“Do what?” His voice is cautious.
“Break your collar.” My gaze falls to where a thin scar wraps around his neck.
“You mean how did you race across the arena, almost teleporting to me, before uniting your energy with mine so I could draw on our combined forces and get the bastard?”
“Is that what happened?” I frown.
“You know it is. You are denying what you did back there,” he says on an exhale.
The breath sears the skin of my cheek.
“I don’t know what took place. I don’t understand why I am feeling like this…”
“Like what?” He cants his head.
His biceps twitch as if he wants to reach for me but is stopping himself. He’s planked over me. Holding up his weight on his arms and balancing himself on his toes. Even wounded and half recovered he’s more lethal than anyone I’ve ever met. “Now you are the one talking in riddles.”
I flick out my tongue to lick my lips.
His gaze falls to my mouth.
“Oh no, you don’t.” I press my body into the mattress, and that only sets off another tingling through my body. The brush of the sheets against my back is almost too much to bear. Every pore in my body seems to be sensitized, and I cannot understand why.
“You’re fighting what is between us.” A muscle flexes above his cheekbone.
I watch it, unable to tear my eyes away from it. A tendril of sweat trickles down his throat. It slithers down that valley between his pecs.
That’s when I realize he is naked. And so am I.
38
Dante
Awareness flares in her eyes. Those silver irises go impossibly liquid. Her pupils darken. Her gaze sweeps over my chest, farther below to where I am already semi-erect. Blood rushes to my groin. I know I am hardening right in front of her eyes. Yeah, that’s the kind of male I am. I brought her here to heal her, yet I can’t seem to keep myself from wanting to touch her, to be close to her. To look into her eyes and see my own desire reflected in them. To feel my body as it reacts to her nearness. It’s a special kind of hell. Being so close to her yet not allowing myself to touch her.
Her breathing grows shallow; her breasts tremble. I don’t need to look at the swollen flesh to know that her nipples are sharp enough to cut me if I lower my chest and crush them against my planes. Just the thought of holding her, licking her, sucking her sets off a fire deep inside. But I cannot, will not, let myself have her, not yet.
I may be selfish enough to want her only for myself, but even I know it’s important to face the one thing that shimmers between us. “You are changing, Gia.”
Her lips thin, then a low chuckle bleeds out of her. “That’s an understatement.” Her shoulders tremble. She squeezes her palms at her sides. Fear rolls off her.
My heart squeezes. The mating cord bunches in my chest, sending a pulse of fear racing down my spine. I push away from the bed, then rise to my feet.
She watches me from under hooded eyelids.
I hold out my hand.
She firms her lips.
I jerk my head at her, urging her with my gaze. Something tells me now is not the time to speak. If I do, I’ll destroy the semblance of calm she seems to have wrapped around herself.
She sits up and places her hand in mine. Thank fuck. I wrap my fingers around her delicate wrist. Then tug.
She follows my direction and swings her legs over. Her knees buckle, then she catches herself.
I release the breath I’d not been aware I was holding.
I walk across the floor of my bedroom to the mirror that is propped up against one corner of the wall.
She follows me, her body rigid. Her shoulders are stiff, her muscles coiled. I run my thumb over the delicate skin of her wrist where her pulse thuds.
Her breath catches, and I can’t stop the flare of heat that coils in my gut. How can I want her so much, even now, when she is vulnerable and hurting? When she is so open that I can feel every single emotion that rolls through her, cutting her, as if it were my wounds that were open? My heart that hurts, that beats for her. My skin that trembles with the need to wrap my body around her and protect her. Forever.
Stopping in front of the mirror, I fold my other palm around her hand, dwarfing her little one between both of mine.
I tug, exerting just enough pressure to pull her in front of me. Her gaze skitters to the side.
“Look at us, Gia. Look at what you are. What we are…” I can’t bring myself to say anything more.
She shakes her head. “Some things are better seen, better experienced than spoken about.” Her chin wobbles. Tears streak her cheek.
Then she angles her face toward the mirror. In the reflection, her eyes meet mine. Her gaze widens, and she swallows hard.
“What do you see?”
“You, I see you,” she whispers.
A fierce surge of satisfaction fills my chest. The mating bond throbs. I drop my grip on her hand, only to prop my hands on her waist.
She shudders but doesn’t break our connection in the mirror.
“What else?” I bend down so my face is next to hers. My cheek grazes her skin.
Her throat moves as she swallows.
“Tell me, Starlight.” I want to move in and surround her with my body, but something still holds me back. I need her to acknowledge what she sees, what she is becoming. It’s important that she knows how it will be between us…should she choose to take this last step.
She raises her eyes and runs her gaze over her reflection. The hook of her nose, the pink bow of her lips, the soft skin that stretches over high cheekbones. The arch of her ears that end in tapered points.
She gulps. Her gaze is fixated by that change. “What am I transforming into?”
“The most beautiful Fae female I have ever seen.”
“H…how?” She reaches a hand up then hesitates.
I coil my fingers around her wrist then bring it up to her ear. She runs her palm over the delicate shell-like shape.
“It’s still me.” She gnaws on her lower lip
“And more.” I cup her cheek.
“Meaning?”
“It’s the physical manifestation of our mating.” I choose my words slowly, knowing it’s important she understands what I am going to say.
“So our essences combined, when…”
“When you reached out to me through the mating bond and your energy filled me.”
She opens her mouth to speak, and I place my fingers over her lips. “You gave me the impetus to harness our joined-up energies and use it to overpower him.”
“No.” Her breath is hot against my skin.
My groin tightens. My leg muscles go solid.
“Yes.” Everything in me wants to throw her down on the floor and claim her. Tell the world that she is mine…only mine. I step back from her. “You completed the mating bond when you shared your essence with me. You saved my life, gave me the will to fight, to live.”
She wrings her hands together in front of her. “So this is how I will be for the rest of my life?” She tips her head to the side.
“It’s not that bad.” I twist my lips. “There are fringe benefits to being Fae.”
“Like?”
“Energy levels for one. You won’t stay tired for very long; you’ll recuperate fast after…” I pause. “After any physical activity.”