Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
“Look at me, my love. Open your eyes and look into mine.”
His voice. That voice. So gentle. So caring. It pierced the ice, sending so many cracks spreading across the glacier, threatening her even more. “I can’t.”
“You can because I asked you, and you always do what I ask you,” he reminded her. “You trust me, Maya. You trust only me the way I do you. We get through things together. You don’t see the way out, but that’s what you have me for—to lead you through the labyrinth when you can’t see the path.”
She clutched at his wrist. Gorya. He didn’t seem to pay the least attention to the heat of her feminine body writhing continuously against his masculine one. She could feel his thick, hot cock against her buttocks, but he didn’t move, not even to rub himself against her. Instead, he held her tight, comforting her. Protecting her.
Just the feel of his palm cupping her chin and then the way his knuckles skimmed her lips sent a shiver of painful awareness streaming through her. Maya forced her wet lashes to lift slowly. She didn’t want to, but this was Gorya. She caught a glimpse just before he opened his hand. The leopard tattoo was there. The one from her childhood. The safety and beauty of that savage, feral leopard that spread across his fingers just below his knuckles. The sight of it shook her. The cracks in the glacier widened. Deepened. Her heart accelerated, beat far too fast. Her lungs squeezed down, driving the air from her so that she couldn’t find a way to breathe properly.
Her lashes fluttered, and she lifted them all the way in total panic, her gaze meeting his. Clinging. Expecting to see loathing. Disgust. Or pure lust. What she saw was Gorya. Her Gorya. His stunning frost-gray eyes holding sheer love. Love. She knew it was love. She felt it burning through the heat of Han Vol Dan. Through the sickening memories of her past. Through her own inadequacies and self-loathing. He was there. Her rock. Her partner. He’d said to trust him. That she could count on him. That Wraith could count on him. A small part of her hadn’t believed.
It felt as if her entire chest split apart. Her heart and soul shattered, broke into millions of pieces, just as she always feared they would if the ice inside her ever cracked. Tears poured down her face. Once the storm broke, she couldn’t stop that either. The sound of her sobs was horrific even to her own ears. Not at all Maya. Raw. Unrestrained.
Gorya simply held her tighter, his arms and body surrounding her with a tower of strength, a fortress no one could penetrate. It didn’t seem to matter that she was completely falling apart. She didn’t understand how he could have fallen in love with her when she had so many flaws, but she felt the emotion surrounding her the way she did the security of his body.
After a few minutes of wild crying, some of the things he whispered into her mind began to slip past the wild emotion raging in her.
That’s right, little love, share with me. All of it. We promised to be there for each other. When I need you, you stand for me. When you need me, I’ll always be here. That’s what we said, and we both meant it.
It wasn’t so much that black-velvet voice smoothing the dark edges of pain spreading through her mind, it was the very essence of Gorya’s strength filling the jagged, empty cracks her ugly past had created. He didn’t flinch away from her memories, not one, but then she’d never flinched away from his. She’d accepted everything about him—everything she’d ever glimpsed in his mind.
Why would you think I could ever think less of you? You are courageous and strong. You saw my past, every bit as brutal and ugly as yours, and gave me unconditional acceptance.
His fingers moved on her scalp, a soothing, loving touch she couldn’t help realizing held nothing but care. There was no doubt he felt passion for her or the terrible fire of the Han Vol Dan. It didn’t seem to matter to him. He stayed in control. She had no idea how he managed when she had heard it was impossible for the female or male shifter to control their leopards’ brutal sexual needs, but although Gorya was as hard as she’d ever felt him, he made no move to take advantage of her despite the way her body moved over his.
He rocked her gently, murmuring comfortingly to her, occasionally brushing kisses into the thick mass of her hair at the top of her scalp, waiting patiently for her to calm. Eventually the tearing sobs were reduced to ragged whimpers and then hiccups as she managed to slowly regain a semblance of control.