Текст книги "Eternal Temptation"

Автор книги: T. A. Grey

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Текущая страница: 8 (всего у книги 9 страниц)

Chapter 13

“Tell us everything that happened,” Sarina said.

Cassie took a deep breath that did nothing to steady her or her wobbly head, and told them everything.

Alison was biting off her fingernails by time she finished and Sarina had grumpily chugged her glass of milk. Vera frowned though, shaking her head.

“My brother’s always been stubborn. I don’t know what it’ll take to make him realize that he does care for you.”

Cassie scoffed. “He doesn’t care. The only thing he cares about with me is that his ‘seed is in my belly’. I never should have had sex with him. Then at least he couldn’t use that as some kind of lame excuse.”

“He’d probably just find some other excuse to use as a crutch,” Sarina said.

“Maybe I should go talk to him,” Vera said thoughtfully. Her words were slurred from the amount of hard lemonades she’d drunk.

“Don’t.” Cassie shook her head and the room spun a few extra times with the motion. “I heard your brothers going at him before I got there. Looks like they already had the convo with him. Didn’t make a lick of difference. He doesn’t love me. He doesn’t want me. But I love him.” She said that last with such ferocity that the girls all quieted.

“He’ll come around,” Sarina said stoutly. The others didn’t look so hopeful.

“Hey guys, what does ‘lumara’ mean?”

Everyone looked turned to look at her with openmouthed astonishment?

“Did he call you that?” Vera asked with a big grin.

“Well yes, today when we were in the shower. He was still pretty tired. He’d just woken up, but I’ve never heard that word before.”

The Kategan women turned to grin at each other before turning back to Cassie. “It means truemate or bondmate. That’s a special term we use with some we really love, usually our mate,” Alison explained.

Wow. Cassie’s heart leapt at the news. The fact that he called her this didn’t make her feel better though, it made her feel worse. This only gave her more questions. Did he only say it because he was half-asleep? Did he actually mean it? Maybe some part of him did recognize the connection between them like she did.

Cassie wanted to curl up and cry herself to sleep. Her heart was breaking in her chest and the alcohol was only making the pain more depressing. He didn’t love her. He didn’t even want her. He only cared about making sure she wasn’t pregnant. He’d protect her long enough for that, and then go back to brooding in his stupid little cabin.

Cassie perked up at the thought of burning it down. But he’d built it with his own two hands, he’d just build another. If her declaration of love wasn’t enough to turn him around, then nothing she could do work. The thought was like a blow to the heart.

“I’m gonna go use the bathroom,” Cassie mumbled and came to a shaky stand. The room teetered around her and she grabbed onto the back of a chair to steady herself.

“Careful now. When you get back, we’ll trash the male species and make a list of better, hotter guys we can totally set you up with,” Alison chimed.

The girl’s applauded the idea while she escaped to the bathroom. She tossed the lock on the door and went to the sink to toss some cold water on her face. The water felt frigid against her hot cheeks. She blotted her face dry with a hand towel but couldn’t do anything to staunch the flow of fresh tears running down her cheeks.

She glanced out the bathroom window. The drop to the ground was probably about twenty feet. The distance to the forest was about fifty yards. Even now she could see a sentry guard walking along that area.

Her gut clenched with fear and anxiety. She grabbed her stomach. Or maybe she was just going to hurl?

No, she hadn’t drank that much. Okay, maybe she did. She sniffled and went back to the faucet, turning on the water. She checked to make sure it was clear out the window, then she unlocked it and slowly lifted it.

The window made an awful squeak and she winced, pausing. When no one came banging on the door, she lifted it all the way. She glanced down at the drop and swallowed hard. Tossing first one leg out the window, then the other, she took a seat in the window, then jumped down.

The fall went by quickly. Now her heart was pounding hard and fast and loud in her ears. She looked left and right, then focused on the sentry. Using her vampiric speed, she raced across the field to the sentry and tackled him straight to the ground. He moved to attack her, and she stifled her surprise. Well of course he was going to fight her back!

She had no clue how to actually fight a trained warrior like this. Quickly, locking her arms and legs around his big body she looked into his eyes and quickly said, “Please don’t tell anyone. I just want to go. Darien can’t know. Please.” The sentry stopped what was probably going to be a painful attack and relaxed against her.

He looked from her, back to the window that was still open. What seemed like forever later, he finally shook his head and said, “Go but I make no promise. My loyalty is to the Kategans. The first thing I will do is tell Vane. If you want to leave then I suggest you hurry.”

