Page 144 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

She burned her brother from the feet up, turning him into ash so gradually that he watched. When he finally went limp, shegrew bored of him and consumed the last of him in one final blaze of fire.

He was gone. Nothing but ash on the ground.

She turned her eye to the others who all whimpered and cringed away from her attention.

“I will return, and I will do all that I have promised. Your mothers and fathers, your brothers and sisters and wives willsufferfor their indifference. They will kneel as you do and beg for forgiveness and mercy, and I will make sure they know that you are to blame for carving it out of me. Their pain and death is on your hands.”

And then she unleashed an inferno of fire that should have been completely impossible for such a malnourished mortal to conjure. Blistering hot enough to melt the stone at their feet and the metal devices behind them as they were consumed wholly by her wrath.

Chapter thirty-nine

YOUR HEART IS MINE

Sage

Summer was driving memad, and the worst part was that I didn’t want to be anywhere else at that moment.

She took her hands away and let me dunk my head to wash away the soap. I surfaced again, pushing my hair out of my face, and then froze when I felt her touch my back where I had been injured. I turned my head to look at her over my shoulder to try and figure out what she was thinking, but she kept her eyes on her fingers as they traced over one of my fresh scars.

“Are you—”

My breath hissed in between my teeth in surprise at the unexpected pleasure as she touched her mark. I quickly put my hand over hers to prevent her from drawing out more of a reaction from me, but she did not retreat.

“What does it feel like?” she wanted to know.

It feels like you’ve touched my soul,I said internally, directing the words down the rider bond that was like an empty tunnel between us with nothing on the other side.

“There are no words,” I told her instead.

“And you don’t like it?” she verified, almost sounding as if she hoped I would contradict her.

“It’s not that at all. It feels… really good,” I admitted and then removed my hand from hers. I wanted to know how she would proceed with the knowledge of how her touch made me feel. And I was unable to suppress a spark of hope when she did not pull away.

Instead, myanampressed even closer to me, the tips of her breasts brushing my back, and I had to stifle a groan.

“Summer—” I attempted to speak, but she leaned fully against me with her arms perched across the back of my neck and shoulders. She rested her chin on her forearms and turned her face into my neck as if she were breathing in my scent as I tipped my head back toward hers.

“You smell of want, Sage,” she said, and I genuinely feared for a moment that I would lose complete control of my impulses and turn to pin her against the rocks.

What if this was some kind of a trick or a test like the ones she used to see if she was safe with me? Perhaps she wanted to know if I was as weak and salacious as so many of the other males she’d interacted with in her life?

“It doesn’t matter what I want if it is not what—”

“Of course, it matters!” she objected with confusion. “How could what you want not matter?”

“Please just use your words and tell me exactly what you are feeling,” I urged her.

I knew she had taken offense even before she abruptly pushed away from me.

“Do I actually have to spell out everything explicitly or can you not takesomeinitiative?” she snapped.

I turned to frown at her, but all it took was one look for me to comprehend the reason for her lashing out. Her ears were pinned back, not in anger, but fear and insecurity.

“After our conversation last night, you willabsolutelyneed to be explicit with me before I presume to take any kind of initiative,” I advised her.

Despite my firm tone, she still relaxed, relieved by the steady calmness that was beneath the anger in my voice, and her ears eased into their usual pose for aggravation.

“Thought I was clear enough,” she muttered.

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