Page 90 of The Mating Quest
She sputtered and laughed. Really laughed only to see him looking stern and irritated. “You think that’sfunny?”
“Yes, it is. Because a year. Well, that’s nothing. Wolf, I haven’t had sex in about 200years.”
Good at hiding his emotion, Ethan still looked a little stunned, then he recovered. “Wow. That’s a longtime.”
“I’llsay.”
“That Dark Fae. He was the last one.” His voice wasgentle.
She shrugged, but he reached over, cupped her chin. “Washe?”
A slight nod. Ethan’s gaze grew stormy as the overhead sky. “I’d kill him if he weren’t alreadydead.”
“Why?” She had to blurt itout.
“He hurtyou.”
The simple answer and the fierce conviction in his deep voice made her heart flutter with joy. No one else had cared how much she’d been damaged. They’d been happy Cormac was gone, but the other Fae hadn’t inquired about what she’d endured. Yet here was Ethan, ready to go charging forward to avengeher.
Ilana hugged her knees. “I suppose… I tried to justify it, not in the magick I received, because that made me seem power-hungry… but deep down… I thought he loved me, in his own way. I was afool.”
His expression tightened. “That’s not love. If someone loves you, they want the best foryou.”
How he knew so much about love, when he was several centuries younger, she did not know. With a start, Ilana realized for all her years of experience, she was quite naïve in the affairs of theheart.
Ethan looked at her. “You aren’t the first person to be fooled by what you deemed love, Ilana. I fell for a beauty, a Lupine who wanted to mate with me in my mother’s pack… until I realized she used me for power. The moment she found out I was a Changeling, her ardor grew cold. In fact, she’s the one who outed me to the alpha and the others. In the end, I had to leave to protect my mother’s position in thepack.”
She placed her hand over his, squeezed it inreassurance.
As the sun sank below the horizon, they stood. Suddenly the skies opened. The rain was gentle at first, splattering on the thirsty sands. He turned to faceher.
“They say it’s a tradition to kiss at sunset,” hemurmured.
Ethan looked down at her, rain clinging to his long dark lashes, slicking his wavy hair. A droplet ran down his cheek, like a tear. She had forgotten how nice it felt to have a man look down at her. Usually all the men she met were shorter. Some felt intimidated by herheight.
She knew he was going to kiss her. She wanted it, needed it, but anxiety overrode those feelings. One kiss would lead to more andthen…
Not sure she was ready for “and then,” Ilana stalled fortime.
“I like the rain, never thought I would, usually the rain is bothersome, you know? It gets everything I own wet andthen…”
Ethan’s heavy-lidded gaze met hers. He cupped her cheek, his palm wet and warm as he slid his hand over her skin. “Ilana. You’rebabbling.”
“I…”
“Stop talking,” hemurmured.
Then his mouth descended on hers. Her eyes closed, and she absorbed the incredible, sensual feeling of him kissing her with slow, lazy grace. Sipping at her mouth, his lips moving over hers in light, expert moves. Ilana surrendered to the feelings and slid her arms around his neck. It didn’t matter he was experienced at seduction and the art of making love. It didn’t matter that she had felt insecure and unsure of what todo.
All that mattered was here and now, the touch of his mouth upon hers, inviting and not pressuring, and the fire he awakened low in her belly. He had ignited a match and she was the flame, burning and needingmore.
When he pulled away, her eyes fluttered. “More,” she saidhoarsely.
Ethan gave a light laugh, but it was not cruel and taunting as Cormac’s had been, rather filled with pure masculine satisfaction. His mouth descended upon hers oncemore.
Rain pattered on their heads, dripping down her neck in rivulets running between her breasts, soaking her shirt. Ilana wrapped her arms around Ethan, not caring about the dampness. Only caring about the warmth of his mouth, his tongue flicking in soft strokes over her lips, cajoling her to open to him. When she sighed and obeyed the unspoken request, he deepened the kiss, delving into the moist cavern of her mouth, seeking and swirling. Lost in sensation, she moaned, tasting him in return, wanting to melt into him as the raindrops melted in the sand below theirfeet.
He kissed her as if it were with his last breath and she supplied the very air he breathed. The wolf kissed with lazy, seductive grace, pausing to nip gently at her lips with his teeth. The brief sting of pain proved intoxicating, not punishing as Cormac’s kisses had felt. Ilana wanted to abandon all sense and rush recklessly forward toward wherever this mightlead.
