My clit suddenly felt sensitive with each shift of my body on the sofa. My attention then split between Bokkan and my sex. As my skin heated, Bokkan stiffened beside me and inhaled deeply.
The king froze and hesitated as well. Without looking in my direction, he set down his cup and plate and turned to Cora. “I believe it is time for us to leave, Lady Cora,” he said.
I expected her to argue because we were in the middle of a conversation. Instead, she set aside her cup and plate and rose from her chair. Bokkan and I followed their lead, all of us walking to the front door.
I didn’t bother trying to shake the king’s hand, just nodded to him. But I did give Cora a hug.
“Please come back and see me again,” I invited her.
“Uh…” Her eyes flicked from me to Bokkan and then to the king. “I would like that.”
Bokkan backed me up. “You are always welcome and safe in my home,” he said.
Cora smiled at him, and a surge of possessiveness gripped me. A growl rumbled in my throat. The sound shocked me outof my oddly jealous behavior. I’d been spending too much time around Bokkan if I were growling at another woman for smiling at my mate.
Bokkan put an arm around me, tugging me into his side, and the last of my possessiveness vanished. We walked the king and Cora to the door and waved goodbye after they got into the carriage.
Once they vanished from sight, Bokkan ushered me into the house and shut the door. When he turned toward me, my body heated from the look on his face. He was staring at me as though he wanted to eat me alive.
Listening to my instincts, I took a step back, a hand rising to my throat.
“What were you thinking about in the parlor?” he asked.
His voice rolled through me, raspy and deep. My nipples hardened again, and I felt my pussy growing wet.
“Your scent,” I answered without thinking. “And how I wanted to take a bite out of you.”
He clenched his hands into fists and took a step toward me. Again, I backed up. There was a voice inside me, whispering. Urging. Telling me to run so that he would chase me. To make him prove his worthiness to me.
Confused, I shifted again, taking one more step back.
“Tell me what you are thinking,” Bokkan insisted, his voice still little more than a growl.
I swallowed hard as my body seemed to grow hotter. “I want to run. I feel like I need to.”
Red rimmed his black eyes, glowing brighter with each breath. “And you want me to chase you?”
I nodded in response to his question, my voice gone beneath the onslaught of the primal urges overwhelming me.
Leaning forward, Bokkan whispered, “Run, little mate. Because I will always catch you.”
I whirled and took off down the hall, back toward the parlor, because he stood between me and the door. Maybe I could slip out one of the windows. When I heard his steps close in on me, I darted to my left and into the library.
I dashed around the big table in the center of the room, putting it between us. A quick glance over my shoulder showed that Bokkan’s fingers were only a few inches from my shoulder when I darted away.
We faced each other over the table, my lungs heaving, not from exertion but from excitement. Bokkan opened his mouth to speak, but Imoved. I sprinted back toward the door, juking to one side as he reached for me and ducking beneath his grasping hands. My feet pounded on the floor as I ran for the door, going as fast as I could.
My mate’s steps were thunderous behind me just before his arms wrapped around me and he yanked me off my feet. I thrashed his hold as he turned me and tossed me over his shoulder, his hand clamping down on the back of my outside leg, leaving his fingers pressing against the seam of my trousers between my legs. My clit throbbed at the contact, and the fire in my blood grew hotter.
I kicked my legs and smacked his back with my fist as he kept moving forward and up the stairs to the second floor. A sharp slap on my ass broke through the urge to fight, and I went completely still.
By the time I recovered, the door to Bokkan’s bedchamber was shut behind us, and the bar dropped over it. In a few long steps, my mate heaved me off his shoulder, dropping me on the bed. I tried to kick out at him as I scrambled back on the mattress, but he caught my foot and yanked my boot off. My other foot received the same treatment, even as I tried to pull it away.
I turned over to crawl away, and his heavy weight hit my back, pinning me down to the bed. He used just enough of his weight to keep me from bucking him off, but not so much that I couldn’t breathe. I threw an elbow back toward him, but he used his forearm to trap it to the mattress. His other hand worked its way between my body and the mattress, grasping the drawstring on my trousers.
Once they fell loose from my hips, he levered off me and yanked them down, taking my panties with them. I bucked my hips, trying to flip over, but his huge hand landed on my bare ass with a sharp smack.
A low whimper escaped my mouth as I squirmed on the bed, squeezing my thighs together. My shirt and bra disappeared in a blink, leaving me naked on the bed.
