A slow blink, and then she was off.
“Seethat, that right there is why it will never work! I will literally kill you within a week for saying stupid shit like that.”
“I’ll sleep with one eye open until you get used to it,” I deadpanned. “Next.”
“Oh my God!” she shouted and stormed past me into the living room.
I followed close behind, refusing to let her out of my sight until we had this settled. I didn’t care if it took hours. Rani would understand before the night was over that there was no escaping this. We were perfect for one another, and I didn’t care how long it took me to prove it to her.
I would crawl through whatever trials she needed to push aside her fears and see that nothing in this world would make me turn away. I saw her, saw the darkness and rage and even the buried sunlight fighting to once again be free, and I wanted every single bit of it.
Rani spun around in front of the couch, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. “I might not want to complete my degree or even stay at this college. You’re sworn to protect Kai and won’t be able to follow me.”
Seriously? That was the best she could come up with?
“It’s almost like you weren’t listening,” I challenged, meeting her glower head-on. “As my bond,youtake front and center as my number one priority. Even over my cousin.”
Her arms went slack as the shock of the truth hit her. There was nowhere she could run, no plans for her future I didn’t want to be a part of. She. Was. Mine. Tension bloomed in the room until some unseen force hooked into my gut and tugged, urging me to claim. To grab her with both hands and never let go.
She wasn’t faring much better. Arousal was singing down the bond just as strongly as her wrath. They twined together in a passionate embrace that had Rani licking her lips like she wanted to take a bite out of me. I had half a mind to let her.
I prowled forward, ready to prove with tongue and teeth and fingers why she should reconsider her stance on this when she held up a hand.
“I’m not a virgin!” she blurted. “You don’t want to bond with me because I’ve had sex.”
I stopped a foot away. Close enough to catch a hint of her sugary, sea-salt scent. She thought having experience would negate the bond? If that were the case, I would have disqualified myself a million times over. No, experience only made things more fun.
“Good,” I crooned. “Because I don’t do gentle.” Her pupils dilated as her mouth dropped in shock. “What? Did you think you needed to be a virgin for the bond to be completed? The magick doesn’t care who you’ve let into your body before. The minute I sink inside, there will be no going back. When you finally let me touch you, there won’t be a doubt left in that pretty head of yours. And make no mistake,you will ask.”
Rani’s knees buckled, and she took a wobbling step. She blindly reached behind her to find something steady to cling to. I mirrored each movement; a step forward for one of hers back, a deep breath in for her ragged exhale.
“Can’t handle the honesty?” I asked, head tilted.
“No,” she snarked and fell onto the couch with a scowl, all signs of shock buried back under her iron control. “Just bored.”
I laughed. “You won’t be bored with me, babe. I like to turn my partner into a panting mess beneath me until shebegsfor the pleasure to stop.”
She snorted, but couldn’t hide the way her throat bobbed over her dry swallow. And there was no disguising the interest raging on her side of the bond.
“Not a virgin, remember?” She waved a hand as if my words were nothing but pretty lies. “There’s no need to embellish.”
I dropped to my knees before her, so close that she was forced to widen her legs and lean back on the couch to make room for me. My hands burned a path up her thighs until my thumbs settled into the little crook where they met her hips. She gasped, her own hands coming down on my shoulders. To stop me or to anchor herself. Both.
That rasping sound echoed around the room. A room now silent aside from our heavy breathing as I waited for her to meet my stare. I wanted her to see the hunger Ibarelykept under control. The frenzied, smoldering,insatiableway I needed her. But also the honesty. Because each word out of my mouth was a promise I intended to keep.
“Once I’m between these pretty thighs, once I’ve cleared the barriers and self-denial you hide behind, I won’t let up until you’re shaking so hard I have to hold you down,” I promised. “I’ll keep going until your eyes roll back. Until your breath catches on that final gasp that you can’t help but hold as I slide deep inside you over and over again. I'm going to mark you as mine.” Her nails dug into my skin again, but the bite of pain only encouraged me.
“I don’t embellish, baby. I deliver.”
CHAPTER 17
Rani
Just because I refused to go swimming didn’t mean I wanted to be running instead. Ihatedrunning. The shin splints, the burn in my lungs… the way it made me gasp like an oversized cow tipped on its side with no way to get back up. It was a truly evil thing to make me run this early, but Ezra was in charge of my training now, and, as I’d come to learn, he was a ruthless teacher.
I had a feeling it was payback for last night.
Once I’m between these pretty thighs… I won’t let up until you’re shaking…
