“I let you give her the potion, but I’d like to talk to her alone now,” Cole said.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sahira replied.
Lexi squeezed Sahira’s hand as Cole stepped forward, but he didn’t come any closer. He emanated an air of brutality she’d never seen before. Without the beard shadowing his face, the tips of his ciphers licked the bottom of his chin.
An ominous look clouded his face, but there was something more to the glint of rage in his eyes. There was also concern as he smiled hesitatingly at her. Despite her every intention not to let her heart melt toward him, it softened.
“It’s okay,” Lexi said to her aunt. “I want to talk to him.”
Sahira’s hands tightened on Lexi’s good one. She’d never approved of them together; she approved even less since he’d taken off.
“I’m sure that whatever he has to say can wait,” Sahira said in a clipped tone. “You’re wounded and—”
“It’s fine,” Lexi assured her.
She’d prefer to get this over and done with. It would be easier on her heart if he left again sooner rather than later.
Sahira didn’t look like it was fine, but she released Lexi’s hand and rose. “I’ll make some more healing potion for you. I won’t be gone long.”
She gave Cole a pointed look before leaving the room. Lexi stared at the empty doorway after Sahira vanished, but she couldn’t put off dealing with him forever.
Taking a deep breath, she finally tore her attention away from the open door to focus on the man standing near her window. Her heart raced, sweat coated her palms, and her stomach contracted like someone had punched it.
He was as gorgeous as she remembered with his chiseled cheekbones and square jaw. It was strange seeing him without his beard, but he was impossibly more handsome and ominous without it.
The tips of his pointed ears poked up through his short, black hair. When she used to run her fingers over the tips of those ears, he would turn into her touch.
Now that she could smell him and see him again, she was acutely aware of everything she missed while he was gone. Heat flooded her body as the memories ofallthe things he enjoyed her doing to him returned.
She spent the first few days after he left trying to recall every detail of their time together. She was determined not to forget a second of it.
Once she realized he wasn’t coming back, she spent a lot of time working to buryallof those memories. They were far too distressing to recall during the day, though they tormented her dreams. As those memories rushed back, they refused to be stifled again.
It didn’t help that he was back in her father’s ill-fitting clothes like the last time she saw him. She assumed he hadn’t arrived here naked and his clothes had torn from him when he transformed.
Even in the too-small outfit, he was still striking and commanding and so tempting it took all she had not to beckon him closer to kiss him. The shirt’s short sleeves revealed the black ciphers around his lower biceps, forearms, wrists, and the tips of his fingers.
She knew from experience those flame-like marks also ran across his shoulders, neck, and down his back to his waist. Those ciphers hinted at the plethora of power he possessed, but it was only a small hint. She’d probably never know the full depth of it, but then,hemight not know.
Like her, he was also a half-breed. Unlike her, he possessed atonof power.
As he stared at her, the silver bled from his eyes until they were once again their beautiful Persian blue color. Her heart warmed further before she slammed a wall around it.
She wouldnotlet him hurt her again.
Chapter Eight
“You shaved your beard,”she said.
It was a stupid thing to comment on, but she had so many things running through her mind that she had no idea what to say to him first.
Why did you leave me for so long? You promised you would be back sooner. Your brother and a bunch of refugees are hiding beneath my manor as we speak.
This reminder was a knife of fear to her chest. He couldn’t know about them. He’d turn them in faster than he transformed into a wolf, and she couldn’t let that happen.
He rubbed his chin as he approached the bed. “I did.”
She almost asked why but held back the question. He was honest enough that he would tell her if it was for another woman. Maybe he’d met someone who didn’t like his beard while she loved the feel of it against her skin and between her thighs.
