“Nothing more,” I reiterated against his lips. This was nothing more than the pent-up aggression.
“Whatever lies you must tell,” he murmured, and his mouth took mine again.
“How?” I was barely able to get the word out. Gods, I may deny this bond, but it was useless to fight how badly I wanted to devour him. To let him devour me. To feed this thing that had been living inside of us both, pulling us toward each other all these weeks.
“I don’t know, Bounty.” When he said the name this time, it was layered with the adoration of everything he’d confessed,not the hatred I’d come to search for beneath his words, and my traitorous heart certainly didn’t soften at that.
But Lancaster had seen every side of me. The one who hungered for revenge, the one haunted by loss, and the one who feared she wasn’t as strong as the world around her. And behind them all, he found the fierce heart and fire within. He found someone he did not hate as he should have, but someone he wanted to worship.
When his lips dragged back to mine, that devotion shone through every stroke of his tongue. I stumbled back at the shock of it, Lancaster’s firm grip guiding me carefully, though he continued to ravish me.
“I don’t know how it’s possible,” he continued when the back of my legs met the bed. He paused, his voice tight as he fought to find words, his hands drifting up and around my ribs, my hips, my spine. Sending a wild humming through every spot he touched. “I’ve never heard of anaequelisbond between a human and a fae before.”
“I’m not a human,” I gasped as his thumb skated across the underside of my breast.
“Finally admitting it?” A smile nearly showed on his lips. Lips swollen from kissingme. Lips I wanted to feel on every part of my body, following the fire scorching below my navel.
I arched forward, hands tangling behind his head. “I think I am starting to love being powerful.”
“Santorina Cordelian,” Lancaster breathed, hands dragging up my spine, “I believe you may have more power over me than I have ever allowed.”
Goddess, that statement had my toes curling beyond my better judgment. “And how do you feel about that?”
“I know that while I may have fought this, I was made to bow to you, if you will have me.”
The intention of those words was not lost on me. Lancaster didn’t onlyfeelit orthinkit. Heknew. He was confident that this bond wasn’t something he wanted to run from.
And what did I want?
I’d sworn this draw to each other was nothing. A reliance of companionship after our time traveling together. But perhaps I’d been lying. Why else would I have spent days pouring over books on fae bonds and bargains, trying to find some explanation for the pull toward this male before me?
“Everything in my life has changed so vastly lately,” I said, still close enough to Lancaster that his heart thundered against my chest. “From moving to Damenal, to hunting the emblems, to becoming a Bounty. None of this is the quiet, tavern-running life I thought myself chained to.” His jaw ticked as he waited for what he feared I’d say next, but I went on, “But there is a part of me that always knew my life was meant to be experienced beyond the bounds of the Cub’s Tavern. I will always have the home to return to, but I knew I was meant for more.”
Lancaster barely moved, his fae senses holding him impossibly still.
“Ask me, Lancaster. Ask me what I want for that life.”
He swallowed. “What is it that you want, Santorina?”
“I wantfire.” My chest hummed, and he grunted as if he felt it, too. “I wantpassion.” My lips hovered over his. “I want someone whose very presence lights me up, and I don’t want it dictated by the Gods. I want to choose it every day of my mortal lifespan.”
Lancaster looked about to argue, but I forged on, “And though this may only be a physical need, in this moment, I choose you.”
I didn’t wait for his answer. I kissed him, and Lancaster groaned into my mouth, the most desire-laced sound I’d ever heard. He pressed closer so my back bowed over the bed. Hismouth worked across my jaw, down my neck, and his canines scraped over my skin. I gasped at the pleasure that coiled through my body, and his hips pressed against mine, his length thick and hard against me.
Goddess, I wanted him. All of him, and as reluctant as I was to admit it, it was likely not only due to the bond.
I’d seen other sides of him in our travels—the young man who’d loved his mother, the one who staked his morals off her tragedy. The male who would rip a predator to shreds for me and who wished to aid the defenseless, even if they did not want him. The fae who would use his magic to provide me comfort but who believed in my strength to do so on my own, too.
The reasons that I was enraptured with him beyond a bond flooded through my mind as he pressed me down into the bed. His teeth dragged over my collarbone, back up my neck. And while those fangs were close enough to rip out my throat, I had never felt safer and more cherished in my entire life.
“Santorina,” he breathed, one hand brushing my hair from where it had fallen over my chest. “Please, can I touch you?” His voice trembled, like he’d fall apart if I didn’t give him this.
Instead of answering, I sat up. He followed the movements, staying close enough that his breath fanned across my skin. I untied the knot behind my neck, and my top fell forward. Lancaster’s gaze dropped to my breasts, nipples peaked and begging for him.
“Please, Hunter,” I breathed. “Please touch me.”
His lips slammed back to mine, consuming me as he wrapped one arm around my waist and laid me back against the pillows. My legs bracketed either side of his waist, his hips hovering just enough over mine that I couldn’t feel him, but Iachedfor him.
