Page 82 of Silent Lucidity

This had been, at best, insulting. Abella’s trust in Alkorin was the only thing that had spared the sedhi significant pain.

He clenched his jaw, tightened his hold on Abella slightly, and walked toward the alley’s exit at a deliberately slow pace. That he was so easily provoked by Alkorin only increased Tenthil’s anger. He was capable of far more discipline, far more control, than he’d exhibited as of late.

Control and discipline will only serve me now when they can keep Abella safe.

“Tenthil.”

Abella’s voice broke through his tumultuous thoughts. He stopped and turned his head just as she placed her hand on the back of his neck, drawing him down to press her lips to his. Tenthil’s brows shot up in surprise, but quickly fell as his eyelids drifted shut.

She kissed him hard, teasing his mouth open with her tongue. He tugged her body against his as her tongue slipped into his mouth to slide along his fangs. A shudder swept through, and more of that sweet mating venom flowed into his mouth. When she deepened the kiss, Tenthil lost all sense of awareness, lost hold of his fury.

There was only Abella—his mate, his everything—and her delicious taste.

After one last nip on his lower lip, Abella broke the kiss and drew her head back. Her eyes met his. “I love you.”

She’d spoken quickly, breathlessly, but her words were no less impactful than if she’d shouted them—they pierced his chest, and a new heat spread outward from his heart, so far removed from the fires of his anger that its existence seemed impossible.

Abella slid her hand into his hair and clutched the strands between her fingers, producing a tantalizing sting on his scalp.

“It’s probably crazy—I’mprobably crazy,” she said, “but I know what I feel, and what I feel for you is real. And I wanted you to know just in case…in case anything…”

Tenthil cupped her face between his hands and covered her lips with his thumbs, silencing her. He shook his head; he would not allow anything to happen. Wouldn’t even entertain the possibility. His gaze moved over her features as he stroked her kiss-swollen lips.

He had wanted Abella from the moment he’d first seen her. His want had quickly grown into a need, into anobsession, and had pushed him to do things that violated everything he’d been taught for most of his life—making him an immediate target for the Order.

Abella was his mate. He’d doanythingfor her, endure any amount of pain to keep her from harm. There was nothing he cared about more than Abella.

When she’d asked him to love her days before, he had only truly understood the request in physical terms—he felt a deep, undeniable affection toward her, but he hadn’t even known if he was capable oflove.

So much had changed in the short time since. It was only putting a name to what he already felt for her, defining his emotions with a deceptively simple term, but he understood now how important it was.

He’d always believed that actions were more important than words, that they were all that truly mattered, but he knew different now. Words could be a sort of action of their own, and sometimes…

Sometimes, some things needed to be said aloud.

“Love you, too,” he rasped.

Her lips light brushed his thumbs as they spread into a wide smile, revealing her flat, white teeth. “Really? You do? Like, not just in an instinctual—”

Tenthil shifted his thumbs aside and silenced her with a kiss, pouring everything he might have said into the contact between their lips. Abella moaned and pressed closer. The scrape of her nails over his scalp elicited a pleased rumble from his chest.

After.

That quickly, he neededafterto comenow.

He pulled back and met her half-lidded gaze. “Need you. Need to go.”

“Mhmm,” she replied.

She nestled against his side when he slipped his arm over her shoulders. They turned and walked toward the exit of the alley at a hurried pace.

The alley guards stepped aside without comment when Tenthil and Abella neared; Tenthil felt the azhera’s weighted gaze on him as he led his mate past, felt that stirring of instinctual protectiveness, that need to assert dominance, but he had something much more powerful on his mind now—Abella.

He needed her, yes—needed her to the point that he ached with it—but the joy that had sparkled in her eyes today had ignited something new within him. They were so close to achieving their goal. So close to leaving this place behind and starting a new life somewhere else. And shelovedhim. That was more than a claim on him, more meaningful, morepowerful.

This wasn’t the first time he’d allowed himself the luxury of hope, but he’d mainly pushed forward through stubbornness and willpower up until now. It had been better not to think about the overwhelming odds they faced. And, though he’d not allowed himself to doubt that they’d make a future together, he’d not dared imagine it. But now, for the first time, he had some understanding of how that future might feel, of how it would feel totrulybe with her.

They emerged onto the side street and followed it to the main street, where they fell into the flow of the crowd. Despite the alien bodies surrounding them, Tenthil remained focused on Abella. He could feel the steady beat of her heart through their clothing, and his skin tingled beneath the hand she held on his side. The drive to mate with her, to place his claim on her anew, to pump that sweet venom into her veins, was immense and instinctual, and he would not be able to deny it for long.

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