Page 196 of Bane of the Wild Hunt

Rian needed to attend to his Seer who required clothes and other supplies, but then we would be moving the last two aes sídhe villages. Once our people were out of the path of any potential destruction, Rian would deal with the Fuath. Whether by deception or by flame and shadow. With Summer’s viciouspeople undoubtedly plotting to drag her back to Sumarra, and the Vale seeking to make alliances against us, our situation was becoming rather desperate. It was imperative that we started eliminating enemies or at least convert them into allies.

I was still skeptical of becoming friendly with griffins, but even Rian was influenced by Summer’s confidence in the Griffin King. So it was not off the table yet.

Summer’s hand began gliding slowly and sensually down my abdomen toward the rim of my breeches, but I caught her wrist to stop her with a reluctant groan.

“I will respect your desire to wait for as long as you need me to, but I beg you, Summer,please, do not make it any harder on me,” I breathed pleadingly into her neck.

She hesitated in surprise before leaning back so I could watch a wicked smile spreading across her full lips.

“It’s already pretty hard, Sage,” she teased and shifted her thigh suggestively down over my straining cock.

I caught her leg and blinked at her in disbelief that she could be so ruthless as to tease me this way, but after a moment her grin faded sheepishly.

“I could give you… relief—” she tried to offer.

I moved, flipping her off me and pinning her to the bed beneath me so fast she had no time to react.

After what you have told me of your previous lovers, rest assured thatIwill be the one devouringyou, Summer. Over and over until you cannot even think anymore.

She gasped, those silvery-green eyes widening at me, her arms inert beneath my hands holding them down.

“You… how did you do that?” she demanded even as her cheeks heated from my promise to pleasure her.

I was learning quickly that myanamwas especially provoked by my words. She had melted, shutting down almost entirely, every time that I said something remotely provocative to her.She couldn’t help it. Something I was going to thoroughly enjoy exploring with her.

“Do you mean how did I disadvantage you so easily?” I tutted at her playfully. Then I drew her attention to my hips as I tilted them rather suggestively against her pelvis in a way that fully incapacitated her.

“Sage,” she gasped as heat rose in a delicious flush to her cheeks again. Her lips parted, and her brows drew together in an expression of surprised exhilaration I could already tell would be addictive. Gods, I could not wait to see how she’d look at me when I was actually driving my cock inside her. Especially with my marks still covering her neck and chest in a stunning mosaic ofmine.

“You should let me train you, Summer,” I goaded her, lowering my head to trace her pulse leaping erratically in her neck with my lips. “You were obviously well taught, but you require some refreshing.”

“You know that is not what I meant,” she growled, recovering enough to use her nose under my jaw to snap my head back up so she could glare at me. I grinned.

Careful.I am not opposed to playing rough.

She froze again, her thoughts a buzzing whirl behind the barrier of her mind, and her eyes on my mouth that was not moving. She’d never had someone in her mind, that was obvious from her reaction, and she seemed to find it a little unnerving.

“Sage, how are you doing that so easily?” she insisted, looking sincere, so I relented and eased down onto the bed beside her to have a serious conversation.

“I have shared a similar connection to my brothers for a long time. The moment you… opened the door to your own mind, so to speak, I could feel you.”

“Can you… Are my thoughts all visible to you now?” she asked in quiet alarm.

“No, they are not,” I assured her, brushing a soothing hand down her arm. “Which is actually quite impressive. Usually a new bond is like an open wound unconsciously bleeding all your thoughts and emotions. But it is taking an immense effort for me to project my thoughts to you.”

“Why is that? Is our bond not strong?” she asked me anxiously, and I repressed a smile at the irony of her both fearing and desiring such complete immersion with me.

“You need not ever question the strength of our bond. We established that connection for the very first time so far away from one another. That is unheard of.”

“Oh,” she breathed, looking relieved and pleased.

“Most fey can build shields around their mind to keep out influence and magic. But building shields within your mind to protect some parts of you from someone you wish to have inside is not something average fey need to learn. So opening a bond like this is often very raw, but I think after hundreds of years of suppressing what happened to you in Sumarra, you already sealed off much of yourself.”

She was quiet and thoughtful for a moment while she mulled over my words.

“So does that mean that I am… full of walls?”

A strange question, and one that I was not sure how to answer because I was not sure what she meant by it.

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