Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115347 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 577(@200wpm)___ 461(@250wpm)___ 384(@300wpm)
The sounds she makes... Breathy groans, deep moans and insistent cries. Sometimes she even issued commands.
“More! Harder! Micah,” she gasped out between panting breaths. She gripped his wrist with one hand and used the other to move his fingers where she desired them most. Her spine arched, her breasts thrusting up. Another cry parted her lips. “I’m so close. So close. I need...need so badly...need you...need.”
The things she says... The way she takes what she wants...
Will give her anything. Everything.
He ripped at the buttons on his leathers and experienced an easing, but only for the briefest reprieve. His control frayed further.
Moaning, she gripped his length and Micah nearly humiliated himself then and there. The sudden, searing skin-to-skin contact wrenched a roar straight out of his deepest depths. A sound he’d never made.
A sound he shouldn’t be making now. Not with her. His greatest betrayer.
He froze. Her eyelids popped open as she gasped. They stared at each other, silent and searching. Hot desire radiated from her—at first. The more she panted, the calmer she became.
Did she think he intended to force her to continue?
Micah released her as if she were toxic and shot to his feet. She scrambled to hers, and they faced off again, minus the contact. Her panic thinned and faded, anger taking its place. The urge to snatch her back bombarded him. But he knew better. He’d been a fool to touch her in the first place.
He tried to calm his breathing, inwardly commanding his brain function to return to normal. Common sense hesitated but ultimately obeyed, Vee’s plan so much clearer—and far more diabolical than he’d realized. She’d intended to work him up, leave him frustrated and keep him distracted. And he’d let it happen. At least she’d gotten lost in pleasure, too. They could regret it together.
“Well? Why’d you stop?” she demanded.
Wait. What? He raked his gaze over her naked form; there was no stopping the action. Her hair was lightening and curling as it dried, the strands returning to a rich scarlet. Plump breasts with gorgeous crests. More scarlet at the apex of her thighs...
He licked his lips, ravenous.
Disgusted with himself, needing to put an end to this attraction, he ripped off his tunic and yanked at his pants, stripping fully. Revealing the maze of scars from his collar bones to his calves he’d sometimes attempted to hide with tattoos. But tattoos never lasted more than a few days for chimeras. Now, jagged pink lines connected one after the other, every mark a shame he must eternally bear. Reminders that he’d failed his guardian, that he had nothing and no one of his own, forever isolated from those around him. That even at birth he’d been unwanted. Singular. Set apart. Cursed.
“Go ahead. Have a good look at what your precious children did to me.” He spread his arms, puffed his chest in a mimic of pride and stepped toward her, as unabashed as she was. A single step, no more, but she stumbled back as if he’d rushed at her. “I spent weeks caring for you. Not once did I harm you. Yet you drove your belua to attack me.”
He turned away from her then and dived in the water. If she ran, she ran. He would catch her as promised, then flitter them both home. No, not home, but the campground. He would imprison her as planned and end this. Prolonging it had done him no favors.
Motions jerky, he scrubbed himself from head to toe, keeping his prisoner—the traitor—in his periphery. Yes, he would get rid of Vee as soon as he finished here. But why hadn’t she bolted for the woods? Why was she standing so still, gaping at him?
He shot his gaze at her—and his jaw went slack. She...she was toying with the ends of her hair and she...she leered at him.
* * *
THERE ARE MUSCLES, and then there is strength. Micah had both, and Viori couldn’t tear her gaze away from him. How utterly delicious he was. More than she’d ever dreamed possible. The pain he had overcome. The evidence stamped into his flesh, there for all to see. And see she did. A visual buffet.
She licked her lips and traced the metal collar locked around her neck as she imagined tracing every raised mark on his body with her tongue. Had there ever been a more perfect male? Oh, to get her hands all over that... She should have done it while she’d had the chance!
Why, why, why had she allowed fear to swamp her, ending the sublime pleasure before they reached the end? She’d allowed him to leave her aching and wanting and needing and—
No. Nope. Not needing. And what was she even doing right now? She shouldn’t admire him. Not in any way, shape or very sculpted form. He plotted to destroy her and everyone she held dear. She wasn’t foolish enough to truly enjoy herself with him. Pretend to do so, yes. But do so, no.