My entire body tightened, then shivered.
The hypnotic sound crawled along my skin with the radiance of sunshine. Deep inside, that strange, feral part of me awoke. I replied to her in a way I didn’t understand, a gruff intonation,almost a purr. The guttural sound rumbled in my chest, deep and throaty, rough and possessive.
My cock was hard and she was slick.
And fuck, I wanted her.
Needed her.
My hand swept over the soft curve of her breast to wrap around her upper arm.“More,”I thought I must have whispered aloud, but I couldn’t be sure with lust clouding my senses. All I could smell wasusslicked onto my skin, drenching my lungs. I could stay in her burrow for an eternity. Fuck her forever.
But something was off. Something waswrong.
That feeling wouldn’t go away as Nelle rolled her hips, her warm, wet heat ready for my straining cock.
My jaw clenched hard, and my fingers clamped tighter around her arm as I mentally shoved at the dark desire urging me to take what she offered. “Stop,” I hissed through gritted teeth.
She did instantly.
I scrubbed my face harshly, trying to shake this bewitchment from my mind. I dropped my hands to fist my obsidian silk sheets and her cottony ones nestled around my body to resist the temptation of grasping her hips so I could thrust up and make her mine.
Nelle hovered, poised and waiting.
Waiting for what?
I couldn’t figure out what the hells was up with her.
There was a different sensation vibrating beneath my skin to what we’d experienced during the weekend of Evvie’s betrothal. The girl had been sex-mad, fueled by craving, and animalistic in her need to fuck. This was…?
Sweet surrender?
Nelle’s eyelids fluttered shut as she rolled her neck and hummed a note like singing crystal. The enchanting sound shimmered through the dim burrow and echoed in my ears. I fellonce more into a trancelike state, a thirst rising in me to claim her.
I wanted more, more,more.
My gaze darted to Nelle’s mouth when she flicked her pink tongue over her lower lip and made it glisten. A desperate groan clawed from my throat. I was ravenous for those perfect, lush lips.
“A kiss,”I murmured, my voice edged rough with demand. And a part of me distantly felt thetwangrippling down the dark magic that tied us together.
Without hesitation, Nelle sank closer to brush her mouth against mine. Her warm breath fluttered against my cheeks as she parted her lips and kissed me. Her kiss was softly sensual, like a summer sun sinking beneath the horizon, the sultry hues of fire lighting the sky. A low sound escaped me as yearning rolled through my body, strumming an impulsive chord deep inside.
Wrong, wrong,wrong,warned that part of me which remained aware.
I knew instinctively that she was doing this to please me.
I had to stop her.
I had to stop myself.
Whateverthiswas, whatever influence she was under,she wasn’t clear of mind to tell me what she wanted. She needed to be the Nelle I knew. Strong-willed, surly, and clever enough to try manipulating me to undo the magical collar, not this submissive girl poised to give me whatever I wished.
Nelle didn’t protest when I broke the kiss and levered up on my elbows, forcing her back. I carefully eased out from underneath her. She looked curious but not offended.
A muffled sound came from outside the burrow before a snuffling nose nudged at the rugs hanging over the bed, makingthem rustle. Sage gave an anxious whine. Nelle didn’t blink, didn’t acknowledge her friend.
Sage whined once more for Nelle’s attention, pawing beneath the draping rugs, his claws hooking on the sheets and blankets bunched around us.
It wasn’t until I angled myself to look in Sage’s direction that Nelle did too, eerily tracking my movement.
