Page 50 of The Rebel Seer

So frustrating. “That’s what I’m telling you. I’m ready.”

He actually takes a step back. “No. You’re not. There’s something about this place. I suspect there’s some kind of energy you’re picking up on, and I won’t take your virginity because you’re under a spell. This is one of the reasons I think we should try to get you back. I don’t feel this way in my grandmother’s sithein.”

“How old were you the last time you were in the Seelie sithein?”

He seems to think for a moment. “I was eleven. It was a few months before my parents fell through the painting. I almost was taken to the Unseelie sithein though. A few Unseelie decided to kidnap me. They intended to use magic to force me to do my duties. I felt the tiniest edge of that magic before I was knocked out. It felt a bit like this.”

My heart aches at the thought. He doesn’t talk about that time. He’s referring to the incident that cost Lee his eye. He’s probably afraid, but I worry his fear is going to put us all in a bad situation. “Rhys, are you afraid of sex?”

His eyes roll. “I’m not afraid of sex.”

But it kind of makes sense. All of his life he’s known this is his power. As a kid it was all latent power, but now it’s here and he’s ascended to a place no one thought was possible. “You’ve talked about how hard it was to be in school. How all the teachers wore charms and shields around you and tried to stay away.”

Because being around him was enough to cause women to ovulate and several got pregnant, one after she swore she was in menopause. It must have been isolating to a young child. He couldn’t control it.

“I’m not a child anymore, Shy. I can control it. I can control myself,” he says with grim resolve.

“And if I don’t want you to?”

He shakes his head. “You don’t know what you want. When the time is right, we’ll cement our bond.”

He is so annoying. “So I don’t know what I want and I’m neither smart enough nor strong enough to fight in a war against the man who murdered my entire family.”

“I never said that. I don’t think you should have to.”

“And you get to make all of the rules when it comes to me.”

He stares at me like he knows it’s a trap. He falls in anyway. “I am your commanding officer.”

I lean in so he can’t possibly mistake me. “Then I’ll make it easy for you. I quit. Now you don’t have to worry about me anymore. I’ll fight with Lily and the witches. And you can explain to your sister why her best friend is no longer in her unit. I’m staying with Cassie and you can fuck yourself.”

I turn and start for the door.

I hear him growl behind me, and I wish I could say my heart rate didn’t triple.

This is it. If he finds his control and lets me go, I will hold the line. I will move forward, and it will be without Rhys Donovan-Quinn. I’ll know this is all fear. Know that he picked me because I was out of reach and safe, and now he’s trying to buy himself more time by shoving me in a sithein and going on about his life.

I reach for the door and begin to open it. A hard hand slams the door closed and I feel him behind me.

My spine straightens as he leans in.

“If you think for one second that I will allow you to leave, you don’t know me at all.”

So arrogant. “If you think you control me, you don’t know me.”

I hear him breathing, feel his nose run along the nape of my neck. “I know you. Shy, I am trying to show you that you are not some sort of control mechanism for me. You are precious. You hold my heart.”

“But not your body.”

He groans and his head leans against mine. “You own all of me. Every cell in my body, every spark of magic I have is yours. And Shy, my cock is absolutely yours. Don’t you dare tell me I don’t want you.”

He rubs against me, and I feel the evidence of his desire.

It takes everything I have not to arch my backside into that hard piece of masculinity. I can feel my own magic pulsing inside me.

I didn’t know I had real magic. Not until I stepped onto this plane. It might only ever work here, and I feel drugged by it. I feel powerful and vulnerable all at the same time.

“I want you, too, Rhys.”

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