Page 34 of Obsidian Prince

A pool of blood spread around Bradley's body. There was no way to step off him without getting it on her slippers.

Alexander Bennett opened the outer door of the cage. While Lieutenant Runningwolf held it open, Alexander opened the inner door.

He had to bend down to reach into the dome through the low entrance. He held his hand out to her.

The spider-kin stepped off the dead body, ignoring the puddle of slippery blood she walked through.

She refused to take the prince's hand. She was the pride-king's champion now. She walked out, head high under the cage door that wasn't at all too low for her. Adrenaline in her veins made even the throbbing pain in her arm fade to unimportance.

The prince followed her out of the cage into the echoing emptiness of the hangar.

Liliana swiped at the blood on her cheek, trying to wipe it off, but there was more on her hand. She just smeared it, making even more of a mess.

There was a spot of red on the prince’s otherwise pristine white shirt. Liliana had threatened the prince's life. She had also committed bloody murder on a military base right in front of a colonel who commanded a unit who specialized in countering dangerous Others.

She lifted her chin, defying him. She was the pride-king's champion now.

Colonel Alexander Bennett ordered his three guards to drop back some distance from him, and turn around to form a perimeter, watching outward for danger. The two lions obeyed instantly. Liliana was theirs to guard now as much as their commander. But the badger-kin, moved away reluctantly, with many a backward glance.

John Runningwolf seemed to think the most dangerous thing in the hanger was the petite spider-kin splattered with werelion blood.

Liliana smiled at him, showing fangs. She liked the idea that he might be right. “Are you worried I will kill your commander?”

The badger-kin’s voice sounded bland as he wrinkled his nose at her. “There’d be so much paperwork.”

With a white handkerchief, the prince wiped Liliana's cheek. When her face was cleaned to his satisfaction, he gently took her right hand. She let him clean the blood off it as best he could with the handkerchief.

Liliana didn’t have to wonder for long what lay behind his dark, unreadable eyes. By promising her a kiss, he gave her what she wanted most.

He cupped her face in his hands, leaned in close, hesitating an inch from her lips so the kiss would be her choice.

Liliana closed the tiny distance.

He kissed her gently at first, lips just brushing hers.

A wash of lavender greeted her third eyes as she opened them. Overwhelming relief. Beneath it was the sharp magenta of admiration, and arctic blue of soaring pride as if she were in some way his, and had made him proud. A fleeting thought of her fighting for him was colored with manipulative satisfaction. He’d gained the ally he sought and she was as formidable as he could hope.

But drowning that icy bit of calculation was a volcano of scarlet red desire. Alexander Bennett wanted her. He wanted to own her. He wanted to possess her. He wanted to control her. But most of all, right then, he wanted to sink himself into her body and touch all that she was.

His kiss deepened, growing hungrier, more demanding.

Liliana made a little sound in the back of her throat that she had never heard herself make before. Her knees trembled. The lion had not weakened her with a mace, but this Sidhe prince did it with a kiss.

The spider-kin pushed against his chest with her one good hand. She needed to take a step back from him to give her head a chance to clear. She licked her lips. Her breath came faster than when she fought. "You are a man of your word."

A broad smile sparkled in his eyes. It looked hungry and dangerous, not at all like the politician's meaningless mask he gave her in his garden.

This Fae prince wanted her. He didn't love her. He probably never would, but he desired the power and fierce, dangerous beauty in her, just as she did in him.

Pete told her before that love might grow over time if given the chance. It was like combat. She risked everything. Love might happen or it might not. She might gain everything she wanted or lose her heart.

"I looked into you," she told Alexander.

"I knew you would." His smile stayed undimmed. He’d allowed her to see his inner self, something he’d threatened to shoot her for before.

"Are you going to start pointing guns at me again?"

His smile turned smaller, still heated, but now crooked with amusement. "Do you still want to find out if I have a heart the bloody way?"

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