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My jaw firms. “”The elf who claimed me.”
His whole being goes still, and I wonder if he doesn’t know more than he lets on. We’re all entangled in his web, one way or another. Zyranth might have dominion over this patch of green, but it sits in the shadow of the Dark Market.
“He wants me back,” I whisper.
Zyranth’s pupils dilate. Out of fear? I cannot tell.
I have to keep pushing, or I’ll never know the truth. “That’s why he sent those dark elves after me. I am…”his.I can’t finish the sentence, refusing to evoke the notion while simultaneously terrified of Zyranth’s response when he finds out.
His wings twitch as if they mean to open, and his gums peel back to reveal his sharp teeth. “You arewhat, Ariella?”
“It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
I move to put some distance between us when he pins me against a tree so hard, it knocks the wind out of me. His taut form presses against mine, and in any other circumstance, I would have mistaken it for the crazed desire I witnessed last night. “You arewhat?”
I can only stare into his eyes as my lungs finally open, and I can breathe again. I snap back with the same venom, holding my own against an impenetrable wall of muscle and scales. “His! I amhis,Zyranth! He made it so!”
That low rumble in his chest is back. “Lies.”
I shake my head. “It’s true. He purchased me so he could have me all to himself. That’s why I escaped when I did. That’s why I-”
“Don’t speak another word.”
His claws are at my throat. I can feel the press of them against the soft underside of my jaw. But it’s not the fear of death that stills my tongue. It’s the way Zyranth’s pupils widen like saucers. Like he’s not looking at me anymore butthroughme, horrors written across his hard countenance.
Almost as if I can witness the torment in the reflection of his gaze.
I dare defy his command. “Zyranth…”
His nails dig into the flesh of my arm, another warning. But he does not unleash his violence on me, and I take it as permission to continue.
My hands chase up his hard chest, my dull nails grazing his midnight scales. “Zyranth, come back to me. Even if it is so, it is not insurmountable.” My voice drops low, even as I produce my throat to him as a sign of surrender. “Kill me if you have to. I’ve suffered too much to care.”
That seems to bring him back as he blinks once, twice, then lets his gaze fall on me. “He tortured you.”
My laugh is soft, filled with relief as the claws drag down to tug on my threadbare shirt. “You could say that,” I murmur. “But what would a creature as powerful as you know of torture?”
His gaze drops to my lips. “Enough.”
I croon when his lips meet mine, fierce and demanding.
I’m malleable in his grip when he drags me to his height against the tree, so I have to wrap my legs around his waist to brace myself. His wings fan out as if to shield us from the wild woods, all the world around us falling away but the burn of Zyranth’s body against mine.
Last night was merely a sampling of his passion.
He has so much more, burbling beneath his hardened surface. My fingers tangle in the coarse fur that graces his scalp as I meld to his deepening hunger. After everything I’ve endured, it’s a reprieve to bewantedwithout the cruel hand of the dark elves to guide my suffering.
If I could choose anyone to torture me, it would be Zyranth.
I lose myself in his handling, yielding to feverish insistence. He feels it too, I know he does, another wave surging to the fore. His hands are rough, but his claws have retracted. I let out a little sigh of relief before he captures my mouth again, bruising my lips.
I need you, comes the errant thought.
But even as I go to speak it, he tears away in a sudden motion, his sharp ear twitching as if he’s listening hard. My heart sinks when he sets me back on my feet, wavering in his absence.
“What –”
A hand clamps over my mouth.