Instead of feeling a burst of happiness at her freedom, she felt overwhelming sadness. She nodded her thanks to the guard and sprinted into the forest.

It was dark and her vision wasn’t the greatest at night. That coupled with the amount of alcohol she’d drank, and she’d pounded them back, had her tripping over tree limbs and her own damned feet.

She kept looking back over her shoulder, panic making her think that at any second she’d see the big lykaen barreling after her. Her heart was tightened with pain, and tears fell faster the further she got from the cabin, from Darien. Soon the tears were cascading down her face.

She tripped over a fallen tree and went flying through the air. Her stomach bottomed out from her like she was falling on a roller coaster. She skidded against the dirt with her landing, scraping her cheek, hands, and legs against the wet dirt floor.

She started to lift herself back up, but collapsed back down with bone-numbing exhaustion. She was pathetic, a miserable weak woman that couldn’t even run.

She smelled him first. Her heart stuttered in her chest and the tears flowed faster.

A big hand grabbed her shoulder and turned her over. His smile was cruel and very happy.

“I told you, I’d get you back, Cassandra.” She saw the fist flying at her but didn’t move. For once in her life, the fresh pain was welcoming. She saw blurry trees before her eyes, and then another hit rocked the other side of her face and she was out.

Chapter 14

Darien slammed the cabin door behind him. It croaked in protest and shuddered at the treatment.

What’s wrong with her? What did she expect from him? That she’d spout her love for him and he was supposed to forget about the past and mate with her right there. God dammit, she’d be a good mate too. He couldn’t deny that, even his beast agreed.

His mind flashed with the image of her holding a small baby with a full head of dark, Kategan hair. He held his breath, the image seemed so real. He could easily see her kissing the baby with that big beautiful smile of hers. He roared, turning and slammed his fist into the wall. The wood crack and splintered, bloodied his hand.

He’d protect her from Daniel and see to it that she got her happy life with a good male. He just couldn’t be that man for her.

A rapid knock at the front door had him flinging it open. It wasn’t the face he was hoping to see though. He recognized the hard look on Vane’s face.

“We got a problem.” His gut tightened so hard that his heart restricted in his chest, it was a wonder he could still breathe.

“What happened to her?” A part of him already knew. Could feel the wrongness of the situation. His beast was whipping its tail back and forth in agitation and crying out in pain.

“She left.”

“What do you mean she left?” he growled, his beast garbling his words.

“She climbed out the bathroom window, tackled Mike at his post, and ran off into the woods.”

Darien was already walking past him. He’d get her back if it were the last thing he did. Vane grabbed his arm.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going after her.”

“She doesn’t seem to want to be around you.”

“Fuck off, Vane. She’s drunk and hurting.” Because of me, he thought. “She doesn’t need to be alone right now.”

Vane shook his head and softly said, “And can you give her what she needs.” Darien’s chest expanded and slowly he exhaled.

“Yeah, I could at one point in my life. But now, Vane? I’m not so sure.” It was the truth, which was startled the hell out of him.

Darien started on a run back to Vane’s house. He knew her scent as good as his own. He’d track her down, kiss her for scaring the shit out of him, and then carry her back to his cabin. Vane’s feet pounded next to his.

“I’m coming with you.” Darien’s head snapped towards his.

“Why?”

“Because she might not want to come back with you,” Vane said simply. Vane was right, and the thought was like taking a knife to the heart. God dammit. He was such a fucked up asshole. He had to apologize. He had to get her back. He...cared for her.

He ran around the back of Vane’s cabin and looked up at the bathroom window.

“Jesus that’s at least a twenty foot drop.” Vane nodded grimly then pointed out to the forest. “Mike said he was on post there when she tackled him, asked him not to tell you that she was leaving.”

“She was trying to get away from me.” He froze. The realization ripped a burning hole in his chest. It was his duty, his honor to protect her, and yet all he’d done was drive her away, possibly into danger.

He took off running. He caught her scent easily—flowery and fresh. Lovely just like her. He opened up his scenes and followed the scent like a tracking hound.

He leaped over a particularly large fallen tree and came to a hard stop. He walked past the spot just behind the tree, but the scent wasn’t there. It lingered only here in this one area. An entirely new fear swept through him.

