There was the tiniest flare of magic between her wrists before the restraints loosened. He gently tugged them off and then pocketed the device. She tried very hard not to notice the way his chest and shoulders flexed when he did it.
Gritting her teeth, she moved to duck around him, toward the safe haven of the bathroom. If she couldn’t get rid of the orc and she couldn’t escape, then the least she could do was rinse the mud and gunk off of her skin.
And stop ogling my captor, too.
ChapterTwelve
When Atria closedthe bathroom door — and locked it, cute as that was — it took a disturbing amount of willpower to keep himself from following her into the steamy bathroom. He wasn’t even sure they would both fit in there, but he didn’t care. The idea of stripping her down, guiding her under the hot spray, and running his hands over every delicious, lush inch of her…
He shook himself. Forcing his booted feet to moveawayfrom the door, he dropped his ass onto the edge of the bed hard enough to make the headboard slap the wall.
Definitely won’t be fucking her here.He pressed the heel of his hand into one eye and pushed until he saw stars.Definitely won’t be fucking her at all, you idiot.
It didn’t matter that he’d been half-hard since the moment he stepped onto the plane and it didn’t look like that was going to change anytime soon. He had to maintain some sense of control, ofhimself,in their fucked up situation.
He could accept that there was no way in the world he would be able to let her go now that he’d spent so much time in her presence. That was just biology. His elvish half made him dependent on a constant stream of her pheromones for his hormone regulation. The orcish half had similar needs. He understood that on a clinical level.
But it was another thing entirely to accept that he was supposed tobewith her. He hadn’t wrapped his head around that bit — which meant there would be no fucking.
Damn shame,he thought, shuddering at the memory of how sweet her desire had tasted on the air, on the back of his tongue, when she saw him leave the bathroom.
It was just a hint. Barely anything at all. But it nearly sent him into a frenzy. If she hadn’t scurried into the bathroom when she did, he wasn’t entirely sure what would have happened.
And now she’s in the shower, all wet and warm and soft for me—
Kaz lunged for his bag. Practically tearing at the zipper, he dug around inside until he felt the edge of the paper envelope that had haunted him for so long.
His heart jammed into his throat when he pulled it free. Eyes darting to the bathroom door, he wasted no time flicking the metal tab with his thumb’s claw. A part of him felt like there should have been more ceremony to it, given how long he’d agonized over the information stored inside, but Kaz was too impatient to hold his breath or inch the paper out.
Instead, he pinched the contents between his thumb and forefinger before he wrenched it out. The envelope was tossed carelessly into his bag.
Kaz’s lips parted with surprise before they pressed into a hard, bloodless line.
There, in the center of the first page, was a pale blue sticky note. On it was scrawled the simple, infuriating message,I told you so. -Lilah
After a moment of glowering, Kaz ripped it off of the page and crumpled it in his fist.Fucking Seers.
His gaze scoured the plain text that stared up at him. A small black and white photo was formatted on the right side — Atria, her hair braided and her smile bashful, stared up at him.
Name: Atria Le Roy
Age: 30
Place of birth: Heiligenkreuz Sanctuary, Dämonenhaus
Parents: Mother, Desdemona Le Roy, High Priestess, 215. Father, Amit El-Aref, businessman, 245.
Siblings: Javier Le Roy, priest, 25
Designation: Witch, gloriana
Education: Early life unknown. PhD in electromagnetic m-theory from Washington Collective University.
Occupation: Former priestess at Mt. Shuksan Sanctuary. Current senior research partner employed by the United Congress green energy commission.
Kaz let out a long breath. His gaze wandered back to the bathroom door as he digested the information.
It gave him much and also nothing.
