“You’re staring,” she said, facing the front.
He continued to do so, ignoring the little voice in his head telling him to throw her over his shoulder, if only to have her round ass pressed up against him once more.
“You know,” she finally turned, looking straight at him, a playful glint in her big emerald eyes, “you’re being awfully quiet for a man that was threatening to ravish me not too long ago.”
Groaning, his head snapped back to the front, forcing the enticing memory out of his mind.
“I’m starting to think you’re having second thoughts.” She cocked a brow, waiting for a reaction from him. When he continued to ignore her, she continued, “You’ve probably realized that I’m more trouble than I’m worth. And you would be correct. I am a very complicated person, stubborn as an ass, fiercely independent—”
“Stop talking.”
“—don’t know how to keep my mouth shut. I can’tstandbeing told what to do, and I can already tell that you’re one ofthosemen, the ones that crave control–”
He spun her around, hands gripping her arms like a vise. Leaning in, he muttered low, “You presume too much, wildling, and you couldn’t be more wrong. Iama hard man. Ruthless. Demanding. A true bastard to the core.” He licked her throat. “But I am also devoted, loyal, and very protective of what’s mine. And you, Nyra, aremine.”
“Stop saying that,” she said, breathless. “You don’t even know me.”
He grinned against her neck, the urge to tell her just how well he truly did know her suffocating. To let her inon the little secret that the silver beast that she had been sent to destroy all those years ago was in fact, him.
Inhaling her sweet scent of apples and cinnamon, Raiden released her, wordlessly continuing on with their trek through the forest towards his lair.
It would probably have been an ideal time for him to let her know about the bond, and how he had recognized her for what she was to him in that burning village, when she had released that spear with the intention of killing him.
Had he not heard Nyra’s voice in his mind at that very moment, urging him on to make a move, Raiden would never have suspected it, would have even burned her to the fucking ground along with everything else.
There was only one person that could talk to a Raijin through their thoughts, and the fact that after thousands of years, destiny would have it thatshebe the one sent by the Crown to put an end to the ancient dragon terrorizing the land and its people, completely unaware to what they were to each other, was still so very unfathomable to him.
Raiden glanced at her again, his gaze drawn to the little vixen like a moth to a flame, unable to help himself from basking in her presence.
My mate.
She was glorious.
A diamond in the rough.
All soft lines and delicious curves that he couldn’t wait to sink his teeth into.
But it would have to wait, she didn’t trust him yet, and he needed her compliant and malleable for what he had in mind. True, he could always force himself on her, take away the choice altogether, and it wasn’t so uncommon for the Raijin to do so, to be rough with their females, to take without asking. But Raiden wasn’t that type of male. And for some reason still unknown to him, the mere thought repulsed him.
He didn’t want to just fuck Nyra.
He wanted to own her. To worship her.
To chain her fucking heart and soul to him. To render her completely useless without him. To have her addicted to him in such a profound way that she would never wish to leave him, even at his ugliest and most volatile form.
“You’re staring again,” she snapped at him, clearly irritated. “Just spit it out already.”
His brows shot up. “I have no idea what you mean, wildling.”
“Clearly, you have something to say to me, otherwise you wouldn’t be looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you don’t know if you want to strangle me or shove me down into the dirt.”
Eyes flashing, he smirked. “Why not both?”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. Fine, will you at least tell me where we’re going? I have business to attend to, you know. And as much as this little game is amusing, Idohave somewhere to be. So if you’re done playing the captor, I will be going now.” She yanked on her arm, then again. When he didn’t budge, she dug her heels into the ground, attempting to halt their walking.