He took in the area like it was a crime scene. She’d tripped over the tree and skidded along the dirt. The earth was shoved like someone had slid hard against it. Dropping down on his knees, he felt his breath whoosh out of him at the sight of three single drops of blood.

His hand was shaking as he touched them. He brought them to his nose and sniffed. It was hers.

“Do you smell that?”

“She was here,” Darien said. “This is her blood.”

“That’s not what I mean.” Darien looked up at his brother. Vane looked around the perimeter of the forest. “It’s vampire.”

“Of course it smells like her, Vane.” He growled the words, anger suffusing his words. He didn’t have time for this shit. He was losing minutes already. Guilt overwhelmed him, eating away at him.

“God dammit, Darien, get over here and stop thinking. Use your fucking senses.” Darien growled but came over. The scent struck him so fast, it was like a blow to the face. His head snapped to the left.

“Another vampire. It’s got to be him. He took her.” An incredible force filled Darien, so powerful, so tremendous that his beast tightened against his skin, and his eyes glowed in the night. He took my woman, was his only thought.

“I’m going after her.”

“No, you’re not.”

Darien turned to his brother and shoved him. He went flying back against a tree. “Yes, I am.”

“She isn’t yours, Darien. That man has a right to her. If you go and try to steal her off his land, he’ll have justification to kill you.”

“If it’s a challenge he wants, then that’s what I’ll do. I cannot leave her there. I can’t let her go.”

Vane stilled then slowly straightened from his slouch against the tree. He stalked to his brother, grabbed his face in his hands growling, “I know you have it in you. Do this because you love her, Darien. Or you will lose her forever.” He clapped Darien close and hugged him fiercely, then spun around and left.

Darien’s mind was spinning. Love. Did he love her? He didn’t have time to stop and think, to debate such a complicated topic. His beast drove him now, primitive and raw. He knew only a few things in that moment. That Cassie was his woman, and that he was going to tear Daniel’s throat out for touching her.

He didn’t know if he was doing the right thing. He seemed to have spent most of his life making terrible choices; he just hoped this one wasn’t.

He followed the cold male scent that lingered with the beautiful scent of his woman. He would find her, just don’t let him be too late again.

His feet pounding into the ground, his heart a loud beat in his ears, he heard only the harsh sound of his breathing. As one mile turned into two and three, he realized that he would do anything to get Cassie back with him, and he was going to spend the rest of his life with her at his side.

It was as if his beast had been waiting for this moment to speak its mind, to voice its thoughts. How he’d ever, even for a second, thought he could let her be with another man. It was impossible. She was his. He growled into the night and ran harder, faster. She was his.

Chapter 15

Daniel dragged her through the crowd of his clan. They laughed at her, taunted her with cruel names, while some gave her apologetic glances. The faces swam by one another then blended until she didn’t know who was laughing and who was taunting. Her face throbbed and burned where he’d hit her, she no longer knew if it was the alcohol that was making the world spin out of control or if her brain was still shaking from the hit.

She recognized the big open lawn Daniel had brought her to—his house. Daniel’s clan congregated around a huge bonfire that flickered into the night, casted shadows along sharp grinning faces. A wooden post was sticking straight out of the ground near it.

“We have our soon-to-be queen back, ladies and gentlemen!” Daniel announced grandly. The clan applauded and cheered. Cassie knew she was completely sober now. The tears were dried up. She was left now with only resolution. She was done. It was all over now.

Daniel tossed her over to the guards, and they grabbed her roughly, dragged her kicking legs over to that pole. Never had anything so simple terrified her before. They pulled her arms behind her while the crowd cheered on, and then her arms were tied roughly behind the pole. One guard held her up straight so the other one could tie her feet with a thick yellow rope. Humiliation and fear consumed her.

They tied her wrists together with rough, hard movements that bit the rope into her soft skin. Her hands started fighting against the rope anyways until she, felt her skin breaking. Only then did she stop, hanging her head in defeat.

Daniel paced around the fire. “Tonight is a great night for our people. Not only will you have a new queen, but I will finally have my mate.”

Cassie’s stomach lurched and bile rose up her throat. She swallowed it back down.

Daniel stopped in front of her. His smile had her cringing away from him, standing as far against the wooden post as she could get.

He grabbed her face in two hands then slammed his mouth down on hers. Cassie did the first thing she thought to, and opened her mouth and bit him. He pulled back with a hiss then landed a wide, open-palmed slap against her cheek.

