Before I could even respond, Evander swept me into an embrace so fierce, it knocked me off my feet.
I didn’t fall, though. I couldn’t. He’d caught me and held me close, the lean muscles of his body rigid against mine.
A deep ache throbbed between my thighs, an inexplicable need for him that had sparked to life the very first time he held me in his arms and waltzed me across his ballroom at the feast. And every time he touched me, every time he stole another kiss, every time he looked at me, that spark burned a little brighter. Hotter.
And now, tonight, it finally caught, the fire raging to life inside me.
I couldn’t explain it any more than I could explain my feelings for Hudson and Jax, despite not knowing them all that long. I only knew that it felt right.
I opened my eyes, gazing into his, the heat between us cresting.
Evander had been an outsider for so long, and now he stared at me fiercely, an unanswered question in his eyes.
Another challenge.
Would I push him away?
Or would I fall headlong into this madness with him?
30
EVANDER
The witch trembled in my hold, but it wasn’t fear that had set her body to shivering.
My own muscles quivered with restraint, a monumental effort to temper a raging storm when all I wanted to do was break upon her shores and fuckingdevourher.
“Tell me you look intomyeyes and still see the man you loved before,” I demanded, our mouths so close I could already taste her lips. Her hair was like warm silk in my fist, her taut stomach trembling as I lifted the hem of her shirt and pressed my palm to her skin, then slid down lower, desperately seeking more of her.Allof her. “Tell me my touch makes you burn forhim. Tell me there’s no room in your heart but for the men who’ve already claimed it, and I will bury this blaze in my chest so deeply I will never again feel its warmth.”
She arched into my touch, an instinctive gesture born of a need unmet, a desire unfulfilled.
My fingers slid inside her pants, gliding down past her clit to tease her hot, wet center.
“I… I can’t.” She clutched my arms, her grip fierce even as her voice trembled. “It would be a lie. I… I feel you, Evander. I seeyou.”
“You call me by my so-called given name, but I’m still your captor, am I not? Your…” I pushed past her entrance, her heat enveloping my fingers, the smooth, silky feel of her unraveling my thoughts faster than I could hold onto them. “Yourenemy.”
I was losing the ability to speak, all logic and reason consumed by the unchecked desire raging through me. Touching her wasn’t enough. I needed to claim her, to drive my aching cock inside her and fuck her until I absolutelyownedher. Until I could look into her glittering, jewel-bright eyes and see the same blinding need reflected right back at me.
“We’re all our own worst captors, Evander,” she breathed. “Even you.”
Her eyes flamed, and then she was reaching for the buttons on my shirt, swiftly unfastening them.
I pulled out of her and moved to slide the ring back on, already feeling the effects of removing it. The slowing of my heart, the slight weakening of my muscles.
But Haley stopped me, closing her fingers around the ring before I could put it on.
I stilled, my heart stuttering. “Even after everything you’ve claimed, you still need to seehimwhen I touch you? My brother?”
“No. I need to seeyou, Evander. Therealyou, not the glamour of another man.”
New heat blazed inside me, but as much as I wanted to her grant her request, I couldn’t.
I sighed and slid the ring on, my strength returning at once. “It’s not just a glamour, Haley. My soul is bound to Keradoc’s—that’s how it works. You might prefer my original face, but the ring… I must not remove it for any length of time.”
“Why not?”
“I’ll die without it.”
