She swallowed, blinking. Right before my eyes, I watched that softness fade. I watched realization and wariness return.
When it did, when I saw a little bit of her fear, I felt more in control. I feltrelief.
Sick in the head.
Lysi, always.
“All right,” she whispered, her lips still reddened from my kiss.
I stood, bringing both of us up, and setting her on her feet. The fire was dying but I didn’t bother to throw more fuel onto it. We would be warm enough through the night.
She hesitated at the end of the bed, still standing next to the low table, as I climbed underneath my mound of furs. I almost groaned with pleasure. I’d pushed my body hard the past few days and now it was time for much-needed reprieve.
“Come,kalles,” I rasped, sliding my gaze over her. The furs brushed my hardened cock, tickling over the heated flesh.
Hesitantly, she walked to the other side, her bare feet brushing the carpet. The dying fire illuminated the outline of her body in the tunic. She was small, thin, but her hips were gently flared. Her light grey eyes seemed to glow as she looked down at me. Her beautiful hair had begun to dry but the ends were still dripping. When my gaze dropped, I saw her nipples were still pebbled.
My mouth watered.
Vok, she was…exquisite.
“As long as you are with me, you sleep beside me,” I murmured when she hesitated again.
She slipped under the furs and my tail reached out, wrapping around her calf, pulling her closer.
Despite moments ago, when I’d felt relieved to see the evidence of her fear, I still…needed her close to me. I didn’t understand it. But I was too exhausted to care right then.
Rolling towards her, I clasped her tight, tucking her into my body. Her wet hair pressed into my shoulder. My cock was nestled between us, throbbing against her soft belly.
Vok, it feltright.
So damn right, to hold her like this. I remembered the way I’d reacted to her when she’d been led into theDothikkar’sgreat hall. That undeniable drive to protect her, as if I was meant for it.
I’d wanted to protect her as certainly as I’d wanted her to surrender to me. Now, I wondered if I craved being conquered in return.
“Veekor,” I ordered, my arms tightening around her. I felt her warm breath across my chest and my eyes closed. “Sleep,leikavi.”
* * *
I woke in a cold sweat,my heart hammering against my bones, sucking in breath.
Movement came at my right. Something warm.
My tensed muscles relaxed when I saw Vienne, sleeping. She shifted, tossing her head. I wondered if she too had nightmares.
Sitting up, I scrubbed a hand down my face before my claw drifted over the deep scar on my cheek. It throbbed, like the mere memory of how I’d received it had gotten the nerve endings firing again. Icy hot pain. Blood filling my vision, making everything dark.
My sister, her eyes open and unseeing, her dress around her waist, blood bubbling from her mouth.
A shuddered breath released from my lungs and bile rose in my throat.
Squeezing my eyes shut didn’t help. I could never get that image out of my mind once it returned. I growled, curling my fist and then hitting my temple. Over and over again until the pain bloomed, until I could think of something other than that night, the night everyone I loved had been taken from me. A senseless crime.
When I felt calmer, when I relished the throbbing pain at my temple, I looked back at thekallesin my furs.
She shifted again. Her legs kicked, her lips parted.
My heart slowed the longer I looked at her. And when I brushed a hand through her dry hair, when I lay back down next to her, pulling her close once more? I felt like I could actually breathe again as I drew her scent deep.
