Page 18 of Dark Fire Kiss

Fergus looked at me. “You’ll have the tears, lass. We’ll send a messenger to Krovnosta this night.”

Shock coursed through me, followed by swift relief. “Thank you.” They were really going to let me go?

My stomach chose that moment to release a growl so loud it seemed to shake the bed.

I slapped a hand over my midsection as my cheeks heated. “Sorry. With everything that happened tonight, I missed dinner.”

“No’ to worry,” Fergus said. “I’ll bring you something as soon as you’re settled in your room.”

My relief evaporated. “But you said you’d give me the tears.”

“We’ll send a vial to Krovnosta. But you’re staying here.”

No. Protests welled up, overpowering my fear. “You can’t keep me here against my will. There’s a treaty.”

His lips curved in a smile that couldn’t be mistaken for anything but pure triumph. “Aye, there is. It prevents our kind from kidnapping females or using magic to lure them to us. It says nothing about taking females who seek us out.”

My throat went dry as the little flames flared to life in his eyes once more.

“And you most definitely sought us, Halina. So we’ll be keeping you.”

Chapter Seven

BRAM

Seventy-two hours of hell.

That was the most apt description for the past three days—and I’d felt every second.

More accurately, my cock had felt every second. Scowling, I adjusted myself while I shut off the TV in my suite and tossed the remote aside. Two hundred channels and nothing to watch. Not that anything the humans dreamed up could entertain me. The current object of my fantasies was in the suite next to mine—and completely uninterested in being anything other than a “house guest.”

Halina had been docile enough when Fergus showed her to her room. But she’d been stubborn as a mule about leaving it.

“Let me handle her,” Fergus had said in Gaelic that first night, when she told us she’d be killed if she returned to Ludovic’s territory without the tears. “She’s frightened and probably overwhelmed at the thought of having two mates. Divide and conquer, hmm?”

His plan had seemed wise in the moment—especially with my beast so close to the surface. “CLAIM,” it had roared, impatient to protect her. The urge had been so overwhelming, and the beast’s wishes so acute, I’d struggled to stay in human form. Fearful of losing control and terrifying her further, I’d let Fergus take the lead.

But as the nights wore on and she insisted on staying in her room—alone—my beast grew restless.

It didn’t help that her scent tormented me every time I drew a breath.

I did so now, letting her essence fill my lungs. Instantly, my cock tightened to the point of pain.

Incense and honeysuckle. Sharp and sweet. A fitting contrast for a creature who seemed to straddle two worlds. “Seemed to” was the only way to put it. Because I knew next to nothing about my new mate. Halina of Krovnosta was in my home and my mind, but I needed her in my bed.

Under me. Crying out my name.

And with each passing day, my beast fought the metaphysical bonds I imposed on it.

I ran the heel of my hand over my erection. Something had to give or I was going to—

A shadow passed over the window, followed by a loud whir of air resembling a helicopter rotor.

But it was nothing of the sort.

I stood and went to the window just in time to see Fergus swoop and drag a talon over the surface of the loch. Water sprayed, reflecting the light of the setting sun.

“Show off,” I muttered.

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