“You shouldn’t touch me right now,” he wheezed. “I… don’t want?—”
“What? Don’t want what?”
“This,” he said. “I don’t want this. I need to stop.”
His breathless denial was almost laughable. If he wanted me any more, he might burst into literal flames.
I wriggled my hands from his grip. “I don’t understand. Why do you always do this? Are you reluctant to bond yourself to a mere half-Elven woman? Worried that I might die, and you’ll be left with the mark for all eternity, unable to take another bond-mate?”
Pharis looked at me with hooded eyes, still appearing as though he wanted to eat me alive.
“You’d be worth it.”
My heart flared with hope, and my hands went back to his body, running up to his chest then downward, craving him, loving the powerful hard feel of him more than anything I’d ever felt.
“Then bond with me, Pharis,” I pleaded. “End this charade and make me your bond-mate.”
He grabbed my hands again, pushing them behind my back. A move that served to lift my chest and press it against his.
“No,” he said in a strained, graveled tone. “That can’t happen.”
But he still held me against him, and I could still feel the rampaging energy pulsing from his body to mine.
“This is right. You know it is,” I whispered, kissing his chest, the only part of him I could reach. “It’s what we both want. Pharis, I?—”
“No,” he cut me off, his voice rough with unsated lust.
It was obvious he was lying… but what could I do? I couldn’t force the man to bond with me, nor would I want a man who had to be forced.
Looking up at the underside of his hardened jawline, I said, “Fine. You don’t want me. In that case, you won’t mind taking me back to your brother. He’s not married yet. He’s still unbonded. If I hurry, I think I can make it there in time to stop the wedding.”
Pharis set me back from him enough to glare at me. “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not taking you to Stellon.”
“Then I’ll go myself.”
He snorted. “You’d never survive the journey alone. You proved that the other night.”
“I survived a dragon, I think I can manage a few days on horseback.” I stalked to the bedroom door. “I’m taking one of your horses, by the way.”
In a flash, Pharis moved to the door and pressed a large hand against it, towering over me and preventing me from opening it.
“Like hell you are.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “Fine. I’ll leave while you’re sleeping. You can’t stay awake forever.”
“I’ll assign guards to watch your every move, day and night,” he threatened.
“Then I’ll refuse to eat,” I said. “I’m already feeling pretty weak. It shouldn’t take too long for my body to wither and die from starvation.”
Pharis’ face was savage. “I won’t let you do that. I’ll force feed you if necessary. I’ll use the combined powers of all my glamours tomakeyou eat.”
“Why?” I demanded, exasperation fraying my voice.
“Tell me why. So you can continue to keep me here and stay maddeningly close but just out of reach? So you can torture me by creating desires you never intend to fulfill?”
“So I can keep you safe,” he said.
“You ridiculed Stellon for caring about safety above all else. I don’t want to besafe, Pharis. I want to beloved. If you won’t do it, then maybe Stellon will.”
