Magnificent male.
“Enough,” he growled out, his voice so deep and dark that it was unrecognizable. When she looked into his eyes, she saw a wildness there. She had almost pushed him over the edge. She saw that realization there, in his own eyes. “Enough,luxiva.”
His hand fell away from her sex,as if it was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do, and he plucked her hands from his cock gently, gripping her wrists in a tight grasp so she couldn’t squirm away.
“I am sorry,luxiva,” he murmured to her, that darkness in his gaze never abating. “I should not have touched you. I promised you I would not, not without your permission.”
Crystal groaned in frustration, trying to pull her wrists from his grip. “I wanted you to,” she cried. “Iwantyou to!”
“This has to stop,” he said roughly. “You are not yourself,luxiva. Not this night. We cannot continue.”
“Yes, we can,” she argued, now trying to push against him. That desire was building and building again.
“You would not want this,” he murmured to her, gentling his voice. “Not truly. Not in your right mind.Tevvaxis powerful and you are feeling that power. But once it leaves you, you will regret it.”
“No, I won’t,” she cried out.
“Tev, you will,” he insisted.
She was beginning to realize that he wouldn’t touch her again. He was being serious. Dead serious.
Frustration unlike she’d ever known filled her and tears pricked her eyes because of it.
“Don’t,” he murmured softly, looking pained as a tear escaped from her eye, dripping down her cheek. His tone was anguished as he said, “Luxiva,nix.”
Her hands were shaking in his grip from the need.
“You know I desire you,luxiva. Beyond anything,” he murmured, brushing her tears away without releasing her wrist. “But we cannot. Not like this. This is not real.”
“Is this what it feels like?” she rasped, more tears escaping down her cheeks. “Your Instinct? When it awakened for me? To want something so much and not have it? Not yet?”
She wasn’t even denying the truth anymore, not when it was obvious.
His lips pressed tight, but she saw the answer in his gaze even though he remained quiet.
Yes, his eyes said.
This agony was what it was like.
And suddenly, Crystal felt like crying for a different reason.
He brought her closer, pressing his forehead against her own, somehow more intimate than his touch had been between her thighs earlier.
“It will be a long night,luxiva,” he said. “But you will see it through. I know you will.”
Chapter Twenty
Waking up the next morning was like an out of body experience.
Crystal came awake slowly, blinking her heavy lids open to see the wall of Cruxan’s bare chest.
She swallowed, careful not to move, as she raised her gaze to his face. His eyes were closed, his breaths deep and even. She’d never seen him sleep before. The one night that he might’ve slept—the night when she’d laid, naked, in his arms, trying to warm up from the rain—he’d been awake before her.
Crystal remembered it all. A part of her had hoped to forget, if only to escape the embarrassment of how she’d acted last night. But it was there, all the same, and she wondered how in the world she would be able to face him when he woke up.
Which was why she laid as still as she possibly could, wrapped in his arms. They were laying side-by-side, facing one another. Cruxan’s leg was draped over her outer thigh, keeping her in place, while his arms were bracketed around her body.
It had been a necessity last night, she remembered, heat burning her cheeks. He’d almost had to keep her restrained, in order to keep her from doing something she might regret later.
