Barely a twitch, as she touched his mouth, following the curve of soft lips.
“You’re the frustrating creature,” she whispered, heart racing off a cliff ledge. “Some parts of you don’t seem so terrifying. But then there’s…” She pressed harder, parting his lips.
Revealing the teeth. Not just the long canines he flashed with each grimace, but sharp molars, the clamp of a carnivore. Fi had seen those teeth carve flesh from bone.
They’d held her down, soft enough to leave no mark.
“You think I can’t keep my appetites separate, Fionamara?” He didn’t pull away, didn’t snap at her challenge. His eyes burned down to her core.
She snared his face in both hands.
“I think you bring out the worst in me.”
Then, just as ferocious, Fi pulled him into a kiss.
27
One time
The kiss was a plunge, one deep breath before diving under ice.
Fi surrendered her mouth to his with a spike of panic. As if this would finally be the moment, the beast’s chance to bury claws in her throat while she lowered her guard.
The claws did come—wretchedly soft, tightening around her waist and cupping her neck to pull her deeper into him. He was a spark on her tongue. Electric air in the back of her throat. But as she tasted his mouth, savored the hungry press in his reply, a deeper note bloomed, some crisp cold homecoming she couldn’t quite place.
Fi broke away first.
They paused, but neither softened. She weighed the closeness of Antal’s teeth as if her life depended on it, only to find his mouth softly parted, lips messy with her lipstick. Claws locked around her waist, holding her flush against his front. Fi pulled herselfcloser,fingers dragging creases against his shirt.
They were breathing hard again. Both of them.
“Well, shit,” she said. “That’s… not as bad as I thought it might be.”
So much worse. He was delicious, a taste of ozone and forbidden fangs on her tongue.
Antal’s chuckle rumbled through her. “What did you thinkI’d taste like? Old bones and moldering flesh?” His mouth brushed hers, but didn’t press. “Is there more of me you’d like to taste?”
Wicked creature. Fi fought a shaky exhale as he nipped her jaw. What kind of dumb, thrill-seeking rabbit threw herself at the mouth of a panther?
But itwasa thrill. Entirely too tempting not to savor.
“One time,” she relented, rougher than intended. Just to sate Fi’s curiosity. Just to cleanse this distracting want from her blood.
The smolder in Antal’s eyes combusted her. “Is that all?”
“You’d better make the most of it.” Then, with all her mustered resolve. “One. Time.”
“One time,” he agreed, the solemnity of an oath as his nose nestled against her cheek. “How shall I leave a lasting impression, Fionamara?”
She kissed him again.
Antal pushed her backward. They crossed the room on warier steps than before. Testing. Claws and fingers locked around each other, watching for one of them to flinch, for a strike at anywhere too soft. The thud of the wall against Fi’s back knocked the breath from her lungs. An instinctive jolt of panic when teeth flashed toward her.
A purr, as his mouth met hers, fangs snagging the curve of her lip.
Sweat already kissed Fi’s skin from their dance. Antal wound his fingers into the mussed curls of her hair, brushing damp strands off her cheek, claws ghosting her scalp. His tail curled around her calf. Too slow. Too gentle.
“You really aren’t afraid of me?” he asked in barely a whisper. Barely a breath.
