She doesn’t.
I throw all caution to the wind, trap her nape in my palm, and seize her mouth like a savage. I mean to be gentle, but…bloody hell. Lips so pliant. Soft. I don’t linger. Can’t. Later. Hunger roars at me. Deeper. Taste her. Now.
Insistent, impatient, I nudge Sabelle’s lips apart. She opens for me with a gasping surrender that threatens to undo all my restraint. I plunge inside her, devouring as much of her as I can with a single sweep of my tongue. Her taste overwhelms me. Honey-sweet. Addicting. She floods my senses like a drug I already know I’ll never get enough of.
Then…an instinct I’ve never felt flares to life. It roars down my senses, unequivocally telling me one thing: Mine!
With fire flaring through every inch of my body, I discard all caution and heap every shred of my ravenous hunger on her, taking the kiss so deep that I don’t know if I’ll ever find a way out of her mouth. And I don’t care. I have to make her understand I not only desire her above all others, but I must possess her. Always.
I tighten my grip and drag her closer still, until she’s crushed against me. An icy-hot wave slams over my senses, drowning me in sensation, in her unique flavor. A skin-tingling fever of need follows.
In response, Sabelle moans, then slowly, shyly, she curls her fingers over the stubble dusting my head with a shuddering exhalation, then lures me closer still. She cocks her head to not only meet my onslaught but to take me deeper. Her kiss tastes of hot surprise and burning desire. Her acceptance fries my brain.
Until she suddenly tears her mouth free and backs away, panting. “Ice…”
Her expression is full of unspoken questions. What’s happening? How come I feel this way? Why is it so hard to stop?
There’s only one answer.
Familiar words chant deafeningly in my head, demanding I speak them. I try to bite my tongue. Now is hardly the time, and she’ll likely recoil. Once spoken, the words will bind me to her for the rest of my life, even if she refuses me, which she likely will. And once she does, I can never touch another…not that I want to. I haven’t almost from the moment I clapped eyes on Sabelle Rion.
Still, the words rise from deep inside me, somewhere primal, beyond logic. They burn my throat and beg for release. The magic compelling me is stronger than hate or reason, my survival instinct, and even the centuries of division between our castes.
They’re inevitable, stamped into my DNA.
And I’m fucked.
Chapter
Eleven
I drag in a breath and prepare to speak the words that will change my life. “Become a part of me, as I become a part of you. And ever after?—”
“Ice!” Sabelle gasps out. “I?—”
“I promise myself to thee.” The words slam down my senses. I feel their rightness and power crackling between us, acknowledging what I’ve set in motion—irreversible, ancient, binding.
Sabelle might not want me to finish this Call, and saying it might doom me, but the taste of her still rolls around on my tongue like ambrosia, driving me on. Instinct reels, roars, chomping at the bit. No way can she stop me from staking my claim.
“My brother…” she implores.
“Is not involved.” My eyes burn into her startled blue ones. “This is between you and me—no one else.”
“But…I-I don’t… He won’t approve.”
Bram won’t. That goes without saying. And right now, I don’t give a shit. But I notice that she hasn’t said she doesn’t want me. “Fuck him. What do you want? Because I know I want you, princess. Any and every way you’ll let me have you.”
God, her lips are right beneath mine, and I need another taste of her so badly. I’m burning. Melting. Every cell in my body craves her. Damning caution, I layer my mouth over hers again. She’s like sinking into the perfect confection: sweet, light, tempting…addictive. I nibble at her lips, then prowl deeper, engaging her tongue. Then deeper still, consuming as much of her as I can in a single sweep.
The renewed urge to claim, to mate, scrapes down my instincts, clear, loud, even stronger than before. There’s no denying what it’s telling me.
I wrench my mouth free, panting over her lips. “Each day we share, I shall be honest, good, and true. If this you seek, heed my call. From?—”
“Stop!” She clutches the sleeves of my robe. “Ice, think. If you finish that sentence, it’s done. Even if I refuse you, for as long as I live, you’ll be bound to me.”
“I want nothing else.” I stare deep into Sabelle’s eyes. A feeling of rightness, inevitability, settles into my gut. “From this moment on, there is no other for me but you.”
The moment the words are out, a blaze slams across my senses. Take her! Claim her! The voice in my head rages at me, chanting, Now, now, now! I restrain it—barely—grimacing as I clutch her, waiting for her response. Will she Bind herself to me? Renounce me? Most likely the latter. Even so, hope torques my gut.
