Here stands a beast who will let the entire Vale go to rot for the sake of his own selfish heart.
My eyes shoot open, a gasp upon my lips. The fire has simmered to embers, and moonlight still dances on the mouth of the cave. Stars flicker in the night sky.
Cold shivers over my body, my blanket partly fallen away, but a hand grips tightly around my waist. Consciousness returns as I feel the contour of a shape against my back. A shape not of a wolf.
But of a man.
56
Rosalina
Thereareatleastfour things fighting in my brain, causing me to go into an absolute panic. It’s taking everything in me to stay still.
One, Keldarion is very clearly a man. Like super fucking clearly a man, even though it’s still night out. It’s not the full moon. This shouldn’t be possible.How is this happening?
Two, I’m naked. Stupid idiot that I am for falling asleep in only the blanket before I could change into Ezryn’s spare clothes. This wouldn’t be such a big deal except—
Three, the fae prince is also butt-ass naked, as he’s holding me so tight, it’s hard to breathe. I fell asleep next to a wolf! A wolf! This is very, very different.
I mentally catalog every place his body touches mine. His arm is snaked around my waist, holding me tight against his muscular chest. His other arm has created a pillow for my head, his hand dangling near my breast. He’s not exactly groping me, but if I moved a little, he definitely could be.
Again, all of this is comprehendible. But what’s sending me into an absolute tizzy right now is how our legs are tangled together. My hips seem to mold perfectly into his, and his erect cock presses against my ass.
And four, the absolute worst thing is how I don’t want to breathe. I don’t want to move. His head is bent, curling into my hair, and I can feel the soft steadiness of his breath, the beat of his heart. I don’t want to wake him, because I have never felt this good in my entire life. I want to be pressed this close to him forever. No, that’s not true. I want to be closer…
Delicious heat flutters through me and my muscles tighten. Wetness pools between my legs. Fuck, I bet he could slip right in, no problem. Well, maybe. It feels monstrous.
The idea sends a skittering of sensation through my body. My hips involuntarily rock back against him. A low rumble sounds from his chest, and he shifts.
I was wrong that he couldn’t hold me any tighter. His upper arm glides across my breast, and the other tugs me in a steel embrace. His hips pitch up to meet mine, cock sliding across my ass.
“Kel.” His name slips out of my mouth, part moan, part plea.
And I know the precise moment he wakes up. His hold on me slackens, and there’s the sharp intake of air.
Then he’s moving, and the shock of his body away from mine is painful. He braces his arms on either side of my head, looking from the sparkling night sky to his bare chest to me sprawled on the ground below him.
We’re staring at each other. I am becoming his. I feel no embarrassment in my nudity, just a powerful connection between us that transcends any physical sensation. A spread of light blossoms over me with each stroke of his eyes, like every part of me was made to be seen by him.
And as he’s looking at me, I’m looking at him. The wide breadth of his shoulders, the hair sprinkled across his chest, the perfect straight line of his nose, and the dark brows that shield those ice chip eyes. Wounds still mar his flesh, as they did the wolf, but they don’t seem dire. There’s a softness in his expression I’ve never seen before, like his frost has… melted away.
“Kel,” I whisper because it’s the only word in existence. The only word my being is capable of comprehending. As I trace the contours of his face with the tips of my fingers, a surprised sound rumbles in the back of his throat. He clasps my arm, holding me there. His lips tilt to kiss my palm.
The world seems to fade in and out with the beat of our hearts, and I see on my right wrist the band of snowflakes and ice, the bargain tying me to him. To this place. There’s a mirror of it on his arm. But there’s something above it, another mark on his wrist. It bleeds to life in stark focus before my eyes, a twisted black line with sharp dark thorns…
Another bargain?
“Rosalina.” His voice is low and deep and sends a thrill through my body. I shudder and writhe against the mounds of soft blankets beneath me. I need more than his mouth on my hand.
“How are you like this?” I trace my fingertips over his chest, feeling the delicate strands of hair and taut muscles beneath.
His long lashes flutter, and he fixes me with a gaze full of desire.
“Kel, do you know?”
Suddenly, he pushes himself up and stumbles away from me. A look of pained agony flashes across his face before the harsh crackle of magic fills the cave and he doubles over. Frost covers his body as the fur and spikes of the white wolf appear.
I gasp, cold swirling around the cavern. I pull the blanket back around me. “Kel!”