She reached her thumb up and brushed something from the corner of his mouth. “Did you drink some, too?”
Teddy froze. “I tested to make sure it wasn’t too hot, but I chewed the root to make the poultice. It was too hard to try to mash it with my knife. I didn’t know it only took a bit, and I figured it would only help me recover from my near drowning.” He was suddenly aware of how fast his heart was beating. “Oh, no.”
Stella huffed a surprised laugh. “You might not be as affected, but I imagine you will feel it.”
Teddy stood abruptly, grabbed the rickety metal pitcher from the table, and stalked outside. He tried to ignore the heat building in his body as he pumped water from the well. It poured into the metal pitcher in spurts.
Teddy took three deep breaths of chilly air to steady himself. When he felt calm, he pressed back inside.
He tried to ignore the buzz in his chest and the need tugging on him as he crossed the room and poured water into a clean mug. Stella took it wordlessly and drank it all down, holding his gaze the whole time.
Stella placed the mug on the nightstand. She shivered again. The shirt was still damp and stuck to her skin, her pink nipples pushing against the thin fabric.
“I’m hot all over,” she said. She twisted her wild hair up on top of her head and jammed a few pins in it to hold it in place.
Teddy sat down on the edge of the bed and pressed a hand to her forehead. She was burning up.
When he drew back, her gaze was hooded and entirely focused on him. She crawled across the bed to where he sat and pressed him onto his back.
“Stella, what are you?—”
She straddled his lap and kissed him.
The whole world disappeared.
Gods, he was so weak. Teddy let her blot out every memory of the terror of the day, her mouth moving insistently against his. Let her make him feel alive again. Let her wind her fingers through his hair and sink her teeth into his bottom lip. But when she started to roll her hips against him, his brain caught up to what was happening.
“Stella,” he rasped.
She pulled back and met his gaze, her lips bitten, her neck and cheeks flushed, and her pupils huge—a reminder that she didn’t want him. She was just under the influence of a heart bond and a very strong aphrodisiac that he should have known not to give her so much of.
“I need—” She brought his hand up to cup her breast. “I need to be touched. Iacheeverywhere.”
Teddy cursed, tossing her off his lap and onto the bed. The bond in his chest felt like a tether drawing him to her.
“I need you,” she whined.
The tug in his heart was insistent. His cock strained against his pants, his whole body buzzing with desire, the herbal high, and Stella’s need through the bond.
Clastor’s sword! Was this how it felt to be bonded—like you had to fulfill every need of the person you were attached to? It felt less an option than a necessity, but he’d be damned if he’d do something when she was high.
Stella licked her lips and stared up at him in excitement. His shirt was riding up her thighs as she writhed on the sheets.
Fuck. He could imagine those strong legs wrapped around his waist as he drove into her. Could picture her calves hooked over his forearms, his hands fastened to her waist as he thrust into her.
He needed a cold bath or a drink, or both. He was worried about everything outside these cabin walls, but this woman was the thing with the true power to destroy him.
Now he could finally admit that he wanted to touch her, wanted to see her come undone at his hands, but he wouldn’t do that unless she wanted it with a clear mind. He wouldn’t have her blaming anything but her own desire for whatever happened between them.
“Stella, I can’t touch you when you’re in this state.”
“Please,” she whined, grabbing his hands and pulling them to her thighs.
“You’re high.”
Things were getting out of hand. Teddy needed a way to stop her from touching him because he was weak and pathetically susceptible to her enticement.
He stood abruptly and grabbed his belt. Stella whined until he came back to the bed and climbed on top of her. She spread her legs and hooked her thighs over his hips. Teddy cursed, burying his face in her neck to groan as she bucked against him.
