Page 167 of Wind Rider

“That’s my plan!”

She kissed his neck again, tasting him with her tongue and nipping his earlobe playfully.

He laughed and shifted her so that she was on her back and he was over her. She reached up, pulling his lips down to hers, and Antreas kissed her passionately, his arms tightening around her.

Danita froze, and her breath caught in her throat.

Instantly, Antreas lifted himself off her—touching her hair and face gently as he soothed, “It’s okay—it’s okay. It’s just me. You’re safe. You’re always safe with me.”

Danita sat up and with a trembling hand wiped tears from her cheeks. This was usually when she became defeated and quiet, though she’d eventually fall asleep and return to herself by morning. But this night it was different—shewas different.

“I have an idea,” she said.

“Okay…”

“I like kissing you. I like it a lot,” Danita said.

“I like kissing you, too. A lot.”

“But when you’re on top of me I get scared,” she said.

“Yep. I’m sorry about that. I didn’t mean to—”

She pressed her fingers against his lips. “No, don’t apologize. I want to be in your arms. That’s all you were doing—pulling me into your arms. But what if I did all the pulling?”

His lips twitched up at the corners. “‘Pulling’?”

“Yeah, like this.” He was on his back, half propped up against the pelts behind him. Danita leaned into him, putting her arms firmly around him and pulling herselfto him,and then kissing him thoroughly. When she sat up she asked, “How was that?”

Antreas sounded like he’d been sprinting, but his answer was swift. “Wonderful.”

“Oh, good. Let me practice. But would you please keep your arms by your side and let me do everything?”

“It would be my great pleasure to let you doanythingto me,” he said.

And Danita did. She kissed him and explored his body. She even pulled off his shirt, but hesitated when she got to the waist of his pants.

“I—I don’t think I can go there.”

Antreas opened his mouth to respond, but again Danita shushed, this time by pressing her lips to his and whispering,“Yet.”

Finally, when the night grew long and they both became sleepy, Danita curled up on Antreas’s chest. Her arms wrapped firmly around him, she fell asleep with her lips lifted into a smile and Bast purring loudly, pressed against her back.

Antreas’s heartbeat slowed. Moving carefully, he draped his arms around her—in sleep able to hold her without causing her to panic. He kissed her forehead, breathing in her scent and loving the way she melted into him, proving nightly that she truly trusted him—truly loved him.

Just before Antreas drifted off to a contented sleep, he realized that never in his life had he been so thoroughly happy.

CHAPTER 24

THE ENTRANCE TO THE ROCK MOUNTAIN PASS—DEATH’S ARMY

Ralina longed for contentment. She didn’t long for happiness. She couldn’t imagine her way to happiness anymore. But contentment—that Ralina could still imagine, though just barely.

Death’s army had finally beached at the base of the Rock Mountains as the sun rose into a clear summer sky. Ralina was one of the first to leave the boats, as Death expected her to be near Him for anything He might consider monumental, so she saw the familiar little group of stripped boats that had been beached before them.

“These are ours!” Thaddeus growled, kicking one of the canoes.

Death chuckled cruelly. “Do you not mean theywereyours?”