Page 143 of Revenant

Standing slowly so as not to spook her, she lets her hand fall from my shoulder and I already miss the connection. She takes the paper from my hands and I don’t have the will to keep it from her.

Her lips part on a gasp, eyes analyzing the piece, and when they meet mine, there isn’t a force strong enough to keep from doing what I shouldn’t.

“Fuck it.” I grab her face and seal my lips against hers. I fully expected her to pull away. Punch me. Scream. Quite literally anything other than stand as still as a statue.

But this is what I do—take without permission. And I can’t say I’m the least bit sorry about it.

Almond and cinnamon surround my senses, weaving in and out of my soul like it was always meant to be there. My tongue snakes out, needing more. Begging to taste her, to feel her. It takes everything inside me to keep my fangs at bay, even if the pain is excruciating.

I can’t risk scaring her. Not now.

A groan vibrates through my throat as she relaxes into my touch, parting her lips as if to say she needs more as well. Our tongues intertwine and it’s the most divine thing I’ve ever indulged in. Her hands find their way to my hair as I angle her head up, deepening the kiss.

She moans into me, the drawing long forgotten as she presses her body closer. Her breasts brush against my thin shirt, sending electrical currents throughout my veins. The sound unlocks something deep inside me—carnal and animalistic.

Before I can think better of it, I bend down and pick her up by the backs of her thighs in one swift motion. She gasps, but doesn’t object. In fact, it’s as if the same urge comes over her and any sane thought she’s ever had evaporates.

Her fingers grip my hair at the root, pulling my lips from hers, and I have to contain the instinct to force them back down. Alicent trails kisses down the side of my throat, teasing me with little nips she calls bites.

My lip quirks. “Feeling a little dangerous are we, little wraith?”

She giggles. Fucking giggles. And just like that, any resolve I had dissipates like it was never there at all. I push her against the wall, using it to hold her up while my fingers trail up from her ankles, and push the hem of her dress up. Her legs wrap around my waist once they’re not confined, and the closeness has me wishing we weren’t wearing anything at all.

My cock throbs with an undeniable intensity. But despite what her body sings, I know she’s not ready for…whatever this is.

“Eryx,” she pleads, leaning her head back and arching into me. My hand cups the side of her face, my thumb slowly stroking over the column of her throat. Her pulse beats with a vicious thrum, and suddenly, the memory of the night I force fed from her rains down on me like a bucket of ice water.

“It looks like our time is up.” Her blue eyes meet mine, telling me she doesn’t understand. I place her back down on the ground, relishing the way her body slides down mine as I do.

I take a step back at the same moment the guys enter the room. It’s only then Alicent understands what I meant.

Her gaze swings to them instantly, the redness of her cheeks only deepening when the realization we had almost been caught sinks in. The four of them crowd the doorway, all looking as though they were going to be her knights in shining armor and save her from the big bad me.

To my surprise, it’s Elias who speaks up. “What did you do to her?” He charges toward me, none of the others even attempting to hold him back.

I guess it’s crystal clear where I stand on the totem pole.

I don’t even dignify his question with a response. Instead, I slowly wipe my lower lip with my thumb, sucking the remaining taste of her off with precision.

Elias’s gaze is murderous—they all are. As if all the time we’ve spent together was erased when she got here. And now all they see me as is nothing more than a leech with nothing left to live for. A pathetic fool who they’re apparently forced to be chained too.

Hopefully not for much longer.

Alicent takes a steady step between us. “Elias, calm down.”

“Calm down?! He knew what he wa—”

Alicent reaches him in a few short steps, placing a hand on his chest—the same one that was tangled in my hair only a few moments ago. It works. He turns his attention from me and gives it undividedly to her. “I’m okay. Everything’s fine. You didn’t have to come to my rescue.”

I snort, knowing damn well she’s right, as if her attack in my room wasn’t proof enough.

“Let’s get out of here, yeah? It’s almost time anyway.” She smiles up at him and my heart constricts. Because no matter what I do, she’ll never look at me like that.

Elias gives me one last look, nostrils flared and jaw clenched. I know my brother, and the only reason he isn’t beating me to a bloody pulp is because a certain redhead is standing between us.

She quickly grabs her bag off the table and I watch as she takes his hand and guides him out of the room—the others parting happily to let them through.

“Alright, well, who’s throwing the first punch? Who’s going to make a grand speech about staying away from your precious witch?”