“You have to be sure, princess. Once we start this, there is no going back.”
He issued the warning before he could stop himself.
She studied him in silence for a moment, then said, “Haven’t we already started?”
“If we complete our mating bond while I’m stuck in here, this might be the only time—”
She didn’t let him finish.
Lifting up on her toes, she pressed her lips against his again to cut off his words. He groaned in pleasure as his control snapped. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he lifted her and carried her over to the closest table. Setting her down, he deepened the kiss as he leaned into her.
He wanted to breathe her in, taste the very essence of her. Angling his head, he sealed his mouth over hers. He loved the way she immediately opened for him, welcoming him in. He stroked his tongue against hers and shuddered at the pleasure surging through him.
By the gods, kissing her was pure magic.
She tasted like sugar and spice, like raw honey wickedly coating his tongue. He had never tasted anything as wonderful or invigorating. Pulling her closer, he situated himself between her parted thighs. He ground his erection against her, hard enough for the pressure of it to satisfy him and make him ache for more.
He wanted to groan in protest when she broke the kiss and pulled back to stare up at him. The sudden loss of her warmth left him aching, and every instinct urged him to pullher close and reclaim what she’d taken from him. Her beautiful eyes looked luminous as they filled with unshed tears, seeming impossibly bright beneath the dim glow in the room.
The sight stole his breath.
She was breathtakingly beautiful with her emotions laid bare, but the sight of her tears twisted something inside of him. He never wanted to be the reason she cried. Not a single precious tear. He searched her face, silently pleading for reassurance, desperate to know what lay behind the emotion welling in her gaze. Because if she looked at him with regret, he wasn’t sure his battered heart could take it.
“What is it, princess? What is wrong?”
She was silent for another heartbeat, then she said, “Thank you for waiting for me.”
Those simple words struck him with more force than any blow ever could. They slipped past every wall he’d built around himself and settled deep within him where they nurtured a spark of hope.
Joy swelled inside him until it was almost painful to contain. She knew what he had endured. Knew what those long, lonely years had cost him. She knew how many nights he’d questioned whether he would ever see freedom again. Whether anyone would remember him, or if he would become nothing more than another forgotten soul rotting behind stone walls.
And instead of mourning what had been stolen…she was thanking him.
Thanking him for surviving.
Thanking him for refusing to give up.
His throat tightened as emotion threatened to overwhelm him. All those years of suffering suddenly carried meaning. Every sacrifice he’d endured no longer felt like pointless cruelty inflicted by fate.
Not when it had led her to him.
She had found him.
Somehow, through the darkness and despair, she had found him.
If enduring decades of pain meant he could stand before her now and hear those words from her lips, all of those years hadn’t been wasted.
Somehow, against all odds, she had found him, and she was grateful for the love that had been waiting for her.
His lips crushed down on hers in a brutal kiss. She had woken the animal within him, but she didn’t fear it. She embraced it. Claimed it. Wrapping her leg around him, she pulled him even tighter against her.
Excitement surged through him when she used her magic to get rid of their clothes, leaving them in a discarded pile on the floor. She moaned as she arched against him, pressing herself even closer to him. He wanted to take it slow, to savor every inch of her, but he couldn’t wait.
Need was riding him too hard to hold back any longer.
The feel of her bare hands sliding over him caused gooseflesh to prickle along his skin. When she bent her head and pressed a kiss over his heart, he shuddered with pleasure. It took a moment to realize that she was pressing her lips directly over the mating marking she had branded him with. He felt more of her magic flowing into him through her lips. She was doing more than just claiming him. She was nourishing his magic with her own.
The ancient symbol on his chest glowed with silvery iridescent light, shimmering as if something were alive just beneath his skin. It was a brand he was proud to wear. He wrapped his hand around one of her wrists, and his own magic flared to life. His magic flowed out of his hand and into her skin, marking her as his mate. The bond between them immediatelysnapped into place. As weak as he was, the connection between them was strong.
