Total pages in book: 401
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 390373 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1952(@200wpm)___ 1561(@250wpm)___ 1301(@300wpm)
“Dread?” he answered for me.
“Yes.” My gaze flicked up to his. “I’m guessing you felt that, too?”
“It was impossible not to.” His eyes searched mine. “You don’t know what caused it?”
“No.”
He slid a hand up my arm. “And you don’t feel it anymore?”
“It’s gone,” I told him. “I have no idea what just happened.”
“I think…” Casteel’s throat worked on a swallow. “Fuck, Poppy, you scared the shit out of me.”
My eyes widened as I realized he’d been shielding his emotions. I felt the crack then—the bitter and cold bite of fear.
“But you’re okay?” he asked, cupping my cheeks and tilting my head back. “You don’t have a headache or anything?”
“No,” I assured him. “It’s probably just some aftereffects of being in stasis.”
Relief flashed in his eyes before he closed them. “Gods, Poppy. I’ve been so afraid. So fucking terrified this whole time that you wouldn’t come back to me. And I thought—fuck, I thought it was happening again.”
My heart clenched. “Casteel—”
His lips closed over mine, silencing my words. He kissed me then like a man who had spent an eternity fearing he would never be able to do so. It was a wrecking, desperate kind of kiss.
Casteel broke away, breathing heavily as he rested his forehead against mine. I could feel his entire body trembling, and…
I tasted the dull bitterness of his lingering fear, which sent apprehension buzzing through me. With everything Casteel had been through, all he had survived, he rarely felt fear. There was even a time when I didn’t think he was capable of such an emotion.
But he felt fear when it came to me. When I was gravely wounded in New Haven and when I left with Lord Chaney in hopes of preventing more heartless and senseless killing. I’d tasted his fear as he held me among the ruins of Irelone. And just now, he’d kissed me as if trying to convey all his anxiety. His fear.
What in the realms had happened to cause that? It was hard to focus when every breath I took was filled with his lush scent.
His next words didn’t help.
“There is so much shit we should be doing or talking about right now, but I need you,” he breathed, the words melding with a broken breath that seemed to have been pulled from the depths of his being. “I need you more than anything. Can I have you? Please?”
His desperate plea, spoken in a voice rough with desire, shook me. He was right. I had no idea what’d just happened or if it really had to do with me coming out of stasis. And there was so much to discuss. But none of that was important. Only he was, and he needed me.
Clasping his cheeks, I moved his head so our eyes met. “Always and forever.”
That rough, needy sound came from him again, but this time, it was part snarl. Then his mouth was on mine once more, and there was something raw in the way he handled me then—something infinitely more. Our lips smashed together. Our teeth—our fangs—clashed. My senses were spinning as he wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me, deepening the kiss.
One second, he held me against him. The next, I was lying on the bed with him hovering above me. Then, his mouth returned to mine. The sharp edge of his fang grazed my lower lip, causing my breath to catch. I could feel him through his breeches, thick and hard against my hip. Desire flared to a point where it bordered on pain, stroking the humming essence in my chest.
A raw, needy growl came from Casteel as his fingers tangled in my hair, our kisses coming in short, rough bursts. Each sweep of his tongue ignited sparks throughout my body—sparks that would surely consume both of us if we ever lost control.
“I should be taking this slow,” he said, his voice thicker and deeper as he kissed my cheek—the scar there.
I didn’t want slow.
His hand coasted down the side of my neck, lingering briefly on my wildly beating pulse before tracing a path to my shoulder. He kissed the scar on my temple as he slid his fingers under the strap of my sleeping gown.
“You just woke up.” Casteel eased the gown down, baring my breasts. He lifted himself and looked down. A shudder went through him. “Thank the gods.”
I wasn’t sure why he’d said that as the tips of my breasts hardened under his stare, but then his hand found the hem of the gown, and he shoved it up to my waist.
“And you’ve been gone for too damn long,” he said.
Heart thumping against my ribs, I watched as he rocked back on his knees, sliding a hand down my thigh to grip my knee and pull it to the side. He fastened his gaze between my legs as cool air teased the heated flesh there.