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“I did.”
He wanted to touch her, to offer some comfort, but what could he do or say?
In the end, he decided to tell her what he knew. “I’ve talked enough with Gerrod and Ethan, and more recently with Quinlan, to know that you’re right about being a blood rose. My starvation is gone, as though it never existed. But I shouldn’t have attacked you like that and afterward, I didn’t even know who I had in my arms, I was so deranged by the experience.”
She glanced over her shoulder. “You didn’t know it was me?”
“I barely knew where I was and I don’t like being this out of control. I’m never out of control.”
“No, you’re not, so this must be as horrifying to you as it is to me.”
She put her hand to her throat. “Rosamunde must have known. On some level, she must have known.”
“What do you mean?”
“That I was a blood rose. She must have foreseen this, maybe the attack in the canyon as well, I don’t know.”
His hair had come loose from his woven clasp and he shoved the long strands away from his face. He’d been like a wild beast when he’d gone after Lorelei.
He turned toward her, a different kind of concern surfacing. “Did I hurt you? Just now, when I drank from you and used your body, did I hurt you?”
“No, of course not. I wanted it, too. Couldn’t you tell?”
“I guess so, but I barely remember why I suddenly let go of my rational mind, except that I smelled your blood. You give off this powerful scent, like walking through an apple orchard in early spring.”
She smiled suddenly, a familiar warm expression that reached into his heart and gave a hard squeeze. “That’s funny, because your scent reminds me of those moments when I’m running through an old part of the forest, one full of rich earth and covered in moss.” She closed her eyes briefly, her nostrils flaring. “I can smell you even now.”
He watched pleasure move over face, her head tilted back slightly. She had a beautiful complexion, like cream. Her brows were arched, her chin an exquisite fae point, and the amethysts winked at him, teasing him all over again.
But it was the delight he saw in her features that got to him, that whoever she was as a realm-woman, she knew how to take enjoyment where she found it.
He understood. His path had been difficult for a thousand years, always battling and always alone. But he’d learned how to appreciate the world around him, whether a new piece of music, or a squirrel that often raced across the long rails of his porch, or the moon rising through the tops of the distant trees.
Caught as he was, desire for her rose sharply all over again, and he almost pulled her into his arms.
But the pleasure in her expression transformed into something darker and he could feel her sudden anxiety like a vibration on his skin.
“Lorelei, what is it? What’s wrong?”
* * * * * * * * *
Lorelei didn’t understand why Seth’s desire had risen so sharply, but his scent didn’t lie. The very thing she’d longed for had happened, but now that she’d had sex with Seth, her entire being suddenly recoiled at what was happening between them.
She didn’t know how to do this, to be this intimately connected to anyone, and especially not to a man she’d craved for the past two months. More than anything, she feared being ripped from her world again, as she had at least once a year for the past several decades.
She knew she was no longer at risk from Margetta finding her, but her bones hadn’t yet learned this truth.
As though her body acted instinctively, she shifted to her wolf form and bolted from the room. She heard Seth calling after her, but she quickly wrapped an enthrallment shield around herself and raced through his house, her claws sliding a couple of times on his polished wood floors.
When she reached the back door, she shifted to fae only as long as it took to create fingers and pull the door wide.
Resuming her wolf shape, she leaped onto the nearby path and ran as hard as she could up the steep mountainside, disappearing into the forest itself, following lesser animal trails to avoid detection.
She’d made a den for herself soon after her arrival to the area, setting up a series of enthrallment layers to protect herself from other realm-folk, especially shifters, vampires, and most importantly, Margetta.
Once inside the den, she curled up on the padded, fur comforter, trembling and trying to calm herself. She bore a thick winter coat and was comfortable physically, but her emotions swirled in her body, tearing through her mind, creating an upheaval she couldn’t seem to settle.
She licked the top of her paws and breathed hard. She’d just had sex with the man of her dreams. And it had rocked.
