Page 48 of The Stolen Bride

My pulse kicked into an erratic sprint. He’d run to get to me, all because I’d made a noise of distress. Okay, that settled it. I seriously liked this man.

“No, no trouble.” I didn’t mean to, but I smiled as I stood. Maybe I exaggerated the roll of my hips a little on my walk over. “I’m good.” Mostly. He wasn’t, though, his breathing still labored. I flattened a palm against his damp sternum, between two of the world’s most amazing pecs. “All is well, baby. I mean Snarls. I mean Tor. I promise. My sister contacted me via the ring, and when she disappeared, I overreacted. My sincerest apologies. I shouldn’t have bellowed while living in a campground with a group of berserkers. Lesson learned.”

He clasped my fingers and lifted my hand, gazing at the ring in the light. “What else was said?” Though he growled the words, I sensed the danger had passed. The intensity in his eyes faded as his fingers entwined with mine. “She couldn’t have contacted you without Deco’s knowledge.”

“Oh, he knew.” I was going to tell Viktor all of it. I must. I’d promised to hide nothing from him. If he decided to hit the road before we had a plan to combat those bugs, I’d talk him out of it. “Look. Deco gloated about having more traps for us. You were right about that. One of them involves flesh-eating bugs. He also mentioned he, well…he has the Valkara in his custody.”

Tension gobbled up every molecule of air. “Did you see her?”

“No. But Juniper told me the Valkara is her cellmate, and there’s no way my sister would lie to me.”

His eyes slitted. “How can you know that? You do not know her.”

“Because…just because! She’s my sister.” My other half. Bonded to me. “Also, I don’t like what you’re implying.”

“I take nothing back.” He offered no more on the subject, but I heard the words he kept to himself.You have spent no time with her. Have no idea about her character, her life, what she believes or loves or hopes for in the deepest recesses of her heart. She might be working with Deco.

And I got it. After all, he’d loved Deco like a brother, fought by his side, and risked his own life only for the royal to betray him. “Since you aren’t freaking out, I can only assume you believe the Valkara isn’t a prisoner.”

“Just because a woman claimed to be her doesn’t mean she is.”

“What if the Valkara is the one aiding Deco?” I asked, stepping away and severing contact.

“She isn’t.”

“You’re so certain she’s loyal to you. Has she told you she is or isn’t a prisoner?”

He worked his jaw. “Since I rejected her last attempt to speak to me, she has ceased all attempts at communication.”

Good! The woman wanted me dead.

“But she isn’t the prisoner. She’s too powerful to be captured. Deco sought to trick us, nothing more.” His gaze fastened on my lips and remained. Warm shivers intensified my desires as awareness thickened the air. Seconds…minutes passed and neither of us moved on.

If he didn’t do something soon, I’d…I’d…

He shot out his arm, clasped my wrist, and yanked me against him.

Air pffed from me. With my chest pressed against his,and our joined hands positioned behind my back, I was well and truly trapped. And I loved it.

He brushed the tip of his nose against mine. “I suspect the Valkara cannot speak to me because my head is filled with thoughts of kissing you.”

My heart tripped over itself. “Is that so?”

He continued to stare at my mouth. Glared, really. “It is.”

I glided my tongue over my bottom lip and leaned into him. “And you want me to do something about it, because you’re super into me?”

“Very much so,” he rumbled, low and soft and husky, dipping his head. His emerald gaze crackled with inner flames. “I’m absolutelyintoyou, and you’re only making it worse.”

I swallowed, then swallowed again. With ten words, he’d snuck past every defense I’d thought I’d erected.

“Same, baby. Same.” With a mewl, I rose on my tiptoes and finally did it. I claimed his mouth with my own.

He groaned and opened for me. Then he took over, thrusting his tongue against mine. One stroked the other. The kiss intensified and sped up, as if he’d finally found a source of oxygen and couldn’t get enough. As if he’d waited his entire life for this moment. I could only thrill. The sweetness of his taste proved intoxicating, and the heat of his body melted my bones.

Dazed, I poured myself into him, kissing him back with all the passion contained in my body. More little mewling sounds slipped out as thoughts died, one after the other. There was only Viktor and this embrace. This world-rocking, life-changing exchange of breaths.

“Love. Don’t stop.” His grip on my fingers tightened. Bending his knees, he scooped me up with his freehand. As he straightened, lifting me off my feet, I slung my unbound arm around his shoulders, finding balance and pressing ever closer.

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