Page 104 of The Night Prince

“What are you doing?” He sounds exasperated. I can’t tell if he’s speaking to me, or himself.

When he says nothing more, I relax a little. It takes a while before his breathing slows and he falls asleep. I wait a couple more minutes to be sure. I slide from under the bed and stand up.

I wince when the floorboards creak beneath me, but Blake’s eyes remain shut. He twitches, like he’s having a bad dream. One of his arms is flung over his head onto the pillow, and his other shoulder is bound with gauze. My gaze snags on the long scar that curves across his abdomen then disappears under the covers.

A low moan escapes his throat, and I freeze. There’s a wad of parchment sticking out from beneath his pillow.

My pulse thunders in my ears. There’s a slight shake in my hand as I reach for it. He turns his head on the pillow, and warm breath tickles my skin. His dark hair is inches from my knuckles. I start to ease it from beneath him.

Blake’s eyes snap open. The wolf blazes behind them.

I snatch the parchment. He grabs me and rolls me over, so I’m on my back on his mattress with my arms pinned above my head. He straddles my hips. The shadows seem to darken around us.

The part of him coiled around me feels feral, like it did in the chapel A snarl builds in his throat.

“Blake!” I struggle beneath him. “Blake! Stop!”

Chapter Forty-Six

Blake blinks. The wolf disappears from his eyes.

“Oh, it’s you. I thought you would have been sensible enough to leave while I was sleeping.” His grip around my wrists loosens but he doesn’t let me go. “Is there something I can help you with, little rabbit?”

His thighs press against either side of my hips. His scent is everywhere, dark pine and poison. It’s stifling. Words evade me.

He arches an eyebrow. “I’m actually tryingnotto provoke your master right now, believe it or not. It’s not the best time for you to visit me in my bed.”

I roll my eyes. “Get off me. I was... It’s none of your bloody business what I was doing!”

He laughs. “You’re in my room.” I try to clench my fist around the folded parchment without him realizing. I try to nudge him aside. He doesn’t move. His gaze travels slowly from face to my hand. “Oh, I see.”

I shake my head. I stretch my arm as he slides his fingers up it. His touch heats my skin. My knuckles hit the headboard. I try to twist away and knee him in the crotch, but I can’t get out from beneath him. His chest is inches from my face when he looms over me, frees of one of my wrists, and plucks the parchment from my fingers.

He releases my other wrist, then kneels over me. He clucks his tongue. “Naughty little rabbit.”

I get the familiar tingle in my teeth, the urge to bite him. Those pages aremine. Those answers aremine. He doesn’t have the right to take them from me. I’m fed up of letting people take things from me.

Blake tenses. The ridges in his torso become more pronounced. He drops his voice to a whisper. “Whatever you’re thinking of doing, I’d advise against it.”

When we were in the chapel, and his wolf started to surface, I did something to him. I grabbed him through the bond, and I pushed the wolf back. I open the cage that binds my emotions and invite him in.

I feel him everywhere. That thread of him coils around me, and I grab it.

“Aurora. Don’t.”

Instead of pushing him away, I pull. His breath hitches, and it might be the most delicious sound I’ve heard. His eyes become amber and feral. Sweat breaks out on my skin. I feel his wolf, and it’s agitated. It wrestles against my hold.

He falls down and clenches the pillow on either side of my head. He dips his mouth to my ear. “Why would the rabbit provoke the wolf?”

“Because I know you don’t like it.” My voice is strained. I’m losing my grip on him as he battles against me, and the room starts to swim.

His laugh is breathy. “Are you sure about that?”

He stops fighting. Lust surges down the bond, hot and restless.Hunt.The air thickens. He shifts his position on top of me, and nudges my knee with his thigh, spreading my legs. He’s trying to distract me. He wants me to loosen my grip, to let him go, because he’s afraid.

I cry out and I pull harder. His hand flexes by my head and a low groan escapes him. He presses his forehead against mine.

“Aurora. . .”

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