Sounded like bliss. I took a breath and faced him, exhaling sharply at the glorious sight before me. He was somehow even larger outside the cage of clothing, his skin a moonlit, silken landscape of muscle and sinew, hard planes and shadowy dips.
Don’t look down. Don’t look down.
Dark skies, I wanted to look down so badly it hurt, but kept my eyes on his face by sheer force of will.
He smiled knowingly. “Come here.”
The rumbly command sent a bolt of heat straight to my core.
“What?” The word came out as a squeak.
A glint of amusement danced in his eyes. “I need to take in your scent.”
“Oh…of course.” I forced my feet forward, stepping into his warmth and breathing in his crisp pine scent.Lickablecame to mind.
He leaned in a fraction, inhaling deeply, chest vibrating with a purr. “Mmm, vanilla and…berries and…there you are.”
I swallowed to moisten my mouth. “Is that what I really smell like?” The words slipped out, barley a whisper.
“It’s hard to describe what pheromones smell like. But yours have a sweet undertone.” He pulled back a little, and I froze as his pupils dilated, elongated, then dilated again.
He blinked and took a step away from me, and once again, it took every ounce of willpower not to let my gaze drop to the spot below his Adonis belt.
He cleared his throat. “For the grading, they’ll employ an offensive Horror, so most likely one that will want to hunt you. They may have already provided their constructs with your scent.”
“Wait, how would they do that?”
“Domestic probably took a small item of your clothing, something you sent to laundry.”
I was missing a sock, but didn’t socks always go missing?
“Echoes and wood weavers are both fast on land,” Drayven continued. “The Echo you will see coming. The wood weavers you won’t. You’re fast, but so am I. Outrun me, and you might have a chance to outrun the Horror and Echoes.”
“Don’t I have to fight them?”
“Without access to the Weave, you can’t wield a rift blade like the others. It won’t channel the power you need, so your only option is to survive. Your only defense will be evasion.”
And Sterling knew this. He fucking knew and was probably already celebrating my potential humiliation and all the nasty injuries I’d come back with. I couldn’t control what happened during the grading, but I could damn well make sure I walked out of it on my own two feet.
“Okay. Let’s do this. Do I get a head start?”
“As long as it takes me to shift. Elude me and make it back here to this log”—he pointed to where his clothes were neatly piled on a fallen tree—“and consider it a win.”
His body rippled as he began to shift.
I turned and ran.
* * *
There wasnothing quite like the freedom of running, but not so much while being chased, although, knowing that it was Drayven doing the chasing excited me. Minutes blurred together as I wove through the trees, putting distance between us.
His growls, the heavy thud of his paws against the earth behind me, and the rasp of his breath sent tingles through me.
This was new.
Exhilarating.
I wanted him to catch me. To pin me to the fragrant earth and?—
