He glanced at my lips, breath filling my lungs, and for a moment said nothing. Just hovered there. Pulse pounding at the base of his throat, pendant throwing a tri-shadowed rainbow over my collarbones and his. So close I could all but see the ki dancing on his skin, begging me to reach out and take it…
Knuckles popping beneath the surface of the water, I resisted, for Alicia was right, damn her. Hewantedme to try again. Expected me to fight or fly. The bond was coiled tight. Hungry for the chase. Aching for my defiance.
Denying him, I pulled in a breath, trying for clarity. Tryingnotto see the pendant.
Goddess, I wanted it.Neededit. But how?
Play the part.
Could I? If it meant my freedom?
Yes. A thousand times,yes.
I squeezed my eyes shut, letting the bond infect me.
This… it was nothing. Just a physical act. Easy. Play the part of a woman in heat and be free of him when he’d taken his pleasure, just as Alicia had said. It never took long when Kas chose a mate. Each season, the males would boast of their prowess, posture for their queen, and after a few grunts and yowls, it was over.
Nothing to it.
I swallowed, hard, eyes tracing the contour of a long, lean torso. Pausing on the waistband of his underpants. On the bulge lurking just beneath the surface. Distorted by the water. Flexing, I tilted my hips forward, trying to ease an uncomfortable ache tugging at my insides.
“You’re filthy.”
Something deep inside my chest recoiled, injecting my veins with sobering ice. And for a moment, as my heart rate tripled, shock pinned my tongue to the roof of my mouth.“I’mfilthy?” I whispered, voice trembling. “This—this”—I gestured at myself, at the space between us, splashing him with my frustration—“this isyourdoing! How can you blame me for this when—”
He laughed, threw back his head andlaughed, deep from his belly. “I was talking about themud,Miss Tannovic.” Reaching over my head, he retrieved a bar of soap, brandishing it before my nose.
Jaw slack, I could do nothing but stare. Gaping as he took a seat on my right with a low groan and began to work the soap into a purple tinted lather. “Come,” he said, extending a sudsy hand.
I sneered, teeth bared, holding back the pathetic tremble of tears.
Lifting a broad shoulder, he shrugged, then passed the bar over his chest. “Suit yourself.”
Tearing my gaze away, I cupped my hands, scrubbing at the brown stains until I glowed pink from the neck down and the water around me was clouded with filth. “There,” I said, drawing my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms about myself. “Happy?”
He snorted, spreading the lather across his chest. “You haven’t even touched the soap.” Then he jerked his chin at the tangled nest atop my head, saying, “And it’s pretty safe to say you missed a spot.”
“I’m not putting my face into this water. Who knows what sort of diseases I could contract.”
He rolled his eyes and set the bar on the ledge. “These tubs are fed by hot springs and replenish themselves several times a day. Any filth in this water is your own.”
“Youare here.”
“Indeed I am,” he returned, closing the distance between us.
“What—”
“Relax, Miss Tannovic,” he breathed, twisting, taking my elbow in a rough palm. Tugging me closer. The surge of ki in his touch tightened the muscles in my lower back.
And though I remained stiff, I didn’t fight, letting him pull me off the bench, weightless in the water as I glided toward him. Bracing on his heat-reddened chest—just above the pendant—my bottom brushed his knee. Prickly. But I didn’t struggle when he set his second hand to my hip beneath the water. Breath frozen in my chest in spite of the sweat damp on my brow, I did nothing as he turned me.
What in the name of the dead Goddess waswrongwith me? I should snatch the pendant now, while he was distracted! Allowing an apex predator to have my back was—
“Easy,” he hummed, breath hot against my nape. His hands slid higher on my ribcage, fingers tight, framing the rapid, shallow breaths scarcely passing my lips. When he shifted again, settling me between spread, prickly legs, I was pinned. “Easy.”
Hardly! Searching for cooler air, my head fell back. I couldn’t do this! Couldn’t breathe, not with his touch, and his ki, and—
Play the part.
