Kol’s glow explodes bright enough that I have to shield my eyes. Claws tear from his digits. He steps forcefully in front of me, throwing his impenetrable body directly between me and the rest of the armed room, shielding me from his own clan.
Justine thrusts both hands out placatingly, her eyes wide. “Nobody struck her!” she yells, her voice frantic, cutting through the scrape of bone-spears. “Stand down!Nobody struck her!”
The warriors hold their spears ready, searching the shadows for a target.
I rub my nose with the back of my hand and step out from behind Kol’s arm.
“She’s fine!” Justine shouts, her eyes darting between Kol and the clan. “See! It’s just a reaction to the rock dust. A sneeze.Kol, tell them to put the spears down.”
The warriors slowly blink in unison. They look at Kol. Kol looks down at me.
Weapons slowly lower.
Kol retracts his claws, his chest heaving. He forces a deep, ragged breath through his nose, then looks straight up at the jagged ceiling.
Justine looks from Kol’s heaving chest to my flushed face. Her eyes widen slightly. She reaches out, grabs Rok’s bicep, and tugs hard.
“Okay, everyone out,” she says loudly, waving her free hand at the cavern. “Perimeter checks. Now. Move it.”
The warriors rapidly disperse. Rok herds them toward the tunnels. No one makes eye contact with Kol.
I am still standing by the map, my heart trying to beat its way out of my ribs, when the last guard clears the alcove.
It’s just me and Kol.
He turns slowly to face me. His chest heaves. The erratic, blinding gold glow dims a little.
I open my mouth to say something. An apology, a joke, anything to break the suffocating silence. But I don’t get the chance.
He just snaps.
He closes the distance, two rough hands clamping hard over my hips. He lifts me off the ground like I weigh nothing and drops me flat onto the edge of the stone. Before I can gasp, he steps flush between my knees, caging me against the cold rock.
The paralyzing heat of him completely surrounds me. I tilt my chin up, my chest heaving, fully expecting the crush of his mouth against mine.
Instead, he bypasses my lips. He bends his towering frame forward and buries his face directly into the curve of my neck.
My pulse skyrockets. My hands hover in the air for a panicked second before instinct overrides logic. My fingers tangle blindly into the sandy-brown strands of hair.
Fuck, they’re so silky. Silkier than they have any right to be.
He groans. A low, feral vibration rumbles straight from his ribs into my own. His hot, ragged exhale washes over my collarbone. He opens his mouth against my skin, the sharp scrape of his fangs dragging slowly up the side of my throat. He inhales my scent like he’s starving. Deep. Desperate.
I let him do it. I tilt my head back, giving him total access, my body vibrating under his sheer presence.
Then he shifts his posture to press closer, and his right shoulder jumps under my hands.
It’s a sharp micro-flinch.
He sucks in a harsh breath through his teeth and the dense muscle under my palm pulls tight, locking up.
My eyes snap open. The lust clears in a second.
I tighten my grip on the hair at the base of his skull and pull, forcing his head up until our foreheads press together.
The mindspace hits me instantly.
You are hurt,I project sharply into the dark.
