“Anna.”
My name sounds rough and broken on his lips but stillhim. “There you are,” I whisper. Relief floods through me, so intense my knees almost buckle. “There you are.”
He’s still not fully back. Physically, he’s still huge, transformed and radiating an impossible amount of heat. The cave should be cold—I can see my breath misting in the dim light—but I’m warm everywhere he’s touching me. Which is everywhere.
And he’s still very aroused.
His erection prods against my stomach, hard and insistent. Even through his torn pants, even through my jeans, I feel the heat and size. I can’t help but wonder how that’s going to fit. But heat blooms between my thighs again, liquid and urgent. I had no idea that large cocks were a thing I found sexy, but it turns I definitely like Keric’s size.
“I could have hurt you,” he rasps. His voice sounds like gravel, like he’s been screaming for hours. Maybe he has. “I grabbed you. I wasn’t thinking. I couldn’t?—”
“But you didn’t hurt me.” I keep my hand on his face, my thumb stroking along his cheekbone. “Even when you weren’t yourself, you kept me safe. You tried to make me comfortableduring the run. I felt you adjusting me so I wouldn’t hit branches.”
He makes a pained sound. “I don’t remember. It’s all... fragments.”
“That’s okay. I remember. And I know you didn’t hurt me.”
“I killed them.” No remorse in his voice. Just fact.
“They were going to kill the both of us. You stopped them.”
His arms wrap around me, pulling me tight against his chest. I feel his heart pounding beneath my cheek, racing like he’s still running through the forest. His hands move over my body, along my back, my sides, my hips, as if he’s checking for injuries. It should feel clinical, but it doesn’t, every touch sends sparks across my skin.
“No one will ever harm you,” he growls against my hair. The sound is savage, possessive, and it makes something hot twist low in my belly. “Anyone who tries will die.”
“I know,” I whisper. “I know.”
“Mine.” His hands tighten on my hips. “My Bride.Mine.” He’s calmer now, but the mating drive hasn’t faded. If anything, it’sintensified. The scent bomb triggered every protective instinct he had, but now that the danger is past, there’s only one drive left. “I need—” He can’t finish the sentence. His hips roll against me again, that massive length pressing against my belly. A groan escapes him, low and desperate.
I should be scared. I should push him away, tell him to wait until he’s fully himself again.
But I’m burning from the inside out too. My nipples are hard against my sweater. My thighs are pressing together, trying to ease an ache that’s only getting worse. The adrenaline from the attack, the near-death experience, the sight of him destroying those men to protect me—it’s all transformed into something else. Something hot and desperate and demanding. Maybe thatmist from the scent bomb did something to me too. I basically want to strip him bare and climb him like a tree.
I remember that desperate kiss last night and I remember imagining his body moving over mine. My fingers gripping those black horns while I scream out my orgasm. Now those horns are longer, sharper, more wicked. And he’s looking at me like he wants to devour me whole.
But even in this state, with his eyes still more black than brown, and his body transformed and thrumming with need, he stops and pulls back slightly. His whole body trembles with the effort of restraint.
“Tell me to stop.” His voice is wrecked, barely human. “Tell me and I’ll stop. I’ll find a way. I’ll—” He squeezes his eyes shut. “I’ll find a way.”
Even feral, even half out of his mind with need, he’s giving me the choice. He won’t take what isn’t offered. He’ll tear himself apart before he takes something I don’t want to give.
My heart cracks open. “Keric. Look at me.”
His eyes open. The black is fading and that chocolate brown bleeds back in around the edges. “I can smell your arousal,” he grits out. “I know you want me to provide you relief, but I needwords, Anna. I have to know you’re choosing this. Choosing me.”
Consent. Even now.
The last piece of wall around my heart crumbles to dust. “I want you,” I tell him, my voice is steady. “I’ve wanted you since the moment you gave me your jacket.”
He makes a sound like I’ve wounded him.
“I’m not saying this because of your scent or the adrenaline or because I’m scared.” I cup his face in both hands, force him to look at me. “I’m saying this because I choose you. I chooseus.”
“Anna—” His voice breaks. “There’s no going back for me. I won’t be able to let you go. Do you understand?”
“I understand.”
“I’ll want to fill you with my seed. I’ll want to put a child in you. Sons.”
