Page 63 of Lifebound

A hand on my arm. I realized I’d stopped walking.

But how could I just keep going when the woman stopped there next to those men, threw her long white hair behind her shoulders as she spoke, and she seemed pissed off about something.

Anger looked really,reallygood on her. And, fuck, I could have bet you a limb that I was as straight as straight gets until that moment, but this woman…

For her I would probably set the world on fire just to feel those lush, plump, pink lips on my skin. Just for a?—

I was pulled violently to the side until the woman, who’d just now noticed me standing there watching her, was out of my sight. Suddenly Rune came to my other side and blocked my view of her completely.

“Let me just—one second—let me—” I tried to push him to the side so I could see because there was a fire burning in the pit of my stomach, more intense than before, and I really wanted that woman.

I wanted her like I’d never wanted anything in my life.

“It’s just an incubus, Nilah. Control yourself,” Rune said, and then I was being dragged behind a building, but he didn’t stop going until we were at the edge of town and had an open field on the left.

The distance actually worked. I closed my eyes as my mind came back to me, and my cheeks flushed bright scarlet.

Fuck, that was intense. I genuinely was thinking about making out with a woman and wanting to so much it was still hard to breathe.

“What the hell is this place,” I muttered to myself, and it wasn’t a question at all—I was just trying to get control of myself.

“It’s a death trap for mortals like you,” Rune answered me anyway. “There’s magic in the air here and if you give it your attention, itwillconsume you. Do you understand? Your senses are a liability to you right now. Guard them.”

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around my head—too much, too much, this is too much,I chanted, and to my knowledge I only did it inside my head.

But then Rune answered, “It helps if you accept that anything is possible, Wildcat. It won’t be too much then.”

I stopped. Raised my head toward the sky. “How do I do that?”

“It’s simple. Whatever you see, tell yourself that it’s all perfectly normal, that this thing or place or creature has existed here for millions of midnights before you, and they will be here for millions moreafteryou. Just like the sky and the ground beneath our feet.”

Possible.Normal.

Easier said than done—but something he said got my attention, and I eagerly let it. “You saidmidnights.”

He raised a brow. “Yes?”

“Helid saidsummers. Does that meanyearsanddays?”

“Yes. The Seelie Court counts their summers.”

“So…you’renotfrom the Seelie Court.”

“No. There are no Seelie fae with dark hair, Wildcat.”

“Oh.” That wasn’t something I’d heard before. “Does that mean you’re Midnight then?”Because he saida million midnightsso it made sense.

“I used to be,yes.”

Rune turned his head away as if he were looking back where we came from. I’d known this guy for a day, not even close to long enough to understand any of his reactions or expressions, but I was willing to bet anything that right now he was uncomfortable.

Whom did you betray, Rune?

“But now you’re…?”

“Fae. I’m just fae.” This, he said almost forcefully, and his voice dipped in hatred so suddenly. “Do not speak to anyone again. It’s not worth the risk. You cannot fathom what magic is capable of.”

“You don’t have to be an asshole about it,” I said. “I’m just curious. And afraid. And?—”

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