“I…” Her voice withered.
She tried to speak again but I shook my head and reached out to touch her cheek. “No more for the night.”
I took her hand, dipped my head toward the others and led her out of the room.
Everyone watched us in our retreat but we didn’t look back.
Elariya squeezed my hand tighter and I held her the same.
We still couldn’t communicate telepathically, but I could feel her agony, the cutting disappointment, and the need to getaway.
We didn’t even walk the full length of the way to our bed chambers. I opened a portal and took her straight there, sealing her away from the rest of the world.
I released her hand and she walked over to the window. Her hands lifted to her cheeks and she held her head down, as though the weight of centuries rested on her shoulders.
“I must have done something wrong,” she mumbled, slowly shaking her head. “I wasn’t enough.”
“No, that’s not true.” No way in the heavens nor the hells was I going to have her believing that.
I marched up to her and turned her to face me. Tears welled in her eyes and her expression became more desolate as she stared at me.
“It is true Wolfe. I’m the tracker.” She pointed to herself. “I don’t know what went wrong. It was within my grasp. What went wrong?”
“None of us know.”
“But I?—”
I stopped her with a kiss. I crushed my lips to hers, pulled her flush against me, and kissed her like it was first and the last time I ever got to do it.
She kissed me back with the same reckless need.
We pulled apart for a breath and I stared down at her searching her eyes. I’d kissed her on impulse—wanting to distract her, to take her back to where we were yesterday. And I’d wanted to feel something more than the harsh reality that faced us.
We were at the end of the twelfth day. I didn’t want to waste it on failure.
Time had stolen enough from us.
I cupped the back of her head and pulled her back to my lips. She reached for me too, slipping dainty hands into my hair and grabbing on to my shirt.
I lifted her up and carried her over to the bed where I laid her down and rid us both of our clothes with one thought.
“I want you, Elariya,” I whispered over her smooth, soft skin. “I’ll always, always want you.”
“I’ll never stop wanting you, too. I always want to be with you.”
Her words ignited the fire in me that burned only for her.
I spread her legs wide open and thrusted my aching cock deep, deep into her entrance.
Her body arched instantly into mine, giving me room to drive into her harder. Her walls squeeze around my cock and I lose my mind.
My thrusts become wild and animalistic, a reflection of the fractured state of my mind, and an echo of my fears—the fear of losing her.
The thought makes her take more from her, fucking her deeper.
I had no plans to stop. I wanted all of her.
She was so beautiful and perfect and fucking mine. Time would not take her again from me tonight.
