Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 48193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 48193 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 241(@200wpm)___ 193(@250wpm)___ 161(@300wpm)
I thought that is what she might be doing, though I could not tell with her back turned.
“Did it work?” I question without hinting at my hope that it failed.
“It didn’t,” she answers, shaking her head and pursing her lips.
My gaze lingers over the curves of her nightgown, the hem well within my reach; another level of hardship. Idalis’ scent is sweet, like fresh flowers and a sugary confection that I cannot name. I want to grab the hem of her nightgown and pull her down to the blanket with me. I could suckle the curve of her delicate neck until the worried look disappears from her face, replaced with want and ecstasy. I could spread her thighs and taste her there until I found where all that sweetness comes from. I could make her moan out my name and—
“I’m sorry if I woke you,” she says quickly, thankfully interrupting my inappropriate thoughts, then steps around me and pads to her bed.
“You didn’t and it’s alright,” I manage, my throat tight and tense.
The blankets lift, then fall, sending a soft breeze of her scent toward me. Fucking hell.
My cock throbs with the torture of her being so close and yet untouchable. She doesn’t trust me. I don’t trust her. This witch has powers like I have never encountered before, and her wariness is salt in her scent.
What does she think of me? What does she think I will do to her?
Is she afraid that I might claim her?
I huff a humorless laugh at the thought, keeping the sound under my breath, and fold my arm under my head. I know not what’s come over me only that I crave her more than I have ever craved another. I am surely spellbound and desperate to resist. Time ticks with the thoughts becoming more and more vivid, agonizingly slow.
Idalis doesn’t sleep, either. I can feel her there, lying in her bed with her heart racing, mere feet from where I lie.
My mouth waters for the rest of the night. My cock never softens. I want her more with every heartbeat.
Perhaps I should have taken my chances in the forest last night, or started the journey back to my lands, but with us both awake and waiting for the other to speak, or move, or—
Something else.
It’s torture.
She never speaks. Idalis is determined to lie as still as she can, it seems. She does so until the sun comes up.
When enough light sneaks in around her shutters, Idalis quietly climbs out of her bed and walks purposefully across the cottage to the bathing room. When she comes out, she is dressed again—a dark green dress that looks as if it was woven from the land around her. A pattern of wildflowers is embroidered at the hem and the cuffs of the sleeves. She eyes me and when our gazes catch, she offers me a simper and another blush then looks away. My head falls back and my eyes close from the vision she is. I’m forced to suppress a growl of satisfaction. She reaches up to her hair to tie it in a low bun at her neck, and the sight makes my wolf howl mournfully. He longs to be allowed to touch her. He yearns to be allowed to bury his nose in the nape of her neck and breathe her in.
“The storm still brews… I’ll make tea,” she says, without looking at me. “I thought you would like some, but if you do not—”
“I would love a cup.” I get to my feet quickly, trying to adjust myself subtly. “Thank you.” It’s then that the need to sleep truly hits me as I stand. I’ve gone days without sleep before, but this is different. The warmth and comfort teases me just as the sight of the witch does.
Idalis goes into the kitchen nook. I make a short stop at my pack and shut myself in the bathing room.
Splashing cold water on my face does nothing to relieve the intense hard-on I have nor does it rid the burning of my eyes needing rest. With both hands gripping the edge of the vanity, I drop my head down to stare at the offending erection. Fucking hell. What this woman does to me.
I wrap my fist around it, wanting more than anything to give in to the lust raging in my blood. Just to be past it all.
Would she know?
That’s the thought that makes me let go of my cock like it burned me. I shove my cock back into my clothes, gritting my teeth and thinking of raw blisters and lethal battle wounds to distract myself.
If Idalis can sense me stroking my cock to thoughts of her, then there is no chance she will help me recharge the crystals and summon the portal. No chance at all. The lone woman would kick me out, I’d imagine.