The crowd grew quiet around her, watching her and Daniel with weary eyes.

“Take her clothes off,” he ordered to the guards. They didn’t hesitate. They pulled out knifes and started cutting at her shirt and pants. She gritted her teeth and swore to herself not to cry. Be strong.

 “As if that would stop me from cutting the dog out of you.” His cruel words were a shock even to her. A reminder just how low he was.

Once again donning a smile for the crowd, he said, “Come on everyone, turn on the music. Tonight is a night for celebration. She has come back to us. To celebrate this fantastic occasion, I shall mate with your queen here for all eyes to see.”

Cassie paled. Her nakedness in front of the crowed was disgusting, humiliating enough. But he was going to...

She shuddered and lifted her chin. He would not best her this night or any others. Free me, her eyes dared, glowing with anger.

“I will kill you,” she said in a quavering, powerful voice. Daniel spun to her and grinned as his eyes trailed down her body.

“Then I will lock you up and ensure that you never have that chance, my darling Cassandra.” Cassie leveled a hard gaze at him. She would not go out without a fight. She would fight for herself, and she would fight for Darien. Because she loved him so much that the thought of never seeing him again was like acid burning over her heart. She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t live like that.

“Untie me and let me fight for my freedom.” Daniel held his side as a loud laugh bellowed out of him. He stalked close to her, still chuckling. He pushed his body hard against hers. She kept her body still but couldn’t stop from twitching when suddenly his voice was in her ear.

“Your freedom has never been in your hands, Cassandra. It’s been in mine since you were only a wee thing. Do you want to know how startled your father looked when I stabbed him in the heart?”

Cassie jerked and looked at him with disbelieving eyes. His were wild and wide, his expression evil with insanity.

“My father committed suicide, because he missed my mother too much.” Her words were weak and soft even to her own ears.

He gripped her chin in a bruising grip and kissed her hard. When she opened her mouth to bite him again, he pulled back with a delighted chuckle. “Your father never committed suicide, Cassandra. He loved you too much for that, no matter how much he missed your stupid mother. No, I killed him.”

There was no stopping the sudden, horrible pain that stabbed through her heart like a stake. Tears filled her eyes. For so long, she’d thought....

“Why?” she asked hoarsely.

His mouth fell into a flat line. “Besides the fact that I hated him? He always had everything I wanted. The beautiful wife, the good daughter...it should have been mine. Didn’t your father ever tell you that she was with me first?”

Cassie shook her head side to side in his grip, tears falling loosely down her cheeks. Her mother died that night. Pieces started pulling together like a puzzle.

“Did you...kill her too?” He pulled back and looked at her with dead, vacant eyes. He did. He didn’t need to say it. Cassie tore her head away from him and bellowed her grief to the night. Cries shook through her. A part of her realized the clan had quieted, the music stopped, and everyone was looking at her curiously.

In that moment, she wanted to kill them all. She wanted to rip Daniel’s heart out for killing her parents, for destroying the family she should have had, and she wanted to burn his useless clan for standing by and doing nothing.

She thought of her father, of the pictures he’d shown her of her mother. That’s where she’d gotten her red hair from, her father had said. You have my eyes, and your mom’s hair. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world, doll. Those were his last words to her on the night he’d died. He’d tucked her into bed, kissed her on the forehead, and left.

A power filled her. A serene calm that cooled the fire in her blood, and the rage in her heart to a tranquil level. She looked out over the clan, at Daniel, at the guard’s who’d tied her up. She memorized their faces and made sure they’d remember hers.

“My father made one mistake in his life. He trusted this man Daniel. In giving him his trust, his wife was murdered, and then he was in return. As the ultimate payback, he now tries to have his daughter—the worse revenge to a man like my father. I want all of you to know that the will that binds me to Daniel is wrong, and that any of you who stay here tonight will either spend the rest of your lives rotting in a Justicar’s prison, or will die by my own hand.”

Murmurs and whispers broke out among the crowd. She had to speak up to be heard over it. “Leave now and I will not pursue you in any way, but if you stay and support this murderer, then I will not rest until you are dead beside his cold body.”

The crowd grew restless, looking from her to Daniel. Then, slowly, people started to edge away. Daniel roared and grabbed one of them, a woman. He snatched her by the hair and pulled a long knife out.

“Leave and she dies,” he growled. The crowd came back. No longer were there whispers or even smiles.

