“You turned me into a thief,” I reminded him softly. “A life of crime on the streets of Southwell wasn’t exactly protecting me.”
“I was the king of those streets, if you remember.” Some of that old swagger animated his face, squared his shoulders. “Nobody dared put their hands on the female I…” He swallowed hard. “Nobody dared lay a finger on my very best thief.”
“For the record, Ariel was your best thief. Well, her and Varian, with his nose for gold.”
“No, Lyrae, you were always better.” Those clever, cleverhands slid up my calves, warm and familiar and dangerous. Oh, so dangerous, because I wanted them to drift higher.
Then higher still.
I wanted his mouth on me, his tongue, his fingers and his cock.
I wanted Ryland so badly I was about to do something foolish right now, something I’ll regret, even as I know I will enjoy it with every cell of my being. Enjoy it enough to throw away my future as the queen’s commander, and that, right there, is the most dangerous thing of all.
That Ryland Storme could make me forget who I’d become.
Ryland’s jaw clenched. “Always the best. I should have told you that, too, a long time ago.” He blew out a ragged breath then let me go, that careful distance sliding back into place between us.
I didn’t know if I was grateful…or disappointed when he stood up, his face as unreadable as ever.
“Now get out of those wet clothes; you’re soaking the sheets, and I doubt Kaden’s in the mood to play housekeeper.” He jerked my head to the bathing chamber. “One of the few perks of this place is hot water. Run a bath and warm yourself up.”
18
RYLAND STORME
Icaught the briefest flash of pale skin before I stepped into the hall and put my back to the door, my heart lurching as I tried not to imagine what Lyrae Antares looked like naked.
I closed my eyes.
What she’d look like lying in a bathtub, black hair floating around her, blue eyes beckoning me closer.
The tangerine-honey scent of her arousal already saturated my senses; my cock was so hard I had to reach down and rearrange myself, every part of me wanting to stalk back inside that room, pin her to the bed and sink deep into her. Thrust into her tight, wet heat until the walls between us disappeared and her eyes were soft and unguarded, her lips swollen from my kisses.
I dragged a hand down my throbbing cock, once, twice,fuck….
The last time we’d been together, she’d been so young—shit, we both had been—her face still rounded, her body curvy and soft. This new Lyrae was a warrior, nothing but muscle and strength, lean and lithe and powerful enough to…I blew out a long breath, hands curling into sweaty fists as I tried to decide where to go to finish myself off.
Nearest fucking broomcloset, here I come.
These past few days had been a tangle of emotions and memories I’d purged from my very soul, through blood and pain and sweat and utter force of will. How easily everything had slipped back into place between us—fighting instantly turning to carnal lust—a century of time vanishing with the snap of a finger.
In the beginning, this had all seemed so very simple.
The High Seer’s owl shifter showing up on my doorstep, demanding my services.
Me, being in the right place and time for once, as he’d dropped a prettily wrapped package right in my lap.Smuggle the Commander of the Dreadwatch through the Shadowlands ward, and we’ll give you piles of gold.Torin and the Fae Queen handed me the keys to the kingdom, except they came wrapped up in the prickliest package I’d ever known.
I’d had everything figured out, my future secure, then she’d stepped from those shadows like a fucking queen, robbing my lungs of breath, stealing every rational thought from my head.
Eyes filled with so much rage, I’d known two things.
The female I loved was alive after all.
And she hated me with every cell of her being.
But right now, Lyrae was inmybed. Acres of creamy, naked skin pressed between my sheets, the scent of her coating my fingers. I shoved them into my mouth, licking off every last hint of her like a glutton. I could have skated my fingers up the inside of her thigh and found her wet, slick folds, and then…I bent over, caught between the need to claim the future waiting behind this door…and walking away.
I should let her hate me.
