Page 104 of Stalk the Dark
“The part that is ego and nothing more. Primal ego, and it has your scent now. You need to stay away from me. Keep a distance, just to be safe.”
“I’m not planning on hanging out with you on a full moon, so why does it matter?”
He closed his eyes as if this whole conversation pained him. “It matters. It matters more than you know. Please. Do this for me.”
My heart sank into my boots. “So no more hugs?” Why did I say that?
His throat bobbed, and he exhaled. “No. No more hugs.” He reached out to caress my cheek. “Not that I don’t want to. The problem is that I want to…too much.”
I leaned into his caress for a moment, eyes fluttering closed as a weight settled on my chest. No more contact. No more hugs. No more Ordell. Why did that hurt more than the fucking bite had?
If I was free to be with him, to be with anyone fully, then I might have pushed him to reconsider and find a way for us to be together, but I wasn’t free, and he knew his beast better than I did.
I had to respect his wishes. “Okay. I’ll keep my distance.” He dropped his hand, shoulders sagging as I backed out of his room. “See you for supper?”
“Yes. For supper.” He closed the door, and I locked away my bourgeoning feelings for him.
This was for the best.
The dining roomwas lit up brightly, servers moving up and down the table adding silver platters and domed dishes to the offerings. The delicious smells made my mouth water. Haiden would be impressed.
Ingrid popped in a couple of times to inspect the table, but a thin man with a rod-like posture by the name of Timothy presided over us, checking if we had everything we needed. My gaze tripped to Ezekiel’s seat at the head of the table, but it remained empty throughout.
I was grateful for the bustle, though; otherwise, it would have been a quiet meal, what with Hemlock and Ordell lost in introspection.
Damn, I missed the chapter house. At least I got to hang out with my team during the day.
I escaped back to my room as soon as I could, checked the salt lines, grabbed a book, and crawled into bed.
I must have fallen asleep reading because I woke sometime later to moonlight and a shadow hovering over me.
I tensed as cool fingers soothed my brow. “It’s all right, Miss Lighthart. It’s only me.”
Ezekiel…Ezekiel was lying in bed with me? “What are you doing?”
“Watching you sleep.”
“You do realize how creepy that is, right?”
Part of me recognized that my lack of alarm wasalarming, but the other part, the part that was still drifting in that warm fuzzy place between wakefulness and sleep, didn’t care.
“Have you missed me?” he asked.
“Like a hole in the head.” The leap in my blood belied my words.
He chuckled softly, leaning in so that moonlight ran its slivery fingers across his features, tipping the chiseled planes in silver and softening the shadows. “I’m hungry.”
“I’m sure there’s something tasty in the kitchens.”
Rivers of crimson bloomed in his irises. “You know what I want.” He caressed my throat, thumb sliding over my jugular, and the air was suddenly too thin. “I can take it from here or…” He slid his hand down my body, slow and teasing, and stopped between my breast, splaying his fingers to graze my pebbled nipples. I bit back a moan and he chuckled, low and sexy, before continuing his journey down my abdomen over my pubic bone to cup my pussy through my sleep shorts. My hips bucked involuntarily. “I can take it from here.” He pressed his fingers against me, putting pressure on my clit. “But Iwilltake from you tonight.”
My body was on fire with need, the bundle of nerves beneath his palm throbbing with a sweet ache begging to be touched.
Yes, my fucking body hated me, but my mind was sharp, so I focused on my words andmy intentions. “No. You can’t have me. That is not our deal or our dynamic.”
“I can force you. I can make you give me what I want.”
“You promised sanctuary.”
