Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112500 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 563(@200wpm)___ 450(@250wpm)___ 375(@300wpm)
Is this my future? Every month to return here?
All these years of fantasizing about matehood, and he’d been denied his female when he needed her most. The rising globe already heated his blood. His claws dug into his palms as he tried to quash fantasies of what he’d do to her beneath the moon…
He was hard as stone when a voice drifted up the slope—wicked, unmistakable. “Fee-fi-fo-fum,” Ditch sang. “I smell the blood of my pen pal.”
He shot to his feet, body coiled tight. How had she guessed where he’d be? She must know her connection to him and put together where he’d be forced to spend this night.
Almost in sight, she continued, “Do you know what fee-fi-fo-fum means? Behold food, good to eat, sufficient for my hunger. How fitting!” She emerged through the silvered mist, barefoot, hair gleaming, wearing his coat. Belted tight, nothing else.
The moon had just crested the horizon when the scent of her sex hit him. A double shot of delirium rocked him.
Gods have mercy.
He took in her lustrous green eyes, her curving lips. His attention roamed lower, past her waist. Good to eat, sufficient for my hunger.
No, no! “Ditch, you canna be here.” His voice was hoarse. His fangs and claws grew longer, his beast howling inside him. Only the Mount’s magic held it in check. “You must leave.”
Her smile flashed white and dangerous. “Aren’t you in a pickle, wolf? Not a single guard? Now why would you be caged on this night in a place that tamps down your beast? Is this your ‘kingdom business’?”
He gripped the bars. “Leave. For your own good.”
She drifted closer, ethereal. “Looks like you’ve found your mate. Who’s the lucky female?” She pursed her lips into a red pout that called to his tongue. “Won’t tell me? Maybe you think she’s not receptive?” The moon was directly behind her, limning those horns of hers.
He shuddered with want, his cockhead gone wet. “How did you know I would be here?”
“Unfortunately for you, I’m a witch with witchly ways.” Her laugh was both caress and slap. “In that cage, you can look but not touch. You can scent but not taste. Must be maddening that the entire world is passing you by. I could pass you by.”
“I want you to. You must go! Godsdamn you, witch.”
“Oh, Thane, they did that long ago.”
“You doona know what you’re playing with.”
“Fire?” She licked her lips. “What if I like the burn?”
Fuuuck.
Chapter 26
Ditch
“I thought it might be me.”
She hadn’t known—not until she’d seen the look in Thane’s eyes behind those bars. That predatory possessiveness. His deepest, darkest desire was to claim his mate.
Me.
If she were a suspicious person—she was!—Ditch might wonder if the elder witches of Akelarre had foreseen this fated tie. Was that why they’d dispatched her to the Skein?
She was young for a leader, but her powers were prodigious. Ditch had believed she’d forced Akelarre’s hand.
Am I…fodder?
She frowned. Ditch orchestrated fodder; she didn’t become it.
“You canna stay,” Thane grated. “What if the griffin returns?”
She tilted her head. “No wonder you were so protective of me that night. Only one female in all of eternity is fated to you. You’d do anything to keep her safe.”
“Answer the question.”
“If I were in mortal danger,” she countered, “could you not break free to save me?”
His silence was answer enough.
“Why this cage and subterfuge?” she asked softly. “Why not tell me the truth and roll the dice?”
“You’re no’ ready for me. And once this bond is forged…”
“I’d be stuck with you? How quaint.” Though demons had mates, witches didn’t, and she fell firmly on the Wiccan side of that divide.
His gaze narrowed. “And yet you might like having me for a mate.”
“What did this cage save me from tonight? Explain it to me.”
Shoulders straightened, he said, “My beast would have risen. Without precautions, it would find you anywhere in the Skein. It would pleasure you, mate you uncontrollably, and bite your neck to mark you forever.” This scenario clearly excited Thane; his eyes flickered Lykae blue. “It’s roiling inside me right now.”
She shrugged. “You’re right: I’m not ready. I’ll never be ready.” Being claimed was anathema; her freedom was a power. And the survival of her species was bound to her choices.
“Then you must go.”
“Why would I,” she murmured, “when I can stay and revel in your predicament?”
Was she cruel enough to sexually torture a trapped wolf on the night of the full moon—until pleasure became pain and reason burned away?
Of course.
His white knuckles on the bars made her laugh again. “Oh, Thane, you’ve got it so bad. All I did was agree to one little meeting on this mount, and destiny did the rest. I almost feel like I didn’t earn this thrill.” She stepped closer, just beyond his reach. “How long have you known I’m yours?”