Page 146 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

I watched her surprise evolve into curiosity and then uncertainty before she eased her grip to give me some space because she wasn’t ready. Just as I suspected.

“Sage, I don’t know how to do this,” she whispered.

My hand slid from her throat to pull her up against me, and I wrapped my arms around her as I began scattering gentle kisses across her face.

“It is alright. That is why we need to talk first.”

“But I didn’t think males liked to wait for—”

“I will wait as long as I need to until you are ready. You need not worry about that, Summer. Just tell me what you are feeling. Please?” I begged her softly.

She was quiet for a moment, her eyes closed and her head tilted up to soak in more of my kisses. Just to be able to let some affection out was an immense relief for me.

“Iwantthis, Sage. I wantyou. That alone terrifies me,” she admitted with a soft snort of amusement. “But even though I know I am safe with you, I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t still a little anxious about doing this.”

It was hard not to demand answers, but I stayed quiet and continued to kiss her jaw and her neck when she tilted her head up in invitation. Waiting for her to go on.

“You have all of my heart, Sage. I think you could kill me without making me bleed or breaking a single bone. Please trust that,” she stressed, and I hesitated in surprise at her heartfelt admission. “But I am also afraid to venture into territory that might make me feel the way I have with others in the past. When I… lost myself in them. I really do not want to feel like that with you, but I think that it could be different if you would… just be patient with me. Is that… Can we do this slowly?” she asked me, her voice trembling with barely repressed emotion.

“Yes,” I assured her as I gripped her jaw to lower her tilted head and meet her eyes. “Summer, I am all yours.”

“You were talking about other relationships just—”

“No,” I blurted, the word tearing from me. “I only said that because I did not know howyoufelt at the time. I just want for you to feel safe, tobesafe with me, and I didn’t wish to put any pressure on you if you knew how I felt. But Iwantthis. I wantyou.”

She smiled in relief, tilting her head against mine in a tender acknowledgement before she straightened and gave me a teasing smirk.

“You made it sound like you wanted to fuck me against that wall earlier. Are you sure you’re fine with it taking time for us to get physical?”

“I… will not pretend that I do not want that,” I said, drawing her closer through the water so she slipped her arms around my neck. She shivered in delight when our bodies pressed up against one another again. “But I am happy just to know that you feel as I do. It does not matter to me how long it takes before you feel ready to take that step with me as long as I know your heart is mine.”

Ornella

As long as I know your heart is mine.

His words were gentle and patient as ever, but there was a slight growl of possessiveness in his voice that was fucking exhilarating to hear.

But it was not at all what I expected from Sage.

All this time I’d been falling in love with the feeling of safety and belonging I felt with him not knowing there was another side of him. That he was not just a male who wanted me to feelsafe at the expense of his own desires, but also one who would grab me by my throat and fuck me up against a wall.

And I was very much intrigued with that duality.

“My heart is yours,” I assured him. “I amallyours.”

“Good,” he said softly but with that cocky smile as his eyes dipped to my lips that were still a little swollen from our frantic collision of passion.

Gods, I hadnotbeen expecting that from him either.

There was no denying there had always been a crackle of attraction between us from the moment he touched me. The way his scent affected me was primal and irrefutable because we wereanam. We shared the same essence of the Tithriall, the same breath of life, but I knew it meant absolutely nothing. My people manipulated the bond ofanamfor our males to achieve more power by harnessing a female in a one-way extortion of her magic. The bond itself was not romantic, it was merely a tether connecting two fey. I was not sure how to share magic with Sage naturally and by choice. The methods used by my people were invasive and painful to prevent the exchange from going both ways. But it was supposedly possible.

Since my capture, however, I’d been learning to trust him and after he nearly killed Ciaran for hurting me, I had come to feel safe with him. That was not wholly the bond. That washim. It was the environment he had worked hard to foster, often even in spite of me.

But the realization that other females could eventually become involved in our relationship had been intolerable. My heart had been ready to break at the thought that we might never take this relationship any further.

Then I’d caught a glimpse of something scorching in his eyes while he was watching me bathe. I’d seen that look a thousand different times in the eyes of other males, an expression that usually made me feel hard against what came next. But not withhim. I’d seen that glimmer in his eyes and had felt only surprise and… relief.

But disturbing the perfect sanctuary we had built had taken more nerve than anticipated. When I finally touched him, and he made that breathless sound, my need to know if there was something more to explore between us had been undeniable.

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