Page 42 of An Empress of Fire & Steel

Something consumed his eyes, but it was not hurt. Delight, maybe? Did he find this funny?

He bounced from the bed immediately and stood in front of her, everything on show, bold as brass. He was not shy, and with what he had going on downstairs and across his body, he didn’t need to be. He was racked with muscle and built like a machine of war. She wanted to pull her eyes from his form, but she couldn’t, and her wolfish instinct kicked into play, hangover or not.

A heat clenched deep into her core, and an alluring attraction made her body ready for him again.

She shut it down quickly. She was not having sex with him again, no matter how fucking handsome he was.

“Are you sure round five is off the table?” he said confidently. “Last night, you couldn’t get enough.” His smile dazzled her so much that she rocked on her feet.

She managed to recover quickly. “In this short space of time, I have concluded that you are not deaf, just intellectually challenged.” She managed a smile lined with more attitude than he could handle. “Do I look like I am up for round five?”

She praised Vanadey that he was not a wolf, because if he was, he would be able to tell that she was attracted to him.

Her scent would give her away.

A small laugh left his throat in a way she found endearing, but she didn’t let her face change from the growling wolf that she was. He picked up his white shirt from the floor and wrangled it over his body in one quick movement. He caught her gaze as he stepped into his trousers which gave away instantly who he was. Leathers. He was definitely a fucking hunter. Every other faction in the kingdom had moved on from leather, but she supposed warriors of Thorin needed attire that protected them better than what she would wear. If her eyes didn’t feel like they may fall out at any moment, she would have eye-rolled herself into next week.

For the love of Vanadey.

She’d promised herself that she wouldn’t sleep with hunters anymore. Wolves were supposed to stick to their own. Mate. She couldn’t do that if she was constantly linked to hunters. Why was she always attracted to something she couldn't have? It was like her heart rebelled against the idea of finding a mate, so she continued to fuck with warriors of Thorin who would never find anything more in her than a good time. It was easier that way.

“Will you hurry up?” she hissed quietly. “I thought that hunters had been blessed with the ability of speed. Or was yours lost at birth?”

He slowly buttoned his leathers around his defined hips. “If you keep being mean to me, I might fall in love with you.” He laughed temptingly and gave his short reddish-brown hair a shake. “Hunters are twisted like that.”

“Then you really are as stupid as I thought,” she said, her heartbeat starting to slam against her ribs. “Fucking hunters and their egos.” She wrapped her hands around the sheets a little tighter, looking away. “You are all ridiculously deluded.”

“You are a mean little wolf, aren’t you?” he said, his golden-brown eyes dazzling with rampant energy. “But you are funny, I will give you that.” A tattooed hand ran across his jaw as he laughed again. “I must say, I have never been kicked out of bed before.”

“Well, now you have. And you better be quick to add it to your list of ‘Never have I evers’ before you get your ass kicked by a handful of people.” Her jaw locked in.

“A handful of people?” he questioned like it had piqued his interest.

“My father, my brothers, my boyfriend,” she trailed into a lie. Breighly always told men she had a boyfriend to get out of a second meeting. It normally made her seem untrustworthy and put them off instantly.

He laughed again, this time running two tattooed hands down his face. She noticed one hand had a beautiful black rose inked across his skin and the other a skull. Her throat tightened. It was kind of…badass.

Why was she always a sucker for a bad boy?

“You are something else.” He stalked closer towards her, closing the distance between them. This was not good for her alcohol-lined stomach. “You have a boyfriend? After what we did last night?”

His voice was low and curt, and it did something to her heart. Now that he was closer, she could see a petite silver nose ring in his left nostril. A flashback confirmed that she had absolutely tried to bite the nose ring whilst they—

“Yes.” She swallowed, the lie feeling strange on her tongue. “Not that it is any of your business.”

His eyes darkened, his eyebrows pulling down. “I think that you will find that it is my business, little wolf.”

“Don’t call me that.” She tried to stand a little taller, lifting her chin as she looked at him. “You have no idea what I am capable of, and all of those things don’t take my height into consideration.”

It was true, wolves tended to be deadly on demand.

“I think I got a feel for some of those things last night.” His smile was remindful of the wild time they had had as he shoved his feet into boots. He straightened and his gaze was back on her. “Can I have my fighting knives back now?”

“I have your fighting knives?” She couldn’t remember why she would have taken his knives. She was more than capable of handling herself against a hunter. She certainly wasn’t scared of a few weapons.

“You wanted them as props for a little role play,” he said, his eyes swarming with liquid gold that made her feel a way she hadn’t felt in a long time.

Before she could speak, she was moving to hide the blush on her cheeks, pushing his brute strength towards the door. He let her command the way as he laughed.

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