Page 17 of King of Inferno

“Huh?”

“I am part demigod, part something other. I have not figured out what species you are from. You smell familiar, yet I know you are of no kind under our current registry.

“But to be my mate, you must be powerful. I’m so happy I have found you. If they would have taken you from me …”

He closes his eyes and rage fills his features. I turn in his embrace and lift on my toes to try to reach for his face. My fingertips end up sliding across his silky facial hair.

When he opens his eyes, the fire is back. Before I can take a step back, he has me in his arms and his lips crushed against mine. As he lifts me, I lock my legs around him and get lost in his kiss once again.

If at all possible, this kiss is hungrier than the one in the elevator. Bradan claws at my back with one hand and squeezes my ass with the other. That flavor hits my tongue again and my panties flood with my essence.

“Fuck, baby girl, I want you so fucking bad,” he groans into my mouth.

I pull away and look into his eyes. “If I’m yours, can’t you have me?”

His eyes flash between a gorgeous amber color and the bright orange of a fiery flame. So much desire fills his face. I can’t help the shiver that runs through me from the sight.

“There are so many reasons we should wait,” he says, as if in pain.

“Like?”

He releases a throaty laugh. “I will want to seal the bond for one and you seem to know nothing about who or what you are. I also made a promise I should keep. If the gods will let me.”

“There’s someone else,” I murmur, looking down at his chest.

“You are the only one who matters. I will never desire another the way I desire you. Once we seal the bond, the little compassion I have to spare will be gone. I think it kinder for me to do what I must before even that is lost.”

He places me on my feet as my body stiffens. I can’t help wondering if this other woman is more his type. Does he wish she were the one and not me?

“Taylor, the gods made a mate for me that fits me perfectly. I know, in my heart, you are everything I’ve dreamed of. I would strip you bare and fuck you senseless if there weren’t so many unknowns.

“Maybe you should lie down. Take some time to think about what’s happening.”

“I do need to use the bathroom,” I say softly.

“What’s mine is yours. The bathroom is right through there.”

He points at a door on the other side of the room. Turning, I shrug my backpack off and place it at the foot of the bed before heading into the bathroom he points out.

Bradan

My head hurts as I watch her disappear behind the bathroom door. It’s too far away from me. The need to seal the bond is excruciating.

Taylor.

Her name floats through my head like a prayer. As she’s out of my sight, it clicks that Taylor was one of the names the gods gave to Kendrick. I move to her backpack and find her wallet.

Digging inside, I find very little cash and a few cards. Not many. I pull her ID from the leather holder and place it back into the backpack.

The sound of her moving for the door reaches me right as I straighten from placing the backpack where I got it from and slip her ID into the pocket of my cut. The headache lessens as she comes into view. She’s so beautiful.

Seraphina doesn’t hold a candle to my little mate. No one ever could. Her scent alone is driving me crazy.

I should put us both out of our misery and strip her clothes from her to complete the bond. However, I hold myself back. Seraphina will return tomorrow.

I can tell her I’ve found my mate as I promised and then I will take Taylor. By then we will have more information as well. The thoughts make sense in my head, but everything in me wants to say fuck it, then fuck her well into the morning hours.

She comes to me with one of my T-shirts in her hands. The shy woman from the diner has reappeared before me. I have to ball my fists at my sides to keep from reaching out for her.

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