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Chapter 4
“What’s your name?”Nero asked, studying me from behind hooded eyes, his voice low and husky. Shadows leaped across his cheeks from the fireplace, masking his trueexpression.
But I wouldn’t let him intimidate me with his charming ways, or by standing there in the nude. Didn’t wolves wear clothes? And I’d heard enough tales to know when I ran from a wolf, it gave chase, so I stood my ground and responded, “Scarlet.”
Maybe reasoning with him would save me from turning into his dinner. “You look like a kind man… Umm, I mean hunter. If you let me leave, I promise not to tell anyone about your secret den. And…”Think. What could I offer a wolf shifter who stared at me as if I were his meal? “Herbs. I’m an expert at healing and…” I twisted around to find my bag and darted towardit.
With the satchel tucked under an arm, I dug inside, as I had all my herbs packed in separate little pouches. But water soaked everything, and prickly herbs stuck to my fingertips, meaning something had opened, maybe even been ruined. Coldness wrapped around my chest at the thought that I had nothing to offer him. But I had no other option, and Nero wouldn’t know the difference. I just had to escape. Part of me toyed with the idea of tossing wolfsbane into his face, but I wasn’t ready to take on a wolf now or ever. First, I had to try to negotiate, so I showed him my small medicine bag I carried everywhere. Grandma had always taught me to be prepared. Guess she’d never believe I’d be in a wolf’s den,though.
Water droplets fell to the wooden floor, causing Nero to arch aneyebrow.
“It’s just water.” I choked a laugh. “But the herbs are great to make a healing tea or rub them on a wound to stopinfection.”
When he didn’t respond, I dove back into the bag, well aware that I had a batch of jimsonweed. The stuff was hard to come by and only grew high on the mountains where the bears lived. My fingers caressed the silky fabric, and I presented it to Nero, who tilted his head, studying the offering. Was he interested? That gave mehope.
“Mix this into someone’s drink and they will hallucinate for a short while,” Iexplained.
His nose wrinkled. “Why would a little lamb like you be carrying such apotion?”
I swallowed the thickness rubbing my throat. “Grandma always told me to carry a small amount should someone ever kidnapme.”
Hesmirked.
Every inch of me tingled to recoil, but I refused to show himfear.
Nero didn’t respond, and the jitters returned to my stomach. Had I said too much and now he saw me as athreat?
“Listen,” he started and reached for my wrist, but the moment his fingers grazed mine, a spark zipped up my arm. I flinched back and his head shot up, his eyeswidening.
“What was that?” heasked.
I shook my head because I’d never felt anything like that before—when I wasn’t amplifying plants, anyhow. The tiny spark now swirled in the pit of my gut, coiling in on itself. “As much as I’m enjoying your company, I think it’s time for me toleave.”
He stared at me for the longest moment, but his stoic expression gave nothing away, and I clutched my wet bag to my chest, regretting it at once as the water soaked through my top, freezing my skin. The moment I lowered it, Nero’s gaze dipped, and I followed his gaze to my hardened nipples pressing against the fabric plastered to my body. My cheeks burned, and I caught the slight twitch of his hardness. Oh, crap… If he got aroused that quickly, had I been wrong about his intentions this wholetime?
Nero laughed, the sound powerful and crashing through me like torrential rain. He leaned in closer, his lips so close to mine, I could feel them on my skin. I didn’t back away, so hooray for me, though my legs wobbled. My palms tingled with the desire to reach out and see if his muscles were as hard as they looked. It was utter madness. I wasn’t supposed to get hot and bothered by my enemy, but he fogged mymind.
Wolves had killed my parents, and I should have shoved the jimsonweed into Nero’s face, but Grandma’s words about my parents’ deaths kept resurfacing.Not everything in life is as straightforward as it seems. There are secrets everywhere.Nero appeared to be only a few years older than me, so he wouldn’t have had anything to do with their deaths. But a wolf was a wolf, known for their aggressiveness, their territorial ways, their suspicions of strangers. I had no reason to believe that his kind didn’t take my parents. I might have been next. With the way Nero was observing me, I ought to have run for my life. Yet a strange sensation teased me with the possibility of him wishing for more than a taste of my blood. Beyond all my rationale, I yearned to discover what he indeed wanted fromme.
“I’m not going to hurt you. We just saved you from the other wolves. But you keep teasing me that way, and…” Nero’s voice sliced through my thoughts, yanking back to the present. “I won’t be held responsible for what I’ll do to you,” he whispered, his lips pulling into a devilish grin, revealing a dimple in eachchin.
Desire thumped through me so fast, I lost my breath. His words should have terrified me, but instead, it felt as if an inferno had claimed my insides. A desperate, suffocating urge tightened around my lungs as I inhaled his musky and timber scent. I lost my mind to his gray-wolf eyes, and butterflies swarmed my stomach like the time Timmy had asked me on my first date. Except this was a hundred times stronger. It was too much but not enough at the same time. What was wrong withme?
Catching my breath, I said, “W-What will youdo?”
He raised a hand and shifted a loose strand of hair caught on my lashes. He threaded his fingers to the back of my head and grabbed my hair in his fist, tilting my chin up with his other hand, our gazes meeting. Panic should have rattled me at the core, and I shouldn’t have allowed this, but flames circled my libido. I never liked dominant men… but Nero was doing something to me I couldn’t get enoughof.
His warm exhale danced across my face. “Little lamb, I’ll make you scream with pleasure.” His mouth grazed mine, and my knees buckled under me as his fiery passion engulfed me. Backing away was the obvious solution, along with shoving him away. But I couldn’t. Not when I pried open my lips for him and was sure my underwear had just melted right offme.
I mewled against him, and he took my lower lip between his teeth, gnawing on it. An explosion of lights popped behind my eyelids. His fingers found my sex, rubbing gently. I squeezed my thighs together, muscles tense, and rapture ownedme.
When he pulled back, I whined and lost my balance, but Nero grasped me into his arms. Chest to chest, he winked and he might as well have licked me all over, because the apex between my legs burned withdesperation.
“What did you do to me?” I sucked in a rushedbreath.
“You’re so beautifullydelicious.”
We exchanged glances, unblinking, confusion knotting my mind. I felt as if I belonged to Nero. Craziest thought ever. He was a hunter and ate my kind… Heavens, how I’d love for him to devour me. The image of him between my thighs, licking me, had meshuddering.
