Page 85 of Slaying the Shifter Prince
But it was too late for that, wasn’t it?
We were both trapped. Had both walked in, each thinking we were the one in control, when really neither of us were. Maybe the universe had spun us together for its own amusement.
I still didn’t believe in any gods, but if I did, I’d have said they were laughing at us both.
So, when he patted his lap, I sat in it.
He let out a long breath, gathering me against him. His heat, his hand coming around my waist like I was something precious he wanted to keep close—I liked it. I tucked my legs up and splayed my hand over the broad expanse of his chest.
“We can’t keep on like this,” he murmured at last. “We’ll destroy each other.”
“I thought you wanted to destroy me.”
“So did I.” His eyebrows squeezed together before he nuzzled into my neck, breaths fanning hot over my skin. “I don’t want to want you, but you smell so delicious.” He ran the bridge of his nose along my jaw, lifting it. Such sweetness after such harshness whispered over my nerves. When his eyes met mine, they were softer, too. “The way you look pleases me.”
“Say it.” I lifted my chin more, peering down my nose at him. “Say what you really think about how I look.”
He exhaled, shoulders sinking, and lowered his glass to the floor. Now free, he used his fingertips to sketch my cheekbones, my jaw, the line of my brow, his sheathed claws just tickling my skin. “You’re beautiful, Zita. Human, and yet perfect.” The corner of his mouth twitched, but even that was softer than his usual smirks. “Despite these blunt ears and teeth.” He touched the rounded edges of my ears and brushed my lips as he spoke, sending a shiver down my spine.
A shiver that warned of danger, yes, but a danger of a different kind.
This softness, this sweetness… part of me craved those as much as I craved his savagery, but they were no use to me. At least his cruelty had unlocked something inside me.
But maybe he was right.
Maybe keeping on like this would destroy us. I certainly couldn’t afford to stay locked in battle with him—not when my sister’s murderer still walked free.
“What if there was another way?”
His eyebrows flickered.
“What if we could both get what we wanted?”
Slowly, slowly, like he knew there was a catch, he narrowed his eyes. “What would that look like, exactly?”
I gave him a half-smile and took a sip of honeyed whisky, sweet and smoky. “Well, you’d carry me around less, for one.”
He made a low sound and caught my ankle. “You don’t like being carried around?”
“It’s… unnecessary. I have perfectly good legs.”
His lips curled as his palm slid up my calf. “Yes, you do.”
“I meant from a functional standpoint.”
“They’re a little slow.” He scowled and traced a spiral on the side of my knee. “You take so long to walk anywhere.”
I chuckled and found my hand skimming up over his broad shoulder, like it wanted to explore now it wasn’t tied up. “Just because they’re half the length of yours doesn’t mean they’re defective.” I shook my head. “Look, we’re getting off track. I just mean… you could treat me more like a person and less like a pet.”
He pouted and worked his way up my thigh, pulling me against him. “I don’t see how that gets us what we want. Besides, you make a good pet.” He grazed his nose along mine. The nearness of him, completely dominating my field of view, was overwhelming. “I like having you close. It makes hating you easier.”
I scoffed and lifted my chin so my words whispered over his lips. “Believe me, the feeling’s mutual.”
His eyes sank shut as though he enjoyed the brush of my breath. A low rumble came from his chest, humming into me.
“But we can still hate each other and work together.”
Eyes snapping open, he arched an eyebrow and pulled an inch away. “Work together? You, workwithme?”
