Page 41 of Preying Game

I do. As she said it, he felt her opening herself to him in a way that would have seemed impossible a few days ago. Now it wasn’t just words that bonded them together. He could read her emotions. He knew she was feeling his relief that he’d gotten her out of there and his joy in holding her. As she closed her eyes and leaned into him, he felt her coping with a jumble of his thoughts and her own. But he knew she could tell how important this was to him.

Her hands clamped onto his shoulders as the psychic lines between the two of them blurred.

He felt a dart of fear inside her. “What’s happening?”

“I’m trying to bring you home with me. Relax. Don’t fight me,” he added, hearing a note of desperation in his own voice as he squeezed his eyes tightly closed and prayed that this would work.

“Trust me,” he said again.

“I do,” she answered, and he knew it was true. He clasped her more tightly, praying that he could take both of them back to his own time.

He felt a strong wind buffeting them, as though the gap in their times was holding her back.

“Come on, come on,” he muttered, focusing on returning—with Alice.

A thunderclap shook them, and he heard her cry out.

His eyes flew open, and he looked toward the burning house. In the darkness, he could see nothing.

“I think we made it.”

Opening her eyes, she stared at him, then reached up a hand to touch his lips, his brows, his cheeks.

“We’re here together,” he murmured, still taking it in, because until this moment, he hadn’t known it was possible.

“What happened?”

“It’s a long story,” he answered thinking this was hard enough for him to comprehend, and that he had to ease her into this new reality.

But first, he couldn’t stop himself from pulling her into his arms.

“You’re free.”

“Thanks to you.”

She turned her face up to him, and it was the most natural thing in the world to lower his mouth to hers. They clung together, kissing and touching, the reality of her escape sinking in. As he held her and stroked her, he wanted her more than he had ever wanted a woman in his life. But he knew this place wasn’t as safe as it seemed.

He tore his mouth away from hers and said. “We need to leave.”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Come on.”

He led her around some bushes, and she stopped short.

“That’s my car,” she gasped out. “Where did it come from?”

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