Binding Ties

Page 24

She tried to shove all thoughts of him aside and focus on her task. The water rippled under the light. A wooden pole several yards out rose from the surface about six feet. The top of it was charred black and splintered.
“See if you can hit it,” he said.
“With what?”
“Fire. Force. Air. Electricity.” She felt him shrug, and the power of that move rocked her body. “Whatever floats your boat.”
She narrowed her gaze at the post, concentrating on it. She imagined it exploding into a million splinters. She held her breath and tried to make her vision a reality, but the post didn’t so much as vibrate.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. There was a smug satisfaction in his tone—a kind of I told you so vibe.
“Nothing’s happening.”
“Do you even know how to access my power?” he asked.
“I’ve seen the other women do it. How hard can it be?”
“Apparently too hard for you to accomplish.”
She whirled on him, irritation spurring her movement. “Look, Theronai. If you’re doing some kind of magical cock blocking, we’ve got a problem.” There was something else she’d meant to say, but as she realized that she was inside his arms, practically in his embrace, all the words fell from her head.
He stared down at her—no small feat considering her height. His eyes were darker than usual, his focus gliding over her face in equal parts wonder and need. “I still can’t believe you’re mine.”
His thumb caressed her cheek with such tenderness, she felt her body relaxing. She may not know much about this man, but she’d seen him with the human children he protected. He was gentle, loving, even playful.
His kind had been her enemy for so long, she hadn’t stopped to question whether all Theronai were the monsters her stepfather claimed them to be.
She swallowed to dislodge the lump of unwanted emotion wedged in her throat. “Don’t go getting any crazy ideas, Theronai. This is a business relationship. You get to live, and I get access to your magic. Your pain ends and so does my imprisonment. Nothing more.”
“You say that only because you don’t know how our kind works. It’s going to be my pleasure to teach you, kitten.” He took her shoulders in his hands and turned her back around to face the lake. “Lesson one: tap into my power.”
She was far too close to him. Her back was plastered against his chest. One of his thick arms wrapped around her waist to hold her in place. He wasn’t squeezing her too tight, but she still had trouble drawing a full breath.
His mouth was right beside her ear, his voice a dark whisper of sound. “Close your eyes, Lyka.”
She didn’t want to. She knew that if she did, it was going to heighten her other senses. She would feel him more keenly, smell his skin and hear his voice, his breathing.
“You have to learn to trust me if you want this to work,” he said.
How could she trust him? He’d been her enemy until recently.
Hadn’t he?
“I’ll give you what you want: power, freedom. All you have to do is trust me.”
What choice did she have? Eric and the young were in danger. They needed her to dig deep and find a way to do the impossible.
“Just close your eyes. Let yourself feel the connection running between us.”
Her eyelids fell shut, and instantly she could smell him. Delicious. Intoxicating. Lickable.
A soft groan rose from her, surprising her.
“That’s it,” he whispered. “Just like that.”
Tension ran through his limbs, as if he was struggling not to hold her tighter. Hard muscles bunched in his chest, teasing her back with a tactile treat. She’d seen him without his shirt before, but she wished now that she could feel that bare skin under her fingertips. And her lips.
No. She was not going to let herself get sucked in by hormonal urges, no matter how close it was to a full moon. This was a business arrangement. Nothing more.
“Do you feel the luceria round your throat?” he asked.
“Yes.” How could she not? It vibrated against her skin, humming with the promise of power.
“The ring on my finger was once a part of that band. They’re inextricably bound, just as we now are.”
She wanted to disagree with that claim, but knew it was a waste of words. She’d put herself in this position. She’d agreed to the terms of their arrangement. She now had to live with her decision.
“The energy stored inside me will flow from my ring into your necklace. It will gather in you for whatever purpose you demand of it. You must give it shape, define it. Force it to do your will.”
That she could do.
She focused on the luceria, trying to sense the connection he spoke of. While she could feel the warm metal and its pleasant hum, there was nothing else there. “Are you trying to stop me so I won’t leave?” she asked.
“No. I want you to take my power into your body. I crave it.”
Because she was touching him, she could sense another layer of want and craving coming from him. Dark, primal, sexual. His power was not the only part of him he wanted her to take inside her body.
He wanted to fuck her, fill her.
She jerked away from him, rocked to her foundation. Feeling his desire had heightened her own, making her think of things she had no business thinking. “I won’t sleep with you, Theronai. Get that thought out of your head right now.”
Instead of looking ashamed, he grinned. “You can sense my thoughts so soon? I never thought you’d trust me like that so quickly.”
“I don’t trust anything except that you want to bone me.”
He frowned. “You seemed so certain, as if you knew what was in my head.”
“Don’t go getting the wrong idea. What I read coming from you was nothing special. I always know what people want.”
Joseph grinned like he was trying to hold back a laugh.
“What?” she asked.
“It’s just that I would have thought your gift would have been something a little more . . . violent. Instead, you’re the perfect diplomat.”
A surge of rage took over. The next thing she knew, she’d swept his legs out from under him and had him pinned to the ground. She was straddling his abdomen, her hand around his throat. “You take that back.”
His grin was still in place. Her sending him to the ground did nothing to change that. “Make me.”