Page 82 of Untamed

“You should be,” I rasp, my voice rough with everything I’m trying not to feel.

“Why?”

“You saw what I did tonight,” I say, low and hoarse. “And that... that was me holding back. That was control.”

Her quivering breath stirs the space between us.

“You don’t want to see what I become when something I care about is threatened.”

Her hands slide up my chest to my neck, palms splaying over the muscle like she’s trying to feel the chaos burning beneath my skin. Her touch isn’t tentative anymore, it’s reverent, grounding. Like she’s trying to memorise me.

I’m not sure I’ve ever been touched like this. Not like I’m somethingworthtouching.

And then she lifts her face to mine.

So close her lips brush the corner of my mouth when she speaks.

“Is that what I am?” she whispers. “Something you care about?”

I don’t answer.

I don’t have to.

She sees it. Feels it.

Her hand finds its way back to my chest, palm flat over my heart like she can feel storm there and is trying to calm it. I’m not sure if she knows she’s touching me, or if it’s just instinct.

Her other hand rises slowly to my jaw, fingertips brushing the edge of my beard. I go still. So still it feels like the whole damn world has paused for her.

I suck in a sharp breath. My hands twitch at my sides, aching to grab her, anchor her, claim her.

She presses in, closer than we’ve ever been. Her chest against mine. Her breath mixing with mine. Her lips, barely,barely, ghosting over mine in the space between us.

Her hands slide up to my shoulders, then back to the back of my neck, her fingertips threading through my hair. She’s coaxing me to close the distance. Daring me to give in and kiss her.

But I can’t.

I pull back, just enough to meet her eyes.

“Jordyn,” I whisper, broken.

She searches my face. “Why are you fighting this?” Her voice is barely audible, a heartbeat of sound between us.

“You want this,” she says. “I can feel it. You want me.”

“Wanting and being worthy are two very different things, Jordyn,” I choke. “A man like me could never be worthy of a girl like you.”

Her brows pull in, lips parting to speak but I don’t give her the chance. “I’ll ruin you. The darkness in me will taint you, bambina,” I say, voice low, fractured. “It’llconsumeyou, bleed out every bit of good you have in you.”

Her hands slide down to my chest again, her palms flat over my heart.

“Meriti di essere amata nella luce, non posseduta nell'ombra, bambina.”

You deserve to be worshipped in the light, not possessed in the shadows, bambina.

Her palms are still pressed to my chest, her touch burning through every wall I’ve built. She looks up at me with a kind of trust I don’t know how to hold, like she’s placing something sacred in my hands and hoping I won’t break it.

“Then let me beyourlight, Ares.” she whispers, her nose brushing over mine. “Even if it’s for this moment only.”

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