Page 48 of Wolfkissed
“Yeah?”
“Crave you,” he finishes quietly, his intense amber gaze locked on mine, anger and entreaty battling behind the mirrors of his eyes.
“This isn’t on me,” I whisper, backing away some more. “I don’t dress up for you. To arouse you.”
“And that’s the fucking point,” he says, leaning back once more. “The fucking crux of the matter. This is who you are. Full of secrets. Full of pain and anger and fear. It’s all there in your scent. Like a poisonous flower, like a rotten fruit, and yet, it’s so sweet my mouth waters, and my dick hurts from wanting you.”
“You’re not supposed…” I swallow. “Not supposed to say such things to me.”
“Because I’m your bodyguard? Or because I’m a werewolf?”
“Because I hate you.”
“Fucking Gods…” He groans and reaches down, between his muscular thighs, where… where his cock stands out of the water, thick and hard, the crown dark and is that metal flashing on it?
I keep staring, a throb starting between my legs, pulsing madly. Painfully. What am I doing? Why can’t I look away? Why am I not repulsed and horrified?
Why am I so damn fascinated by every part of him?
This is what keeps happening since the werewolf arrived: my thoughts have gone feral and wild, not obeying reason. I’m known for being focused and organized, doing everything by the schedule and plan. I had to become that strict about plans since the panic attacks got too bad. Having a routine promised safety. Covering all imaginable factors. Making sure I was ready for anything unexpected. Keeping to the same routes and habits.
So why did I enter my room fully aware that I’d be alone with Valen? No guards outside. No servants inside.
Just me and him.
It’s also a sign of general mental exhaustion of everyone involved, I think, blinking in the dimness, only lit by the jumping flames of my bedroom’s fireplace, that they left no guards with him. Nobody at all.
Unless someone’s hand is still involved in this. Unless someone thought, let the wolf free, and maybe he’ll finish her after all, though, why they’d think that after he saved my life…?
No, it’s probably just a moment of negligence, Della thinking Kier and Bert have it covered, and they, in their turn, certain she has everything under control, as always.
Iam the one putting a wrench in their plans. Losing control. And?—
The door bursts open, and three burly men walk in. My stepfather’s trusted manservants. I’m so flustered and confused, it takes me a long moment to realize what is happening.
By then, my stepfather appears at the door. “What do we have here? I had been hoping the rumors were untrue. My daughter, alone with this wolf? How disgraceful and disappointing. Take them both away.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ROSAMUND
“Wait!” I shout. One of them grabs me, and I struggle in his hold. “You can’t do that!”
“Let her go! You fucking cunts.” Valen is fighting the three men pulling him out of the tub, his eyes going to wolf, his teeth lengthening. “Release her!”
Why is he pleading for me and not himself?
“Did he break into your room?” Stepfather asks, hands clasped at his back, as if he’s inquiring about the weather. “Or did you invite him inside?”
“I… He didn’t. I was?—”
“Princess,” Valen barks. “Don’t say anything to compromise yourself. Let it go.”
I shoot him a bewildered look. “But?—”
“Take me,” he says, and suddenly stops fighting. “Do what you will with me. Don’t touch her.”
“Valen,” I whisper, “no.”
