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Breathing heavily, shaking with fear and the urge to flee, I cracked my eyes open to warmth and heavy arms around me. They held me with gentleness that contradicted their strength, the sort that was only comforting and protective. I removed my palms from my ears and looked up at him, seeing the caution in his eyes as he watched me, the stillness of his body and the tenseness of his embrace.
Relief and gratitude thawed me. I threw my arms around his bare waist and hugged him as tight as I could. His muscles pressed into me, and I let out a long, heavy exhale when his own arms curled around me tighter.
Eon held me close to him, winding my legs around his waist while I clung to his neck.
“Breathe,” he whispered in my left ear, and I shrunk to the side as his warm breath tickled me. “I won’t drop you.”
Giving a tense nod, I inhaled a deep, shuddering breath as he crawled us to his land. I squeezed my arms and legs around him, only truly relaxing when he gently lowered me to the grass below the pink tree, his palm firm on my back as he eased me down.
Eon hovered over me, his ruby eyes staring into my blue eyes, like he was waiting, listening, watching for how I would react to him being so close.
Slowly, giving him all the time to see and feel the sincerity in my action, I guided my hand up his warm chest and hooked it behind his neck, pulling his face down towards me. Eon arched a brow, but there was a gleam of approval in his eyes as he sent a look at where my arm was stretched.
“Are you…” I bit my bottom lip, questioning if I’d interpreted his gestures wrong for one short moment before I took the risk. “Are you intending to be my… mate?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation. So I hadn’t interpreted his gestures wrong.
My cheeks warmed. His unwavering attention made me more flustered. “I—”
“Reject?” His upper lip curled, his features—especially his narrowed eyes—morphing into a look of hostility.
“No.” I soothed his agitation with a soft brush of my fingertips along the sharp edge of his jaw. It worked to an extent as he covered his teeth but kept his keen glare. “I want to know why me. You know we are different. You know our people were not made for each other. And that female just then…” I bit my bottom lip, observing him carefully. “She seemed intent on you. She wanted you. But you chose me. Why?”
“Mala wants toownme,” he said, his voice cold and sharp. “She wants certain aspects of me. Not all of me. I have no interest in her.”
“And others?” I prompted. “Were there no other females who caught your interest?”
Eon narrowed his eyes. “There are no others. None like you.”
Discomfort and hope scratched under my skin at once. The feeling was jarring, strange. I didn’t know how to interpret his words, if they were meant the way I wanted or something else.
“Because I am an Elf?” I whispered, searching his impatient gaze. My shoulders hunched, the instinct to curl into myself and hide creeping up my spine. “Because I am… different?”
Eon’s gaze softened a touch. The change was enough to loosen some of the tension in me, stun me as he delicately cupped the side of my face with one of his big hands.
“Because you are different, but not because you are an Elf.” With the lightest touch, he skimmed his fingertips along my jaw in the same manner I’d touched him earlier. Soothing me. Easing the discomfort he saw in my actions because he understood that better than my words.
The gesture was too soft, too genuine and real to be faked or mistaken.
“You…” He hesitated, as if looking for the right words. “You don’t behave like you want to own me. You do not… pretend. I know when you are upset. I know when you want to leave. I know when you enjoy my company and like being around me. Youaredifferent. Because you… accept me as I am.”
“Do you accept me as I am?”
Eon gave me a slow blink, the corners of his mouth faintly tilting up.
The gesture sent a rush of exuberance throughout my limbs. Grinning, I pushed him back from me. No, he expected it andallowedme.
I stood up with my fingers laced behind me and stared at him. “Impress me. If I am impressed, I’ll answer to you.”
Eon shot to his feet with wide eyes. “Then you’ll be mine?” Impatient hope bled from his voice.
I grinned wider, admiring the idea of him belonging to me and me belonging to him, because how in the stars didI—the lowest of all prey—catchhim,the top predator?
Eon studied me. He was a Spider and his kind were the ones to take whatever they wanted. My few encounters with the other breeds proved that enough. He could hold me down and forcibly mate with me. I couldn’t understand why he’d wait for my consent.
He shrugged his shoulders before his hands went to his pants. My eyes bulged. I spun around when I realised he was taking them off, heat flaring under my face. His low, quiet laugh rumbled behind me, making my toes curl inside my sandals.
