“Even bulls know when to give a little to gain a lot more.”
“I see.” Aldora sighed and leaned her forehead into his arm, exhausted. She found comfort in the flex of his muscles. “You’ve gained little with the way you are, everything else you’ve taken.”
His fingers tugged at the ends of her hair. “There is nothing easy about living in the labyrinth. I do what I must.”
She nuzzled, seeking comfort. “I’m learning.”
“You are. What hell entered your mind when you decided to claw your wrist open?”
“You,” she said, lifting her head to face him.
“The thought of me made you want to kill yourself?” His voice darkened.
“The thought of you made me do what I had to, to try and escape.”
“Death is not an escape, female. Not here in this place. I’ve told you once before that there is no escape, and if you had died, I would have brought you back to this place screaming.”
Aldora sat back, her energy waning. “I wasn’t trying to die. I had no idea whether Alepos and his men had killed you or not, and I did not dare pry further in case they hadn’t. There was little I could do but try to seduce them, or create more chaos. Chaos seems to follow me wherever I go.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t...” She shuddered thinking of the centaur’s massive cocks. “I couldn’t let them touch me, and then I remembered my blood. I only hoped for the best so I had a better chance at running.”
He grunted, the tension expelling from his frame. “You can’t outrun me, let alone a stud who wants to breed you.”
Her stomach clenched. “I’m always willing to try.”
Vedikus eyed her, and she knotted her fingers in her lap.
“I won’t run from you,” she amended.
“I would catch you. And it would hurt.”
“I know.”
She could feel his eyes trailing over her grubby clothes and dirty skin. The heat of his stare reminded her of their time together, how he’d cared for her wounds, and how he’d attempted to conquer her body. She tried to ignore it, the prickle of unease, the quick stab of want, the hollow, relentless ache, but whenever her life wasn’t in immediate danger, those sensations came flooding back.
Everything about it was unsettling, more so that neither one of them was in any shape to ease the lust that lingered and bloomed, oftentimes bursting between them.Lust. She could almost taste it on her lips. It was consuming when it exploded. She moved to sit on her legs, pressing the heel of her boot hard against her sex.
Vedikus continued to watch her, reading her, and she skirted her gaze away to the shadows.If I can pretend he’s not here, I can pretend the tension is an illusion.She wanted to laugh at her absurdity.
“Human,” he said, his voice grave.
“Are we safe?” she asked, trying not to drown.
“Female,” Vedikus warned lower, deeper, wrong. His presence grew to encompass her space.
“No.”
He grabbed her, dragging her toward him, grasping what was left of her tunic. His arms came around her, caging her against his body. She pushed away from him.
“Your wounds,” she gasped, feeling the stab of his cock against her side. “They’ll open!”
Vedikus grabbed her hair and forced her head back, making her mouth part and her legs kick out. Her pulse hammered. He forced her to look at him.
“Answer me this, Aldora, and I may let you go.” She dug her nails into his chest. The warmth had returned to his body. “Why did you risk your life to escape? The centaurs would have protected and guarded you.”
She licked her lip. “I told you already.”
His gaze narrowed darkly. “You told me you were going to run.” He paused. “Not what you would have done afterward.”
Her palms fell flat on his chest, and her throat constricted. She wanted to keep her secrets inside, hidden away from being released into the world. Her motivations had changed so abruptly she had yet to catch up. Aldora wondered when she had come to accept her life here on the other side of the wall.
