“Why is it that you will not admit it?” he asked quietly, tilting his head, crouching next to the fire as steam began to rise off his magnificent form.
“There’s nothing to admit.”
“Because you are afraid of what I will do if I know the truth?” he continued, as if she hadn’t spoken.
He’d hit the nail on the head and she dropped her gaze to the steady flames, watched as Cruxan added more dried bark onto them.
Her silence was answer enough and she found she simply didn’t have the energy to deny it.
“You have nothing to fear from me,luxiva. In time, you will come to know this as complete truth.”
The way he said the words, with absolute conviction, made her meet his gaze.
“Men say that,” she whispered, “all the time, don’t they? Until they decide they are done waiting and then they aren’t so honest after all.”
His expression went serious. Quiet. His jaw clenched and unclenched.
“I wish,” he said after a moment, “that every male that has ever harmed you could be lined up in front of me. Right here.”
Her lips parted and she blinked.
“Because I want nothing more than to end them all.”
The intensity of his gaze, the brutality of his words should have appalled her. It should’ve disturbed her.
But it didn’t.
Neither did his possessiveness, which was directed straight at her. It should’ve. It didn’t.
“I am an honest male,luxiva,” he said quietly. “You have no reason to believe me, but I have not told you a lie yet.”
“Everyone lies.”
“I do,” he murmured, “but not to you. Never to you. Mostly, I lie to myself. Not even to others.”
“Then tell me a truth you wouldn’t ordinarily want me to know,” she said, wanting to prove her point, to test him.
His brow cocked, but instead of the trepidation she’d expected, she got determination instead.
“Ask me whatever you wish,” he said, rocking back into a seated position against the wall of the cave, his knee coming up, his arm draping across it. The picture of ease. “Leave nothing unturned,luxiva.”
Chapter Seventeen
Cruxan studied his female from across the fire.
Vrax, looking at her pleased him. Her golden hair was dry and softly curling down her shoulders. Her cheeks were pink from the heat, not pale from the cold. His tunic dwarfed her body, but seeing her in his clothing unleashed something primal in him, made his cock press hard against his leg coverings.
The Fates couldn’t have gifted him a more beautiful female.
Even when she was frowning, she was beautiful.
He’d issued her a challenge, one that obviously peaked her interest, one she obviously wanted to win.
He watched as Crystal opened her pink lips, only for no sound to come out.
“No questions for your mate?” Cruxan asked, his voice low and deep. Earlier, he’d been riddled with doubt, wondering if she dreamed of another. But when he realized that she’d dreamed ofhim, he’d been filled with hope, with new determination.
Of course, she hadn’t admitted it. But she hadn’t denied it either.