Good, Cassie thought, his people should be afraid of him. They had no idea just how mad he was.

“That’s it,” Daniel said, turning to her with anger blazing in his eyes. “We finish the mating ceremony now! Guards, if anyone tries to leave, kill them.”

Daniel stalked back to her. The first time he touched her, had her cringing. The next, she clamped her mouth shut and held her body rigid. He will die for this.

His hands found her breasts, her hips, between her legs. She blinked quickly as he started taking off his shirt with quick, jerky movements. The mating ceremony did not require sex, merely the blood exchange to bond the individuals together. Most couples did have sex while mating, to share the experience at the most intense and wonderful of levels.

His cold pale eyes found her. “Will you beg me not to touch your body?” His hands fell to his jeans and he unbuttoned them, then pulled down the zipper. “Will you beg me to stop?” Cassie stared into his eyes and said nothing.

A sudden, heart-pounding howl ripped through the night. Cassie’s heart stuttered in her chest so hard, she gasped. He’s here! Darien. Her body broke out into a sweat and she fought against her ropes, no longer feeling the biting pain of the cuts in her wrists.

Everyone whipped to see what made that sound, but she knew. She held her chin higher and worked at the ropes. Her real mate was here. She could have laughed in that moment. She’d worried before that Daniel could hurt her lykaen. Impossible, her mate was a primitive beast.

She heard another growl, this one so loud it echoed into the forest around them. She almost smiled.

There was a commotion at the back of the clan. Cassie strained to see him, to see anything, but heads blocked her way. Suddenly, there was a grunting sound, and then a guard went soaring impossibly high into the air. He landed across the other side of the clan with a bone-cracking landing.

“Cassie!” The sound of him roaring her name was the beautiful thing she’d ever heard.

“Darien!” The crowd parted as he stormed towards her. When the crowd didn’t move fast enough, he shoved them out of the way. Cassie gasped at what she saw. Darien had gone full beast. His lykaen glowed from his eyes bright amber. His chest was rising and collapsing with great big gulps as he panted. His fists were huge masses of angry meat ready to give a pounding to someone.

His eyes fell straight to hers, and she wanted to cry so badly. She never thought she’d see him again. His eyes, somehow, impossibly grew angrier as they fell over her naked form, then to Daniel’s half-naked body.

Daniel snapped his pants back together, then stepped in front of her. Darien growled a warning that clearly said back away from my woman or lose your throat.

Daniel laughed, the sound genuinely amused. “Well isn’t this turning out to be one of hell of a night. This is quite the bang, I must say. You must be the dog that’s been fucking my woman.”

Darien’s hands curled into fists and Cassie heard bones popping. “She is not your woman. I challenge you to the rights of her.” He pointed straight at her, and Cassie’s heart wept with love. Had she even told him she loved him? Because she did so much. She couldn’t remember now. Too much was happening too fast, she had no time to just stop and think.

Daniel crossed his arms and she could hear the laughter in his voice. “You challenge me, lykaen? This is just too good. I accept. Move out clan, give me space to beat this pup to a pulp.” The clan moved back in a wide circle, leaving the bonfire in the center and her near it.

Cassie watched wide eyed as Darien stalked Daniel like a predator, sidling to the side, his eyes narrowed and focused. Cassie couldn’t help herself, she had to say it, had to just in case....

“I love you, Darien!” His eyes shot up to hers, and then Daniel made his move.

Daniel used his incredible speed to get behind Darien and wrap his arm around his neck in a brutal grip. He landed a dozen hard, bruising punches to Darien’s side in under a second. The moves were so fast, the motions were blurred with his speed.

Cassie gasped and winced as Darien yelled and kicked back his head, hitting Daniel square in the face. Daniel lost his grip on Darien and stumbled back. Darien turned to the side and executed one perfect kick to Daniel’s stomach. Daniel flew to the ground, and the predator jumped on top of him with a ferocious growl, landing two blows to his face before Daniel spun them so fast, Cassie never saw it happen.

One second Darien was on top, and then he was on bottom and Daniel was feasting at his throat.

“No!” she screamed. Darien used his incredibly lykaen strength to flip Daniel off. Before Daniel could even land on the ground, Darien was boxing his face with savage, hammering fists. A sharp crack sounded and Cassie knew something had broken. Whether it was in Darien’s hand or Daniel’s face, she didn’t know.

