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“Because I blamed myself for not protecting her!” Seconds after my confession, the late-night sky cracks with lightning, the force shaking the ground. A storm’s coming; I sense the volatile shift in the air, but neither of us cares. Instead, I crowd her space and pin her against a large hollow tree on her familial lands. “They made us believe she’d been killed, Little Moon. The memory of that decapitated body still haunts me, left for us to find as if she were rubbish, and it reminds me that life is short. Everything can be taken—I could lose you.”
Her emotions are mine, and I know she’s feeling my truth. It softens her a bit, just a smidge, but then she bares her tiny Wiccan teeth at me…
19
ISABELLA
The memory of his office comes to the forefront.
He never gave me his trust. Ignored me.
I push him away, but the beast doesn’t budge, further irritating me. “Move.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Why now? Huh?” Another shove, my nails digging into his flesh. I want to mark him. Make him bleed. “Out of gratitude?”
“You’re my mate, Isabella. I know I’ve—”
“So I’m your mate when it’s convenient? Is that it?” His skin breaks and my fingertips become wet, yet he doesn’t so much as flinch. If anything, he presses against the edge wanting me to cut him. Welcoming the sting. “Answer me, Alpha King. I begged you to let me open your eyes. All of this—”
“Is my fault.” Low. Contrite. His face contorts and the misery there tugs at my heart, lowering the rage to a simmering thrum. Still there, but now equally exposed and bleeding.
This is the last thing I want for him…for us.
Maybe we should reject the other. End it all.
“Never.”
“Excuse me?” The first drop falls and it hits his forehead, rolling down the path to his chin before landing on me. It slides to my bottom lip and my reaction is automatic, licking the droplet and savoring the tiniest hint of his taste. A hum of pure pleasure escapes me, one I can’t fight back, while he follows the move with hunger, and the swirl of black enlarges until very little is left of the golden color.
The look in that gaze is possessive while my own need ignites at his close proximity.
His mere presence makes me forget the woman and her knowledge of the stones. I tried to find her before leaving, asked a few scurrying maids who wouldn’t meet my gaze about her, but none had seen her. Ever.
That’s what I should be focusing on. Protecting my family, but his chest expands and I lose track of my thoughts. His need strikes like a whip against my frail senses, and I whimper without meaning to.
“You spoke out loud.” Husky, voice crooning the words while goose bumps rise across my flesh, and it has nothing to do with the slight drop in temperature. Or the light rain drizzling over the treetop and filtering through the leaves. More and more fall, yet I’m flushed. Sensitive.
I’m balancing on a tiny ledge, and either way I tumble will land me in his arms.
This is beyond me. Beyond him.
“I did?” Gods help me. The house is a few yards away. So close, and if I could just run…
“Yes.” Closer, and I’m sandwiched between the bark and him, each digging into my skin and creating a different reaction. One begs for me to rationalize, to think, while the other wants to let go and accept what will always be. Nothing will ever satisfy me more than him.
Breathing harder, I’m no longer pointing, but petting now—stroking his bare chest and enjoying the rumble underneath my palm. This is dangerous for me, but the longer I feel all of him, the lower my inhibitions become.
There’s this heat building at the core of me, clawing underneath my skin that wants to be devoured by him. To let go and for once, take what I want.
No worrying about my family.
Not thinking about keeping them on the right path.
Forgetting what he’s put me through.
For once, I want to be selfish. What I want.
