I bite my lip a little, thinking. The vivid dream from the night before comes back to me. I can hear the two lovers calling to each other, torn apart by time and circumstance.
“I need to tell you something,” Shane says. “I’m really, really sorry.”
“You said that already,” I say with a little laugh.
“No, I mean, I’m sorry for how I treated you… right after I kidnapped you.”
“Oh, wow,” I reply. “That’s a sentence you don’t ever expect to hear—even if you’ve been kidnapped.”
Shane laughs, shaking his head. “Do you ever stop being witty?”
“No, never. I’m just that much quicker than most people. I can’t help myself.”
“I believe it,” he says, pulling me down gently to kiss him. I settle myself more comfortably in his lap and put my hands on his shoulders, deepening the kiss.
“I was trying to say something,” he mumbles.
“It was riveting,” I whisper back. “Now, kiss me again.”
Shane’s hands tighten on my waist, and I lean in even closer, wrapping my hands around the back of his head. Warmth starts to spread through me, making me grind my hips into him as we deepen the kiss.
“Dammit, woman,” Shane says, grabbing my arms and pushing me back. “Stop distracting me. I’m trying to have a big-reveal moment.”
“Big reveal?” I ask, batting my eyes innocently. “Are you going to take off your pants?”
Shane looks at me blankly for a second, then tackles me. We fall onto the floor, rolling over each other, giggling, until he comes out on top.
“Ah-ha! Got you,” he announces triumphantly.
“Oh, no,” I mock. “My kidnapper kidnapped me. Now what?”
“Will you stop that?” he says, losing his smile. “I really, really am sorry about that.”
A flicker of pain shows on his face, and the bright blue of his eyes dims, as if the shadow of a cloud has brought a storm to tear apart the serenity in his heart.
“What is it?” I ask, stroking his cheek.
“I know I wasn’t in my right mind when I did it,” Shane says. “I do honestly feel like it was part of the curse. However, I won’t cop out on this—I fucked you over, and you should punish me for the rest of my life.”
“Torture,” I say matter-of-factly. “Yes, I understand completely.”
I wriggle under him, freeing my legs so I can wrap them around his waist and writhe against him.
“I asked for that,” he laughs. “But what I’m talking about is how I treated you as an object for a long while after the actual event. I’ve been conditioned to look down on humans my whole life, but it wasn’t even that. I just considered your emotions to be an inconvenience to the whole situation.”
“I got that idea,” I say, wriggling against him some more. “But here’s the thing, Shane—none of that matters anymore. We got thrown together because of the curse. I don’t think that’s even your fault. But the only thing that scares me is being used and discarded. I’ve wanted to help since the beginning, and I’ll do whatever I can to break the curse. But do you still want me after that?”
Shane’s blue eyes burn, flickering like the first tongues from a gas lamp as it begins to banish the shadows. He shakeshis head a little, an expression of complete disbelief coming over his face.
“I can’t imagine my life without you,” he says. “It’s true that I thought I was just fine as a bachelor, and my only purpose in this world was as an alpha. But since I’ve been with you, I now know what I’ve missed out on. I want to get to know you, Hyacinth, and I want to hear that crazy wit of yours cracking at me every minute for the rest of my life.”
“Oh my lord,” I reply, laughing. “You don’t know what you’re asking.”
“Oh, I think I do,” he answers, leaning down to kiss me.
I lean my head back, squeezing his waist with my legs and feeling him pin my wrists to the floor. Desire floods through me, and I press against him, teasing him as I struggle under his weight.
“Stop it, you heathen woman,” he whispers. “How can I resist you?”
