AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I twisted my legs, trying to kick him while he held me suspended by my wrists. “But you have had no problem letting me almost get murdered repeatedly. That’s logical.”
He barked a laugh that sounded a bit more like a snarl, his grip tightening on my wrists. “Oh, you’re wrong there, little monster. I absolutely do have a fucking problem with that. I’m here, aren’t I? Do you even realize how many people I’ve killed to keep you alive or how many times I’ve had to go against my family?”
“Is that supposed to make me happy?”
“It’s merely a fact. Even now, Scion is likely livid that I’ve left midconversation to come save you from yet another near death.”
“Well, we wouldn’t want that. Aisling only knows we can’t upset the precious Prince of Ravens,” I spat. “And stop looking at me like that!”
“Like what?” he said, dark humor coating his tone. His eyes flashed hotter as he intentionally focused his gaze on my throat. “How am I looking at you?”
I stopped squirming and looked down, not wanting to reply any more than I wanted to answer any of his other questions.
It wasn’t love, exactly, that I beheld in Bael’s face butneed. Desperation. He was looking at me like I was all that was wrong with his life and somehow everything he’d ever wanted, and it scared me more than anything else in this forest ever could.
“Just let me go,” I said quietly.
To my surprise, he laughed. “That is never going to happen, little monster. I could never leave you, even if I wanted to. Not really.”
I stiffened slightly and glanced around, as if someone might hear us, but there was no one there. “You don’t…that’s not certain, and even if there is a bond, it won’t ever be sealed. You told me that yourself.”
Finally letting go of my wrists, Bael leaned in even closer as my arms fell limply by my sides. “You are my mate. I should have realized the moment I saw you, but I have been absolutely certain for some weeks now. You can be angry as long as you like, but understand that the only reason I am entertaining this tantrum is because you were raised by humans. If you had any idea about mate-bonds, you’d realize there’s no chance I will ever be able to let you go. You made sure of that on the day we met.”
My mouth fell open in surprise. “What does that mean? How did I make sure of anything?”
“Instinct,” he replied.
Then, before I could ask any more questions, he stepped forward in one swift movement, closing the remaining inches between us, and captured my lips with his.
My breath fled from my lungs, and I gasped against his mouth. In an instant, all rational thought left my head as my body suddenly became painfully aware of every inch of him pressed against me.
Everything around us seemed to evaporate—the water of the quarry lapping in the distance, the sounds of the forest, and the rustling of leaves all turned silent. Tingles erupted all across my skin, and my heart thundered wildly in my chest as if trying to keep up with the pure force that seemed to pass through us whenever we touched like this. Violent. Destructive. Inevitable.
His hands roamed slowly down my body until they rested on the small of my back, pulling me closer toward him as if he wanted to consume me entirely. Moving lower, he gripped the backs of my thighs, lifting me easily into the air. Instinctually, I curled my legs around his waist, but I need not have worried about falling.
Long fingers trailed up my thighs and dug into my hips, shifting me closer. We were still mostly clothed, but my entire body was on fire, and seemingly any second that could change, tipping everything over the edge of reason.
I bit down hard on his bottom lip and froze as the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. The familiarity of that taste, laced with power and magic, had reality washing over me, hard and fast, as if I’d once more plunged from the top of the cliff into the freezing water of the quarry.
Bael groaned and nipped gently at my lip in return but didn’t break the skin. Instead, he pulled his head back suddenly, and the smug smirk was back on his face. “You bit me.”
I blinked dazedly. “What?”
“When we met, you bit me,” he said. “I believe I told you I wanted to see if you would do it again, but you didn’t, and I thought perhaps it was a coincidence.”
But then it happened again, I finished for him.
I hastily reached up and wiped the blood off my mouth with the back of my hand, but the metallic taste would not so easily be ignored. It should revolt me—I’d always wondered why it didn’t. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s an instinct. Humans don’t mark their partners, little monster. Not like that.” He reached out with his free hand and dragged his thumb over my bottom lip. “You will simply have to come to terms with the fact that you’ve always been mine.”
My mind spun, and I tried desperately to focus, but it was almost impossible when we were so close we could share the same air. “What if I don’t want that? Maybe I don’t want you.”
I heard the pathetic note of desperation and false protest in my voice, and he must have, too, because he laughed.
“We both know that’s not true. You want me. Don’t even bother lying—everything about you is giving it away. I can hear your heartbeat. I can see your eyes dilating.” He grazed his bloody thumb over my hardened nipple through the thin fabric of my tunic as if to prove his point. “I can even smell you.”
I let out an involuntary moan. Heat pooled in my core, and the air seemed to flicker, crackling around us. I shook my head, trying to ignore the primal, animalistic feeling that churned inside me at those words. I wanted—needed—more and at the same time needed him to put me down so I could run as far as I could in the opposite direction.
