Page 46 of Prisoner of the Lycan Prince

“I want to make you come until you can’t even think about leaving,” he said in my mind. As he continued, his telepathic voice slid between my legs. “I want to bury my cock inside you and make you scream my name until it’s the only word you remember how to say.”

My inner muscles clenched, my body desperate for him to fulfill his promises. But he hadn’t answered my original question.

I drew a deep breath. “Maybe I want that too, but not like this.”

For the briefest moment, something wild and predatory peeked out from his eyes. He blinked, and it was gone, but the intensity of his silver stare was just as potent. “What does that mean?” he rumbled aloud.

“You signed a contract to keep me here against my will. As long as that agreement holds, we’re not equals. If I can’t leave Draithmere whenever I wish, I’m not truly free.”

Gold flickered over his eyes, reminding me that the large, beautiful man wrapped in expensive clothes was not human. He was one of the monsters he’d spoken of—a being mortals were meant to fear.

I waited, my heart in my throat, for Einar’s next move. Maybe I’d ruined everything, destroying the connection between us before it had a chance to fully bloom. But I couldn’t sleep with him if I couldn’t even walk out the door.

“Arlo,” he said quietly. A beat later, the steward entered the dining room. He stopped steps away from Einar, the teasing expression he’d worn earlier replaced with his usual reserve.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Please fetch the contract I signed with Orson Ward.”

“Of course, sir.” In one of his uncanny movements, Arlo reached into the air and produced a bundle of papers.

“Please show Harper her father’s signature on the last page,” Einar said.

I held my breath as Arlo flipped to the final page, then held it out for my inspection. Sure enough, my father’s scribbled signature appeared next to Einar’s.

“Thank you, Arlo,” Einar said softly. Still holding my stare, he extended his hand. Arlo handed him the contract. Einar tore it in half, the rip of the paper almost shocking in the hushed dining room.

My heart raced as Einar tossed the ruined contract onto the table.

“That will be all, Arlo,” he said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, sir.” The steward left, but not before I caught the smile that touched his lips.

When I returned my gaze to Einar, his silver eyes glittered with unconcealed desire. He rested one hand on the arm of his chair, his long fingers curled around the wood. The same fingers that had cradled my ankle as he wrapped my injury. The same fingers he’d thrust inside me while he dabbled his tongue around my clit.

“You’re no longer my prisoner, Harper,” he said. “You can leave whenever you wish.” He swallowed, the bob of his throat betraying his seemingly unflappable authority. “But I hope you’ll stay.”

Desire coursed through my limbs. He waited, the gauntlet cast between us. Now that he’d given me what I wanted, the next move was mine. Did I return to Chicago and put Einar behind me? Or did I accept his invitation and embrace the unknown?

The ruined contract lay on the table. Einar continued to wait, heat flickering in his eyes.

The future was up to me. All I had to do was tell him what I wanted.

“Take me upstairs,” I said. “Do all the things you promised.”

Einar was on me in seconds, pulling me from my chair and swinging me into his arms.

“Arlo will see,” I protested even as I curled my fingers into the sleek material of his suit jacket.

“Discretion is the hallmark of a good steward,” Einar said. “Trust me, Arlo knows when to make himself scarce. We can be as loud as we wish. He won’t hear us.”

Einar carried me to a spacious suite decorated in dark, masculine colors. My heart stuttered as he settled me in the center of a massive canopied bed with a carved headboard. Eyes narrowed to silver slits, he stepped back and began to strip.

My throat went dry as I took in his muscular shoulders, sculpted chest sprinkled with dark blond hair, and taut abs. When he dropped his pants, I sucked in a breath.

He wore no underwear, and his erection sprang long and thick from a tangle of curls a shade darker than his hair. The heavy sack underneath swayed as he kicked his pants aside, his golden body like a sculpture in an art museum. Clearly, the man never indulged in a cheat day. He was way out of my league.

“You’re so fucking beautiful,” he rasped, putting a knee on the bed and moving over me with reverence in his eyes. “I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw you. Did you know that?”

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