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She shrugs and looks away. I don’t like ambivalence from her. It never bodes well. Sharp words and raucous laughter? That’s her. A shrug of a shoulder, a noncommittal word? Something’s wrong.
“Why didn’t you believe me?” I move closer and drape an arm across her back. “When I told you I’d come to free you, why did you call me a liar?”
“How long are we going to rest here?” She closes her eyes, hiding from me.
I can’t let her get away with it. “As long as it takes for you to talk to me.”
“I’m talking.”
“You know what I mean.” I swipe a smudge of mud from her cheek but manage to just add more. We’re covered in muck from head to toe, but at least the Grim Eagle had to find its lunch elsewhere.
“I don’t know why.” She breathes out a long sigh that speaks to a deeper sort of tired. One that doesn’t go away with a brief rest. “I suppose because it was completely ridiculous to think that anyone would come for me.” Her gaze meets mine. “You don’t know what it’s like. Being a slave. Being a changeling. The things my master did to me …” Her voice fades, her eyes looking through me, perhaps seeing her past.
I want to take her pain and sink it to my deepest recesses, to keep it there for her and guard it so it can never hurt her again. But that isn’t the nature of damage. Some experiences leave scars. Some are so deep they form grooves that we’re damned to re-tread, to continue gouging out the same sad path that was set for us by another.
She clears her throat. “So, no, when you said you were there to free me, I assumed it was some cruel trick. Who would free a changeling? Especially a high fae like you. Who would care what happens to a slave, a human that was nothing more than a snack for Granthos’s pets?”
Killing him so quickly will forever be a regret. I should have made him suffer, made it slow. Instead, my magic spoke for me, obliterating him from the face of Arin.
“I’m sorry.” I lean closer and press my forehead to hers. “For everything. How I spoke to you, how I pushed you away. I am a bit … gruff, I suppose. I know I can be difficult. At least, Leander tells me that often. Rigid and unyielding on my principles, and yes—” I sigh. “I am quite fond of rules. But with you, it’s different. With you, everything means more. And if I have to break the rules to show you how I feel about you, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“You’re only saying that because of your mate bond.” Her deep brown eyes turn sad, the depths welling with tears that she doesn’t allow to fall. “You don’t believe it. Not really. If you weren’t constrained by the bond, you wouldn’t give me another look. That’s why you pushed me away. You don’t care for me. It’s just the bond forcing you to.”
A kick to the bollocks would hurt less. Have I been too adept at hiding my intentions? That ends now. I grab her and pull her so she lies on top of me, the crown of her head brushing the twisted roots above us.
“What are you d—”
“Listen to me, changeling.” I hold her still, though her wriggling is rather pleasant against my thickening cock. “Listen.” I lock my gaze with hers. “You didn’t let me finish earlier.”
She bites her lip, and I suspect it’s the only way she can keep herself from popping off to me. Impertinent changeling, she of the sexy invective.
“When I first saw you, I wanted you.”
“Wanted me?” Her eyes narrow. “What do you mean by—”
“Shall I put a finer point on it?” My blood rushes through me, everything inside me focused on everything inside her.
“I think you have to.” Her gaze strays to my lips and a hint of mischief flickers in her eyes. “In layman’s terms so I can understand.” Her heart thumps against my chest, her breath quickening. “I’m just a simple changeling, after all.”
I laugh. She shivers at the sound, her hands gripping my biceps.
“You are anything but simple, my beloved. Even so, let me make myself abundantly clear. When I spied you, I wanted to get in that cage with you, lock the door, and make the beast with two backs while the rest of the prisoners listened to every grunt, moan, and whimper. You had hay in your hair, dirt on your face, and a wild look in your eye that you have even now. Untamed. Unbroken despite your shackles. A firebrand. And then you opened that mouth.” I glance to her full lips. “Clever and devious. Rancorous and pointed. Every word a war. One I’m happy to fight as long as we end up with me inside you and my name on your lips.”
Her breath catches, her eyes widening. “What?”
“You said layman’s terms, my beloved.” I run one hand down to her ass and squeeze. “Don’t mistake my adherence to honor as a barrier to speaking plainly with my mate. In short, I intend to have your legs spread and my face between them as soon as possible.”
Her wild scent perfumes the air with arousal as she blinks. “You are utterly filthy.”
I lift my hips so she can feel just how filthy I am. For her. Only for her.
Her eyes flutter closed. “You’re cheating. Our deal was no, um, no mating. And I—” She takes a breath as if to concentrate, then works up a scowl. “I meant to say, you avoided me after the Gray Mountains. You wouldn’t even be in the same room with me!”
“I avoided you on the way back from the Gray Mountains because I didn’t want to lose control. You think being near you is easy? You are maddening, changeling. Your scent, your mouth, your mind. You haunt my waking moments, my dreams, my thoughts. I wanted you so badly, I feared I would hurt you. Keeping you at a distance was the only way to retain my sanity and focus on my duties as Leander’s second in command.” I take a deep breath, the truth spilling out of me far more quickly than is prudent. “And, if I’m being honest, I feared I would give you my bond and thwart any future mating.”
Her lips are slightly open, her breasts pressing against me, the tips hard. “You’d forsake your mate for me?”
“I suppose I’ll never be faced with that decision.” I lean up and claim her mouth, taking her breath and giving me life.
She digs her little fingernails into my arms as I palm her ass and press her down onto my hard length. Her legs fall to either side of me, the heat from between her thighs making me hiss. The feral pushes to the fore and demands I take it all, claim her as mine and mark her so that no male can question our bond. Our kiss deepens, my hands roving her backside as she grinds gently on me. Does she even know she’s riding me?
Her little sounds are like sparks popping from a blaze, each one sending the flames higher. Pulling back, she takes a breath, but I follow her and drag her back. She moans low in her throat, the sound thick like honey and twice as sweet.
“Wait.” She pulls away again. “You’re cheating.”
“Cheating?” I squeeze her ass with both hands. “You said no mating. We’re not mating, though I certainly would not refuse you.”
“You know what I mean!” She pushes back and almost hits her head on the roots, but I slide my hand between them before she can hurt herself. With a huff, she eases off me and flips to her back. “You aren’t tricking me into mating with you just because you say things that are so, so …” She slaps at the nearest root. “Ugh. No. Thighs closed.”
