Darion stroked her cheek. “I have a feeling he would’ve proven to be a problem with or without my presence here. He wasn’t worthy of you, Selene. I’m sorry for the spectacle it caused today, but I’ll sleep better knowing he’s no longer part of your legion.”
She nodded in agreement. Taebris was no loss, particularly after the way he’d failed his fellow soldiers in the Deadlands. For his attempt on Darion’s life? If the general wasn’t already dead, Selene would have ended him personally.
“Hey,” Darion said gently. “Why are you trembling?”
She swallowed. “I can’t stop seeing you standing there in the middle of all that death. I could hardly breathe when I realized what must’ve happened--that three of my own men would have murdered you in cold blood. That is not the Atlantean way.”
“It’s not the Breed way, either.”
There was a time when she would have been certain it was. Not anymore. Darion had helped her see past those old misjudgments and paranoias. He had opened her eyes and her heart. His honor and his honesty had allowed her to have faith in him, to let herself care for him. And she did care, deeply.
“My being here is causing friction between you and your people, Selene. Seb too.” His expression was thoughtful, his brows furrowed. “I know what having your people’s trust means to you. I know how hard you’ve worked, the things you’ve sacrificed to preserve this way of life. I don’t want to make that difficult for you.”
“You aren’t. They don’t understand yet, but they will. My people need to know that I trust you, and that I intend to ally the realm with the Order.”
Darion nodded, smoothing the pad of his thumb along her jaw line. His stare was intent, solemn. “This isn’t just an alliance to me. What we have together has nothing to do with the Order or the realm. This is only about you and me . . . us.”
“Yes.” The word escaped her on a soft sigh. “I feel the same way. I’ve been so afraid to let down my guard for so long, Darion. Part of me still is.”
“Don’t be,” he murmured. He captured her face in his hands, bringing her forehead to rest against his as he held her gaze. “I don’t want you to ever be afraid when you’re with me.”
His lips brushed over hers in a tender, unhurried kiss. She melted into him, into his comforting words. In the short time Darion had been in her world, he had made her believe that she could trust him. That she could let herself feel all the incredible emotions he stirred within her. That she might one day be safe allowing herself to love.
To love him.
She opened her eyes as he drew back from her mouth. His eyes held her warmly, his strong hands reverent and protective. Somehow, this dark Breed warrior who was so formidable, so expertly lethal, had become her safe harbor.
Her haven.
“I woke up this morning and you were gone,” she whispered. “I thought for a moment I might have been dreaming that you’d been in my bed.”
“No dream,” he said, lifting her chin on his knuckles and trailing soft kisses down her throat. “It was real.Thisis real.”
The tips of his fangs grazed just above her skin, yet enough to send spirals of fire licking through her veins. She moaned as his mouth drifted down onto the curve of her neck and shoulder.
His breath fanned across her skin, hot and erotic. “I know I have to leave soon, go back to the Order to argue for our alliance, but damn . . . I don’t want to be away from you. When you’re in my arms like this, I never want to let go.”
On harsh growl, he moved over her, pressing her down on the sofa beneath him. His hands moved down her body, lifting her skirts as he caressed her naked thighs.
Selene watched him, mesmerized at the changes that played over his face and skin as his arousal swamped him. His gaze scorched everywhere it lit on her, molten with desire for her. Hisdermaglyphsfelt alive beneath her fingertips, surging with dark, exquisite colors.
His fangs, which had at one time filled her with fright now stoked an intense, undeniable yearning she hardly dared to think, never mind speak aloud.
He reached down, his hands working to push his pants out of the way. Then he was hard between her legs, his rigid length teasing the wetness of her core before he entered her.
He took her mouth in a possessive kiss as he plunged deep, then began to move with aching slowness inside her.
“You’ve ruined me for anyone else,” he uttered against her parted lips. “I will never want another.”
She gazed up at him, awash in sensation and overwhelmed by the depth of all she felt for him. “There’s never been anyone like you for me, Darion. I’ve never felt so alive as when you’re looking at me like this . . . when you’re filling me so completely.”
He smiled a wicked, sexy smile, fangs gleaming. Faith, she couldn’t get enough of him. He looked so wild and darkly beautiful, all of his attention, all his desire, focused on her as their bodies moved in perfect tempo, gazes locked.
Selene gave herself over to him completely, lost in the bliss of what they had found in each other.
What she was feeling went beyond mere desire or affection. She knew that with a certainty that shook her.
She was falling in love with him, and she only hoped she could trust her reckless heart not to lead her into disaster.
