems cruel and merciless.
A man who’s almost at the edge of his control. Almost. Once it snaps, I’ll get to see what he is inside. Someone who will take without caring. Someone who will fulfill his own desires. Who will not stop until he is sated. Until I am sated. My toes curl. I want that. I want to see him raw and exposed. Want to feel the heat of his feelings burn me. Want… I just want.
“I can feel what you are thinking.” My insides seem to have dissolved into a gooey mess. I want to fold myself up against his chest and hide. Instead, I jut out my chin.
“Oh?”
“You are wondering how it will feel when I trail my fingers over your throat. When I cup your breasts, squeeze that firm flesh, then lower my head to your chest and bite your nipples. Draw them into my mouth and swirl my tongue around their hard edge and suckle them.”
His words are so explicit I swear I feel the warmth of his tongue tugging on my nipples. Warmth pools in my lower belly. My breasts swell, and my entire body tenses.
Every muscle under my skin feels as if it is stretched to breaking point. I shake my head, not daring to say anything. Not daring to trust my voice.
“I won’t stop there either.” His breath sears my cheek. His gaze narrows.
I want to tear my gaze from his features. To take a step back and run away…but where?
The full impact of my condition sinks in. Either I spend my time trying to get away from him and fail or I give in to him, mate him, consummate the bond, and then…?
Then find out what his real plans are.
It’s the only way to get information that will help my team back at the Bureau. It will give us a chance to find out more about what the Faes are planning.
Wouldn’t anyone else from the Bureau do just that?
Isn’t that what we are trained for? If it means I need to give my body up to him, then so be it. It’s a small price to pay to complete my mission, to make sure the people I am supposed to protect stay safe.
“What else…?” My voice cracks. I clear my throat. “What else would you do?”
Spots of color flare on his cheeks. His lips firm. He rakes his gaze over my face, down to my chest. “I’d drag my tongue down the valley between your breasts, over your concave waist, to your belly button, and lower to that secret hollow between your legs.” His eyes gleam.
My thighs clench. Heat pools in my belly.
“All the while my fingers would grip your hips and bring you close, raise you to your toes and position you…” He takes in a deep breath then lets it out.
My leg muscles bunch. I almost don’t dare say anything, and yet I need to. I feel like I am caught in this web of words he’s slinging over me and I need to see where it ends. “Then…?”
“Then I’d drop to my knees, so your pussy is exactly at the same level as my face.” His voice goes harsh. The tendons of his throat move.
“And…?” I exhale. There is a shifting feeling near my heart.
“And I’d raise your tunic, bury my nose in your cunt, then flick my tongue over your folds, draw in your essence. Lick your pussy, suck on it, then sweep my tongue inside your soaking channel.”
A moan spills out of me. Heat sweeps my skin. Every part of me seems to be burning up. I want him. I want all of what he’s described. It’s like nothing anyone has ever wanted to do to me before. I’ve never been this close to a man.
I’ve never wanted anyone to do this to me either. Him, only he can bring me to that edge of pleasure and push me over, and when I shatter, he’ll be there to catch me.
“Say it.” His voice shoves aside the thoughts jumbling my mind.
“Wh…what?” I force my eyes to stay open, when all I want is to squeeze them shut, to throw myself at him and ask him to just take me, no more talking, no more questions asked.
“Say that you want to consummate the mating bond.” His voice catches.
No, that must be my imagination. I peer into his eyes and he meets my gaze. The blue of his iris darkens until they seem as dark as his pupils. Sweat beads his brow and a pulse beats at his throat. I hadn't been mistaken. He's as uncertain as I am, too. My heart stills then starts to pound again. “Do you want me?”
He frowns. “What have I been trying to tell you all this while?”
“Do you want me as your mate?” I press my palm to my chest, my fingers splayed out.
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His body stiffens, he lowers his chin. “Yes.”
“Take me, Dante.”
20
Dante
Her words go straight to my head. Something inside me snaps. Her taste crashes over me. Hot, throbbing, and so sweet. My head spins. She tastes like everything forbidden, yet like what I have been waiting for all my life. She tastes of a redemption that I hadn’t dared hope for. Need thickens my blood. My dick throbs. I swing her up in my arms, and she wraps her legs around my waist. She’s so tiny, so fragile.
My heart stutters. My biceps tense. I bring her close enough for her breasts to graze my chest.
She locks her ankles around my waist, then crushes her nipples into my skin.
Every curve of hers imprints on my planes. Every part of her quivers as it meets its match. Her thighs grip my waist.
I turn and begin to walk out of the room.
“Where are you taking me?”
“To my bedroom.”
“Why?” She peers up at me. “There’s a perfectly good bed here.”
I stalk out of her room. “I want you in my space, covered in my scent. Smelling of me. Tasting of my essence.” My words sound possessive, but I don’t care. The time for hiding is over. It’s best she gets to know what I really am. Feral, primitive, uncontrolled. I cannot, will not, restrain myself again. Not with her.
I tilt my lips over hers.
She moans, then parts her lips. My tongue tangles with hers. The taste of her sinks into my blood. My heart thumps. My belly twitches with need. I speed up my steps.
She tears her lips from mine. “Why don’t you teleport?” Her eyebrows draw close.
“I only do that if someone’s life is in danger or if there is a real need for it.”
“Like when I was dying?”
My throat closes. I don’t want to think about how she’d been then. Pale, lifeless. Her skin cold enough to send goosebumps popping on my skin. I glide my arm up her back to cup her nape. “I’ll never let that happen again.”
“I’ll hold you to that.” Her gaze sidles away.
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