Page 33 of Fire Forged

“Right,” she muttered.“So my mother and I don’t get a say?Our opinions don’t matter?”She scrambled to her feet to shove her face into his.“I’m stuck with you?”

“Yes,” he said.

“And when were you going to tell me?”Again, she met his gaze, not backing down.

“The Ethera does not like delays, driving lust through me even as it builds the bond between us.It would have been soon.”He rubbed his jaw.“I cannot harm Lily.”

Britta’s puzzlement knitted her brow.Without thinking, he ran a fingertip over the creases, soothing them.

She swatted his hand away.“Why would Lily get hurt?”

“If you reject me, which is a possibility after what we have been through, I will…” He sucked in a sharp breath.“Die.”

She gaped, closed her mouth, then sank into a comfy.“How?”

“As my Dar Eth, you save me from the emotionless void building in my chest since birth.If you do not stay with me, the Ethera, along with the void, will drive me to sacrifice my life in some sort of battle.”He met her gaze, trying to judge her expressions.Yet failed.“Just tofeelanything.”

“So, each Etterian has a ticking time bomb inside them?”She arched a brow, asking him to confirm she understood correctly.

“Yes, in a way.”

“Just this morning, you and I weren’t sympatico.”She winced, no doubt remembering her accusations.“So why me, Nerx?”

“I do not know.We have no annals that explain the Ethera, how it chooses, or its effects.All I know, when I am not near you, thoughts of you consume me.When I am in your presence, it is like basking in sunlight.”

“But you hate me.”She shook her head, sending her hair swirling around her.“I’ve said that already, and you claim you don’t, but hatred doesn’t just fizzle out.”

“I admit I was angry, yes, but I understand why you attacked me.Your mother is your only blood-bond, yours to guard, as Lily and now you are mine.”

She exhaled, slumping her shoulders.“So, if I buy into this soulmate stuff, what’s next?”

“Dinner,” he said.“Despite everything within me wanting to know you intimately—”

Her eyes widened, and her heartbeat skittered, pounding loud enough that he need not sharpen his hearing to listen.

“We take it slow.”He grimaced.Already, the Ethera demanded he claim her.The only times it hadn’t was when she’d cupped his jaw or poked his chest.“If you touch me often, I can resist the compulsion despite the pain.”

“Pain?”she yelped.“Aldur—”

“Should be suffering too.There is no cure, only consummation can ‘heal’ me.”

“Sex?”She laughed, her expression incredulous.“Talk about the worst pick-up line I’ve heard.Fuck me so I don’t die?”

He growled.Not needing her to add dirty talk and its imagery to his already strained control.He strode toward her.She inclined back, squaring her shoulders but meeting his gaze.Leaning over her to bring his face inches from hers, he gripped the comfy’s armrests, sliding his thumbs between her thighs and the upholstery.

“I have had visions of your body,” he glanced down, lingering on the curve of her breasts, “beneath me.Here, now, it is taking every ounce of my strength not to kiss you again.”

Her lips parted, her cheeks glowed peach, then her gaze shifted to his mouth.

“Britta,” he warned.

She cleared her throat.“Yes, dinner sounds good.”

When she cupped his hands, his world tilted.Peace descended, the agony faded, but lust weakened his knees.

“Is that helping?”she asked, her expression innocent.

When he didn’t respond, his tongue tied, she slid her soft fingers along his forearms.It was as if she ran Eiltur fur over his skin.

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