“Oh, Christ.”
“I don’t understand how we’re at this point,” he said wearily, his exhaustion hers. “I finally have you, and it’s all doom and gloom. But I will restore hope to my people if it’s the last thing I do.” The determination in his expression finally shoved back her terror. “Drav’n and Thiorr will go to Earth and continue the hunt. The more warriors we have, the faster this will go.”
“But what if the women don’t want mates?”
“They don’t have to mate anyone to restore the magic, Leya, just be here. We aren’t barbarians.”
“Really? I just had a barbarian make wild love to me outside, then against the door,” she teased.
His low rumble of laughter made her heart expand even further.
He squeezed her hips. “But they would have to live here. Not in Cidéra, but on the mage’s Realm of Syrosii. It’s where the rest of the Stones of Light reside. Lucan would know more about what’s needed.”
“Hmm… Then I guess it’s better if they did fall in love, so it’s not so overwhelming coming here. God knows I’m not a Chosen, and I was terrified.”
His brow furrowed. Nope, he still didn’t agree with the scroll’s negative result.
“I’m sorry I let you go off with my enforcer. But I was too dangerous to be around and didn’t dare accompany you.”
She understood that now. “So the threat to tie me up was to scare me away?”
“Only to make you keep your distance. I have no willpower when it comes to you,” he murmured. “Little did I know my female liked being tied up.”
Heat flooded her face. “I didn’t know that either until you.”
“Good.” His tender gaze drifted over her face. “Who knew coffee would change my life?”
“What?”
A smile. “All I saw was your back the first time, then your scent hit me even from a distance. I followed.”
She jackknifed up again. “You came into the coffee house because ofme?”
“Oh, coffee was on my mind, but it took second place once I saw you, so aye.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Quite the endorsement,” he said drily, pulling her back to lay against him.
“And let you get a fat head?” she huffed. “You had to know the entire coffee house came to a standstill that night?”
“But not you. You ran off, as I recall.”
She rolled her eyes at his smiling face. “I didn’t run. I had to leave. My sister was coming back from overseas.”
His smile faded. “When the scroll test showed an inconclusive result, I’ll admit, it threw me, and not in a way where you can pick yourself up and move on. It felt like I was walking away from a part of myself, from something vital.”
She remembered that time as well. She hadn’t been ready for him to leave, either. “But you were going to anyway.”
“Yes, but only for the night.” He shifted to his side and strung kisses down her jaw. “You’d gotten ahold of me, and I wasn’t letting you go.”
“I’m glad.” She eased back. “Aerén, about the betrothal—”
“It doesn’t exist and will never happen. It isn’t something my folks would agree to without consulting me first.” He rose above her again, his pretty hair framing his masculine features, his jaw covered with a darker overnight shadow, which was odd, considering he didn’t have body hair. “Do you honestly think I would have waited if I wanted that female? Leya, I’m an empath. I can not only feel emotions and know the truth. I can also mind-read.”
“What? You read my thoughts?” She shoved him to his back and sat up. “So, you knew I was a sure thing, even if a little conflicted, and you seduced me?”
“I’d seduce you just for being you,” he retorted, lying there like some fallen angel with a crooked halo, his blue hair spilled on the white linen. “No mind-reading needed. Besides, I can’t read you anyway—”
