"There you are." The dark satisfaction in his voice makes my knees weak.
He doesn't move closer yet, juststands there watching me with those burning crimson eyes. I can see him clearly for the first time since the chains broke. He's magnificent and terrifying. His face is still Svenn's but sharper and more predatory.
"Nowhere left to run,"he observes, taking one slow step forward.
I back up until I hit the cave wall. “Svenn—"
"I told you. Not Svenn." His eyes blaze brighter and he takes another step. "I'm the thing he pretends doesn't exist. The hunger he locks away."
"You won't hurt me." I'm trying to sound confident but my voice shakes, betraying me.
"Hurt you? No." He's close enough now that I have to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. "But I'm going to make you understand why Svenn keeps me caged. Why he was so afraid of letting me out."
What have I unleashed?
My mind races. I'm trapped in a dead end with something that wears my husband's face but isn't him. Not entirely. My heart pounds so hard I can hear it in my ears. Think, Rhianelle. Think.
I remember the wolf god in Astefar. How I'd held out my hand and that massive, terrifying creature had given me his paw. I had tamed something wild and dangerous through nothing but trust and will.
I try the same now, holding out my hand to the bond. "Come back."
Svenn stares at it for a moment. He then laughs, low, dark and amused. “What the fuck are you doing, little fawn."
He takes my hand but instead of gentling, he pins it above my head.
I lift my chin and meet his eyes. Defiance instead of fear.
"I'm not afraid of you."
He reaches out, his hand gently grasping my chin. His thumb traces my jaw, then slides down to my throat. He leans in and his tongue drags slowly up the column of my neck, tasting.
"Your pulse says otherwise." He pulls back to look at me. "But here's the interesting thing. It's not just fear, is it?"
I try to deny it, but the words won't come.
His smile is all predator, all hunger. "You think you can tell me another male claimed you and I'll just accept it?"
"I'm not property—"
"You're so much more than that." He cages me against the wall, arms on either side of my head, trapping me completely. “You are the only light I have known in a thousand years. And you think I will let anyone else touch what is mine?”
His hand moves to my throat, feeling my pulse race frantically beneath his fingers.
"Do you know what the bond wants me to do right now?" His voice is seductive and dangerous. "It wants to mark you so thoroughly that every fae, every elf, every being in existence will know you belong to me."
I gasp.
He leans closer, breath cold against my ear. "But I'm starting to think you knew that when you came here. When you told me about the fae commander. You wanted this reaction, didn't you?"
"I wanted you to understand that I chose you," I whisper.
He pulls back to look at me. Something flickers in those crimson eyes. I reach up carefully to touch his face. He goes completely still under my hand. “I want all of you."
His hand covers mine, pressing it harder against his cheek. "You want me?”
Svenn’s eyes burn brighter and suddenly I'm pressed harder against the cave wall, his body covering mine completely.
"Careful what you wish for." His mouth is at my throat now. "Once I start, I won't stop. Not until you're so thoroughly claimed that you'll feel me in every breath, every heartbeat, every moment for eternity."
