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A few seconds later, booming fae laughter meshed with the music as a furious, disheveled-looking Ervo shoved his way through the crowd. There was fire blazing off his shoulders, reminding me that he was, in fact, a phoenix.
As if I could’ve forgotten that.
“Thanks for the dance!” I told the fae, stepping away with a grin as the song ended.
“Any time,” he called back, matching my grin with his own.
I spun to face Ervo as he reached me. Though I opened my mouth to say something, he just grabbed me by the waist and threw me over his shoulder before striding right back in the direction he had come from. His hands were on the backs of my thighs, acting as a fae seatbelt, holding me tightly to him.
“I can walk,” I called to him, as he made quick work of the distance between us and the exit.
His fingers only dug deeper into my thighs in response.
Soon enough, we were outside the party’s dome, and Ervo was shifting forms, dragging me up onto his back as he took to the sky. My fingers tangled in his feathers, gripping him hard as I leaned against him.
He must’ve gotten some kind of power trip from flying with me, because the bastard was making a habit of it.
Though frankly, I couldn’t say I hated it.
We only flew for a few minutes before he landed in an empty strip of the forest. The branches and leaves swayed in the wind around us as he set me on my feet, then stalked toward me.
I walked backward until my shoulders collided with a thick tree trunk.
Ervo’s chest was heaving as he towered over me, his eyes and voice lined with fury. “What thefuckwas that?”
“I danced with someone. Like I did amilliontimes on Earth.” My voice was harsh, but I wanted it to be.
If we needed to argue for him to get it through his thick skull that he wanted me, then I would argue fiercely.
“This isn’tEarth,” he snarled at me. “And you don’t belong toWoza.”
I retorted, “Actually, I don’t belong to anyone. Pretty sure I’d remember it if I had sex with one of the fae.”
Flames reignited on his shoulders, and his fists clenched tightly, but he was silent.
Or at least, he was silent for a minute.
As exhilarating as his jealousy had been at first, I was starting to feel kind of guilty for pushing him. I cared about him, after all.
And the way I was pushing him wasn’t helping either of us.
I finally said, “If you’d like to have a rational discussion about the potential feelings we might have for each other, let me know. If you are truly not interested in being my mate, walk the hell away from me, Viervo.”
The guilt in my chest was turning into anger, and growing fiercely.
He seriously thought he could just keep everyone else away from me without actually being with me.
Clearly, I had let him walk all over me for way too long.
And yet I was still standing there, just letting him—
“I have made my interest in you clear from the beginning, Mariah.” His voice was low and furious. “I may have failed you on more than one occasion, but I have fought like hell to redeem myself in your eyes. I’ve protected you. Cared for you. Tried to make you see that I would give my life for you. And yet still, I find you pressed against another male, gripping him with the hands that should strokemyform.” By the time he got to the last sentence, his snarl was ferocious.
“What are you talking about? Every time I asked you if you were interested in me, you called yourself my brother. I had brothers on Earth, and they sure as hell didn’t want to touch me. Or kiss me. Or do anything remotely sexual with me. Family is blood, and you told me you would protect me like asister!”
His eyes burned into me. “Family ischosenin Vevol, Mariah, and Ichoseyou. Your scent didn’t drive me to madness; I picked you for your quiet passion, for your mind, for your fire. Do you not think I would sacrifice myself for Lian or Priel? Or Nev, or Teris? I sure as fuck wasn’t claiming you as my blood. I was claiming you as my female; as the woman I wanted to be my mate.”
I blinked at him.
