“Sarven,” I gasp.
He freezes.
His whole body goes rigid, like he’s hit an electric fence.
He jerks back, putting a foot of distance between us so fast I almost fall over. He ends up slamming against the opposite wall of the tunnel, chest heaving, eyes wide and wild.
He looks… terrified.
“Bad,” he snarls, pointing a shaking claw at himself. “Too… much.”
He drags a claw down his face hard enough to leave white lines on his golden skin. Hard enough that just a little more, and I’m sure he’ll draw blood.
Panic shoots through me. I hop off the ledge to go to him, but he jerks back even more, causing me to stop moving entirely.
“Sarven?” I call, eyes searching his. “You okay?”
His lip curls into a snarl enough for me to see his fangs. “Not… okay.”
Those crimson eyes shift over me. Moving to my swollen lips, my disheveled tunic, the way I’m still leaning against the rock because my legs won’t hold me.
“Want… bite,” he confesses, my earbud pulsing as the words tear out of him. “Want… keep. Here. Now.”
He drives his claws into the stone wall, gouging deep grooves into the rock, enough that stone dust rains down over his knuckles.
“Must… stop.”
Warmth that isn’t just leftover arousal curls under my ribs. I push myself off the wall. My knees wobble, but I hold my ground.
“Hey,” I say quietly. “We’re good. I’m good.”
I reach out, then pause again. I think if I touch him right now, he might explode.
He stares at my hand. His light pulses, erratic and flashing like a warning beacon.
Then he closes his eyes. He sucks in a jagged breath, holds it, and forces it out.
He does it again. And again.
Slowly, the vibration in his frame eases. The wild light in his skin dims from blinding nova to active volcano.
He opens his eyes. The black pupils are back, though they’re still blown wide now.
“Hard,” he rasps. “Very… hard.”
“Yeah,” I agree, my voice trembling. “I know.”
I lower my hand, chest heaving in the new silence between us. And all I can think, stupidly, is that hecarved me a spoon and then did that with his fingers. And I am so completely doomed.
Sarven flinches.
Just a tiny jerk of his head, ears flicking forward like he’s just heard a gunshot.
I blink. “What?”
His brow knits as he tilts his head, staring at me with sudden confusion.
“Mih-kay-lah,” he says slowly. “You… loud.”
