Page 26 of Faeling
“Ravenna,” he breathed. “Mymate.”
7
Ravenna…needed a new strategy. One that got her out from under the purring orc looming over her, his pupils dilated and his expression so hungry he might devour her whole.
Her treacherous body wasn’t opposed to that. Oh, no. If she didn’t keep her limbs clenched close to her chest, she might just let her legs fall open in welcome.
Which wouldn’t do.
Her mind hadn’t quite caught up with the whirlwind of the past ten minutes, but she knew enough to understand that things had taken a dangerous turn—and she needed to get away from him. Before she did something irreversible, like bed him.
Of course, that part of her mind, the rational one with plans of revenge and a will to survive, was fighting an uphill battle against the onslaught of her own lust. Instinct ravaged her, burning its way through her innards to focus in a throbbing ache between her thighs.
Awful and shocking as it might be, herazailooked uponhernow, her true face, and purred. With just one look at her true face, he knew her immediately and took her to his bed. It was inordinately flattering—and distracting.
Beneath her, the delicate membranes of her folded wings began to quiver. The sensation had Ravenna sucking in a quelling breath—wings only vibrated and hummed like that forazai. The harmony was said to be an alluring call to one’s mate, a temptation they couldn’t resist.
Donothum for him, that’ll only make it worse,she scolded herself.
Don’t hum for who?questioned Oberon suspiciously.What’s going on?
We may have a problem…
Through the bond, the unicorn sent the lengthiest, most dramatic sigh that had ever been breathed.Now what?
There wasn’t time to explain, not with her handsome orc leaning down to touch his nose to hers. She’d seen orcs nuzzle before, knew it was a sign of romantic affection. His claiming was sweet, a small combining of their scents, and Ravenna almost let out the little moan of pleasure building in her throat.
Sweet as the gesture was, those predator’s eyes never left her. He seared her with his intensity, that purr almost violent with how hard it shook the both of them.
“What were you doing hiding yourself away?” he demanded, although gently, his voice still that low, coaxing tenor that was made for candlelit nights and warm afterglows.
Ravenna ran her tongue along her lower lip, a movement his eyes tracked from one corner of her mouth to the other.
“It’s been for my safety, nothing more,” she lied.
“You think I cannot keep you safe?” That was a trap if sheever heard one. His hand lowered from her chin to cup the side of her neck, a wholly proprietary hold that sent another throb through her cunt. “No one touches what’s mine.”
“I didn’t say that,” she said carefully. Glorious as he was like this, gaze riveted, chest heaving with purrs, she knew this wasn’t the Vallek she’d come to know. This was someone different, someone far more dangerous to her. Someone she needed to get out from under. “It was to keep me safe from everyone. Especially you.”
A tendon twitched in his neck, and a modicum of clarity began to bleed into his eyes. “You knew?” Without waiting for her answer, his face fell again to hang above hers, their noses just grazing. The heat of his breath seared her lips, and the outer curve of his tusks teased her cheeks. “You would deny me?”
Wetting her lips again, she said, “I had my reasons.”
Vallek rumbled, the sound less pleased than a true purr. “They don’t matter now. I’ve found you,skala. I don’t give up what’s mine.”
He said it more as a threat than anything else, and yet Ravenna’s treacherous body thrilled at his words. Others may have balked at his possessiveness, but all the broken things inside her only wanted to draw closer to him and his claim. To be the obsession, the focus, themateof such a man…
“You may yet,” she whispered. “A mate such as me will only bring you grief.”
One of his heavy brows arched. “Is this one of your visions?”
“No. But a prediction nevertheless.”
“Do you mean to betray me?” Tightening his hold at her neck, he lifted her torso off the bed to press her forehead to his. “Do you mean to stab me in my sleep or poison my wine?”
“No!”
“Then I see no reason why a mate as small and delectable as you should cause me any grief,” he said with an infuriating grin.
