“Lexi!” Sahira called. “Is everything okay inthere?”
Lexi’s chest heaved as she labored to catchher breath. She tried to wiggle away from Cole, but his armsremained locked around her, and the sound he emitted froze her.When he lifted his head and their gazes met, she blinked at thesight of the pure silver eyes staring back at her.
She’d never seen a lycan on the verge oflosing control. However, those silver eyes were a clear indicationthe beast was close to the surface. It should terrify her, as anout-of-control lycan was one of the deadliest creatures in all therealms, but she couldn’t feel any trepidation with his arms lockedsecurely around her.
For the first time, she felt his clawsagainst her ass and saw the faint hint of a cipher at his temple.The outline of his fangs was visible against his closed lips.
If she wasn’t mistaken, he was on the vergeof transforming. But as she stared at him, the cipher vanished, andhis claws retracted.
She wondered how many ciphers he trulypossessed. Immortals whispered that the dark fae hid some of theirciphers from the outside world. The more ciphers a fae had, thestronger they were, but many claimed they only revealed a smallpercentage of those ciphers to the world so they could conceal thetrue depth of their power from their enemies.
It made sense to her, but this was the firsttime she’d seen evidence of it. The emergence of that cipher was asmuch a sign of his loss of control as his silver eyes.
When his erection pressed between her thighs,she resisted rubbing against him. For a minute, they simply staredat each other. Then her gaze fell to his mouth, and yearning torethrough her.
“Lexi!” Sahira called, and a note of panictinged her voice.
Struggling to breathe, she stammered out areply. “I’m fi-fine! I’ll be right out.”
His arms squeezed her, and she sensed hisirritation as Sahira sighed. Then her aunt’s footsteps soundedagainst the rug as she strode away
She waited for him to release her, but heremained towering over her with his body locked possessively aroundhers.
“I should….” Lexi swallowed the lump in herthroat. “I should go.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw, but finally,and with a reluctance evident in his slow movements, he releasedher and stepped away. Lexi tugged her robe close around her as shewiggled off the countertop.
She resisted the blush creeping up her neckand into her cheeks, but it was a losing battle. With her cheeksburning, she finished tugging her clothes into place.
“I must admit, you are a bit irresistible inthis,” he murmured.
When he gripped the lapel of her robe and hisfingers played with the material, Lexi frowned. She didn’t ownanything she would consider irresistible. She glanced down at thepink fabric, and her eyes widened when she spotted the tiny bunnieson it.
With her face burning hotter, she closed hereyes. In her rush to grab clothes from the closet, she hadn’tsnagged her new, white, fluffy robe. Instead, she’d taken the robeshe’d practically worn threadbare as a kid.
Unwilling to part with it, she stashed it inher closet when she outgrew it at twelve. And now she was wearingit in front ofhim.
“I was in a rush,” she muttered. “Someonewoke me in the middle of the night.”
His burst of laughter caused her eyes toblink in surprise. The sound rumbling from him made her toes curlas much as his passionate kiss. It was such a vibrant, warm sound,so much like the man who issued it.
He was still laughing when his head lowered.His eyes were that piercing blue again when they met hers.
Lexi bit her lip as she gazed at him. He wasgorgeous, and she longed to run her fingers over the angles of hisface before entwining them in his hair and kissing him again. Butif she kissed him again, she wouldn’t stop, and she wasnotprepared for where it would all lead.
“It’s adorable,” he said before releasing therobe. “I should return to Brokk.”
“Yes, of course.”
She started to edge away from him, but hishand on her face stopped her. He wiped something from her cheek.When his hand moved away from her, she realized it was some of thesalve she’d put on his palm.
“Your hand—” she started.
“It’s fine,” he assured her as he held it upbetween them.
Some of the salve remained on his palm.Beneath it, she saw the healing edges of the deep gash in his hand.“What caused it?”
“I grabbed the blade.”
