Total pages in book: 109
Estimated words: 103333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103333 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 344(@300wpm)
She stilled, her heartbeat hammering.
“He could order your death,” Dar went on. “A word from his mouth and it would be done. Quietly. Efficiently. And I—” His grip tightened, then eased, as though he fought himself. “I would not stand for it. I could not.”
Her voice softened. “Dar—”
“If he takes you from me,” he said hoarsely, “there is nothing left. No hunt worth tracking. No future worth claiming.” He swallowed hard. “Life would hold no purpose.”
The truth of how much he loved her struck her harder than the words themselves.
He stared down at her as if only now, realizing what he had laid bare. His jaw clenched. “Bloody hell,” he muttered, the words thick, almost embarrassed.
And then he kissed her.
Not gently. Not carefully.
His mouth claimed hers with urgency, with fear barely leashed, as if he needed the kiss to prove she was still there, still alive, still his. She felt the unspoken words in it, the ones he could not yet say, the ones Hunters were never taught to give voice to.
Elara melted into him, knowing them anyway, knowing he loved her, and knowing, too, that loving her might cost him everything.
She welcomed his demanding kiss, savoring every moment of it. No secrets clouded their path nor divided them. They were free to love.
His lips fell away from hers and he lowered his brow to hers, his hands squeezing at her waist as he whispered, “What am I going to do with you?”
The answer was simple. “Love me.”
He lifted his brow and stared at her, then with barely a shake of his head, he said, “I don’t know how.”
She smiled and not so softly said, “Hunters always get their prey… hunt for it.”
Her challenge shifted something inside him, an instinct that was primal, one that never failed him.
His eyes narrowed in warning. “That would make you… my prey.”
She laughed softly. “That means you have yet to catch me.”
“Yet here you are in my arms.”
“But am I in your heart?” she whispered. “For I know without a doubt you are in mine.”
He grumbled beneath his breath, fighting a turmoil he didn’t understand. His hand went to grip the back of her neck. “You are mine.”
She saw anger mixed with confusion in his gray eyes and she challenged him once again. “Not the same as in your heart.”
“Hunters don’t have hearts.”
“Is that what Hunters tell themselves so they can hunt without feeling and always get their prey?”
“It is inbred in us,” he argued and dropped his hand off her neck to step away from her.
“Don’t look for an excuse. Look for an answer.”
Again, she challenged him.
This time he turned the challenge on her. “And what of you? Why did you keep the knowledge of the fae from me?”
“Fear of you… the Hunter.”
He took slow steps toward her. “You fear me?”
She spoke honestly. “I fear the Hunter, not my husband. I know the difference.”
He took quick steps to close the distance between them, his arm coiling around her waist to yank her against him. “And which one holds you now?”
Without hesitation, she said, “My husband. I am always safe in his arms.”
He felt her words stab at his heart and he bent his head and kissed her.
Her arms slipped around his neck, holding on tight, not letting go, not willing to lose him.
His lips didn’t leave hers as he tightened one arm around her waist to walk to the bed, her feet barely touching the floor. Garments were shed rapidly, Dar finishing before her to sit on the bed and pull her between his spread legs after she finally stood naked in front of him.
He rested his brow just beneath her breasts, inhaling deeply, then brushed his lips over her silky skin, sending a rash of gooseflesh to run over her.
“I want to leave the touch of my lips everywhere on you, so you can forever feel them there and know I am always with you.”
He eased her down just enough to capture one of her nipples in his mouth, his tongue teasing and tormenting it.
Elara ran her fingers through his hair to take hold of his head and help anchor herself there. She let herself get lost in the pleasure that rushed furiously through her, spiraling her passion. And when his hand began to roam down over her stomach, she felt her breath catch, knowing and anticipating his intention. Still, she gasped when his fingers slipped inside her and she dropped her head back and moaned.
She thought she would burst there and then, but his fingers slipped out her, and she moaned at the loss.
“Come down on me,” he said, surprising her, and took hold of her hips to guide her down on his swollen shaft.
He helped rest her legs over his and guided her down slowly until she engulfed his manhood, all of it, strong and firm inside her.