Hope filled her. Darien would win. But then Daniel disappeared. Cassie looked everywhere for him and suddenly he reappeared behind Darien. He hit Darien in the back and sent Darien sprawling to the ground with a heavy thud. Daniel didn’t hesitate to leap on top of him and pound into that same side he’d hit before.

This time she heard bones crack and snap with a nasty crunching sound. Darien roared in pain but managed to buck Daniel off him.

They both stood then, circling each other. Daniel wore a cocky smile and Darien wore a look of grim determination. He held his side with one arm and Cassie saw blood around his lips. Panic the likes of which she’d never felt came over her then. She no longer struggled at her ties. A horrible sickness filled her stomach.

Daniel exploded after him. He grabbed hold of Darien’s wrist and bent the arm backwards, twisting it until a disgusting crack happened. Darien roared and kicked out of his huge, strong legs into Daniel. He went flying back again. Cassie watched him with wide eyes. He didn’t use his speed. In fact he slowly got up, his smile looking more like a grimace now.

Her eyes flickered back to Darien and saw more blood coming out of his mouth and down the side of his lip. The bite wound at his neck was bleeding messily down to his chest, and his arm hung uselessly at his side.

Still he stalked to Daniel as he stood. That determination never wavered, not even for a second. Using his one free hand, he snatched Daniel by his hair and threw him. Daniel went flying through the air and landed in the bonfire. He roared a hideous sound and rolled out of the fire. His skin was charred black and burnt. He rolled on the ground to subdue the flames.

Darien stalked after him with brutal steps. “She’s my woman,” he growled. He stopped next to Daniel who was gasping and shivering in agony. Cassie watched as flesh became blistered and swollen before her eyes.

Darien shoved a booted foot into Daniel’s throat. Daniel gasped and choked under the pressure, and grabbed the foot to try to break the hold.

“You will die for touching her, for every time you hurt her.” Cassie watched slack jawed as Darien leaned close to Daniel’s face and growled garbled words. “She is my mate.” And then he struck. Cassie couldn’t watch. She heard the nasty wet sounds of meat and flesh and blood over a growl.

It seemed like a minute passed until the noise finally stopped.

“Open your eyes baby.” Sweeter words had never been said. Her eyes shot open.

“Darien,” she choked, emotion clogging her voice. He ripped the ropes from around her and only then did she look over to see the torn up throat and chest of Daniel. There was a whole in the cavity of his chest where his heart should be. Her gaze fell to Darien’s mouth, which was surprisingly devoid of blood, but then she saw the big red splotch at the bottom of his shirt that he must have used to wipe his mouth.

No one stopped him as he pulled the ropes off her and picked her up. He was so incredibly warm, she cuddled against him and let him block the nastiness of everything from around her.

“The Justicars will be here. I have won her fair. If you try to stop me, you’ll end up like him,” he said to the crowd. No one moved. No one spoke.

He left on a run. How he could manage to move at the blows he took, she had no idea.

When they got deep into the forest, she finally stopped squeezing him tight. Sobs left her and he stopped running.

He dropped to a seat against a tree and pulled her close. Even more sobs broke out of her.

“Ah, babe, you’re breaking my heart,” he said. His voice was still filled with the lykaen but not nearly so garbled. She half laughed, half cried against his shoulder and held him tighter.

He winced with pain and she pulled back quickly. “Oh my God. I’m so sorry.” Tilting his head to the side, she inspected his neck wound. “My saliva can heal it. It won’t be super fast, but it can help,” she said, her own voice husky. She went to lick it, but he stopped her.

“No, Cassie. I don’t want your mouth where he’s been.” Cassie looked at him with teary eyes. She couldn’t stop herself from wrapping his thick hair in her hands and kissing him.

He kissed her back. There was so much said in that kiss. Passion, words, and emotion passed between them, and she felt the love he had for her. When she pulled back, gasping for breath, she was smiling feeling more giddy than she ever had.

“You love me,” she said, pressing her forehead to his.

His hand stilled over her back, and for a second her heart stopped beating. She slowly lifted her eyes to his. His good arm came up and he swiped his thumb across her bottom lip. She watched his throat swallow hard and then the next words out of his mouth had her trembling.

“Cassie, I love you so damn much.” He pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “You’re my lumara.” He kissed her harder. “My woman.” His tongue swiped across her bottom lip. “My mate.” His slanted and captured her mouth in a kiss that stole the breath from her and breathed it back into her. Giving her life even as he took it.