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“Oh...” Her skin flushed.
I waited for disgust.
For fear.
Closing my eyes, I grunted and dropped my chin. “Runa—I...give me a moment.”
Her hitched inhale made me cringe.
I expected her to bolt out of the cave and not stop running until she was back with the Nhil. I’d promised her she was safe with me, yet with every breath, I found it harder and harder not to beg her to touch me. To put me out of my agonising misery.
I kept my head bowed as my blood churned, thundering in the spear I couldn’t control.
It’d been agonising before.
But now...with her eyes on me, with her silent shock drifting all around me, it was excruciating.
“Are you...in pain?” Her voice remained so soft, so kind. Shifting closer, she unknowingly revealed her bare body to my savagely hungry eyes. Her nakedness wasn’t an invitation. Her natural form was nothing more than her version of a pelt or fur or feathers.
Yet the way I was feeling, the way I craved?
I wanted to devour her.
Touching my shoulder, making me flinch as if she’d stabbed me in the heart, she murmured, “Tell me what I can do.”
I groaned. Long and low.
Do?
I could never request the things I wanted her to do.
She came closer, her warm skin making mine prickle with misery. “You look in agony.”
Her nearness made the pounding in my blood a thousand times worse.
I felt as primitive as a wolf.
As feral as a beast.
She placed a hand on my upper arm, her fingers trembling.
My mind flooded with pushing her onto her back. Mounting her. Biting her. Thrusting, thrusting, thrust—
I scrambled away, pressing hard against the cave wall. “I’m fine,” I growled. “Stay back. I just need a little time. Just...don’t touch me—”
Concern painted her cheeks, and her eyes glowed with the affection that’d started to form between us.
That affection broke my heart.
Runa crawled closer, her breasts swinging, true worry painting her stunning face. She didn’t stop until she was close enough to embrace me. Her eyes remained locked on mine, her breath shallow.
The torture of her closeness was only overshadowed by my shock that she’d seemingly forgotten the consequences of what happened every time we grew too near.
“Runa...” I choked, pressing harder against the wall, trapped with nowhere to go. “I need you to move away.”
“You’re in pain.” Her worry overshadowed the unspoken rules of distance between us. Her hand reached for mine. I jerked it into my belly, doing my best to avoid her. Only...her fingers went with me, slipping away to land directly on the overheated spear currently punishing me between my legs.
I jolted with a savage grunt.
A groan ripped through me as her feathering touch became the best and worst thing I’d ever endured.
“You’re holding yourself back...because of me.” Amber-tinged sadness filled her gaze as she drew her fingers away from my stiffened flesh. “You’d rather hurt than touch me because you’re not him. You would never touch me without my permission.”
I clenched every muscle in my body as her fingers returned and hesitantly skimmed over me as if she wasn’t entirely aware of what she’d done.
But I was.
Way, way too aware.
“Wh-What are you doing?” I panted. “Don’t—”
Her gaze met mine, full of kindness. “You’re in pain.” Resolution tightened her jaw. “Let me try and help you.”
A haggard chuckle fell. “You can’t heal this like you did my arm. It’s not a malady—”
“It’s a discomfort,” she whispered, her chest puffing up with courage. “And I won’t let you suffer.” Pursing her lips, she braced her shoulders, and her fingers found my flesh again, tightening around me.
I jerked. “Fuck.”
I didn’t know where such a violent word had come from. I didn’t know if it was the dead language we shared or the Firenese she’d taught me. But it made my blood burn.
Runa sucked in a breath. “I don’t know that word.”
I shook my head, my spine pressed hard against the cave wall. I didn’t want to talk about languages or all the things we’d forgotten. I just needed her to stop before it was too late. “Runa, don’t—”
“Forgive me if I touch you wrong.” Her shyness and hesitant fingers drove me to breaking point. “I’ve never...I mean, I don’t remember ever—”
I snatched her wrist. “I don’t remember either.” I swallowed hard, breathing fast. “I don’t know how I’ll react if you keep touching me.”
She nodded. “You won’t hurt me.”
“Never.”
“Then let me take away your hurt.” Her gaze dropped to my throbbing flesh, hot in her grip. “Please.”
My fingers slackened around her wrist as my willpower disintegrated. I tried one last time even as my mind hummed with lust. “You don’t have to heal me this time. I won’t die.”
Her fingers tightened. “You might.”
I couldn’t breathe as her hand moved.
She licked her lips, making my head spin. “You’re as hot as fevers. Your skin is burning.”
Everything was burning.
