She frowned back, mouthing, “What?”
Slaide lifted his head to survey their surroundings. Satisfied the wraith was gone, he pushed off of her and onto his knees. He held up his hand, middle finger swollen and marred with a deep, almost penetrating bite imprint. “What. The fuck. Was this?”
Hazel looked from Slaide’s accusatory gaze to his hand.
“Did… I do that?”
“Yes!” he hissed. “You almost broke the skin, you animal. Why did you bite me?”
“I have no idea! It wasn’t… I don’t…”
His brow knitted in thought. “Shit.” He scrubbed a hand down his face, dragging the scowl with it. “He was in your head, wasn’t he?”
It was her turn to scowl. “How would I know? All I remember is hearing nothing as it approached, then that chill passed over us, and then my head felt like I was wading through a marsh.”
“What else did it tell you to do?”
“I wanted so badly to stand up and say hello, but you wouldn’t let me. I guess he was trying to get me to reveal where we were.”
“Compulsion,” Slaide explained, as if that meant something.
She stared at him, blank faced.
“The wraith was using compulsion to try and find us. He knows me from… past encounters. But you…” He trailed off.
“The magic.”
“Yes.”
Hazel shrugged. “Alright then. Well, I’m sorry for, uh, biting you. And for nearly getting us eaten.”
Slaide laughed. “Under different circumstances, I’d say you can bite me all you want, Hazel.” His voice was deep and his grin feral. “As for being eaten, well, Border wraiths do far worse than eat people,” he taunted, circling her. “They tend to play with their food, slowly sucking your soul from your body,” he pulled her in close, his breath hot on her neck, his fingers caressing down the side of her face. “Until nothing is left but an empty husk where your body used to be. But as long as I’m around, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
Hazel looked up over her shoulder at him, his darkened eyes and stern expression picking up where his words left off. She got the feeling that they weren’t talking about Border wraiths anymore. Something deep within her warmed, the sensation spreading through her body, heating her core. She could get lost in those dark, amber eyes.
Slaide moved slowly, wrapping his arms around her stomach, her waist, pulling her in tight to his body where he stood behind her. She felt his chest expand as he inhaled deeply, and her eyes fluttered closed.
“I warned you, little witch, of what would happen if you ran.” He reached up into her tangle of auburn hair and tugged her head back ever so gently, the movement sending sparks through her mind.
“You disobeyed me. And I don’t appreciate it,” he growled into her ear. Then Slaide brought his mouth down to her exposed neck, pressing his lips to the sensitive skin with a butterfly-soft touch. Not a kiss; a warning.
He grazed his lips along the base of her neck to the ticklish spot just below her ear. And when he stopped there, he whispered, “Do you have any idea what you do to me, Hazel?”
He nipped her ear before working back down her neck. When he got back to her shoulder, just above the dip of her collarbone, sharp fangs brushed against her skin.
She stiffened, and Slaide chuckled against her skin. “Relax. I’m not going to eat you.” He ground his hips against her backside. “Unless… you want me to.”
He spun her around to face him.Gods… heishandsome.Her thoughts were racing to places they shouldn’t go. Not with Slaide, and especially not here. And yet, something had set itself aflame in her chest.
Her thoughts were interrupted by his gaze. His smile. “What are you thinking in that pretty little head of yours, sweets? I want in on all your secrets.”
Hazel’s eyes shifted to his mouth, but something was holding her back. When she met his eyes again, there was a hunger she’d never seen before, and it was clear he felt it too. She wondered if the same war waged within him.
“I don’t have any secrets,” she breathed, unable to break eye contact.
“Oh, I think you do,” he insisted, voice low.
Before she could respond, another desperate, ear-splitting scream rang out in the distance. Hazel shuddered from her toes to her shoulders, sobering her right out of the moment.
