“Here.” She picked up one of the ripe purple berries, her fingers trembling slightly. “You should eat something.”
She held it up to him, and his eyes darkened. Instead of taking the berry politely, he leaned forward and caught it with his mouth—and her fingers along with it.
His tongue grazed her skin. Warm, wet, deliberately slow.
Her breath caught in her throat, and her skin blazed with light, purple swirling across her collarbones as her heart pounded in her ears. She felt the slight scrape of his teeth, the press of his lips, the rumbling purr that vibrated against her fingertips.
When he finally released her hand, his eyes were molten gold.
“Delicious,” he murmured, and she knew he wasn’t talking about the berry.
“Papa, you’re being weird again.”
“I’m being a Vultor male.”
“Same thing.”
She tried to laugh, tried to pretend her entire body wasn’t on fire, but he was already moving. His hands closed around her waist, lifting her like she weighed nothing, and then she was in his lap, her back pressed against his broad chest and his arms wrapped around her middle.
“Valrek—”
“Shh.” His palms spread warm and possessive over her hips. “Let me hold you. Just for a moment.”
“Lilani—”
“Won’t mind. She’s busy with her berries.” His lips brushed her ear again, his voice dropping to a register that made her shiver. “And I have been wanting to do this all day.”
She should protest. She should pull away, remember that she barely knew this man and that everything about this situation was complicated and dangerous and impossible.
Instead, she melted into him.
His chest was a wall of heat against her back, firm muscles shifting as he adjusted his hold on her. She could feel the rapid thud of his heart, the restrained tension in his arms, the barely-leashed power in his massive body. And beneath it all, a rumbling purr, vibrating through her body in waves that made her skin shimmer with light.
“You’re glowing,” he murmured against her neck. “What does that mean?”
“It means…” She swallowed hard. “It means you’re affecting me.”
“Good.”
His hands tightened on her hips, and his breath went ragged. The beast was close to the surface—she could sense it in the tension of his body, the way his claws kept extending and retracting against her skin, the low growls that rumbled through his chest like distant thunder.
“I’m struggling to keep control,” he admitted, the words rough and raw. “My beast wants—” He broke off, jaw clenching.
“What does it want?”
“Things I shouldn’t say. Shouldn’t even think.” His forehead dropped to rest against her shoulder, and she felt the hot puff of his breath through the thin fabric of her tunic. “You make me want things I thought I’d buried, Ariella. Things I told myself I didn’t deserve.”
“What if you do deserve them?”
He went very still.
“You don’t know what you’re offering.”
“Maybe not.” She turned in his arms, just enough to meet his eyes. The gold was blazing now, barely contained fire, and she could see the effort it was costing him to hold back. “But I know how you make me feel. I know that I’ve never felt wanted before. Not like this. Not like I’m something worth keeping.”
“You are.” The words came out like a vow. “You are worth everything.”
Lilani chose that moment to finish her berry arrangement and look up, demanding their attention. The spell broke—but not entirely. His arms stayed around her as they admired the child’s creation, his chin resting on her shoulder, his warmth surrounding her like a cocoon.
