Page 83 of Monster's Pretty Bride

“There isn’t.”

I refuse to accept that.

I can’t.

“You’re lying,” I breathe. “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

His eyes darken. “Does it matter?”

“Yes!”

The word slams into the space between us, sharp and raw.

Because it does. It matters.

I hate him.

I don’t.

He’s my enemy.

He isn’t.

I should kill him but I can’t.

His gaze locks onto mine, his breathing uneven, his muscles coiled with something unspoken.

I don’t understand this. I don’t understand him.

But the thought of him dying, of losing him, is a fist closing around my heart.

I can’t stop it.

How do I let him go?

37

NARANUS

Her lips crash into mine as if she’s burning alive, and I’m the only thing that can quench the fire.

It’s not a slow kiss, not hesitant or questioning. It’s brutal. Desperate. Starved. Her hands grab onto my arm, pulling me down, closer, as if she needs to consume me to breathe. And damnation take me, I let her.

I wrap my arms around her, lifting her easily, pressing her against me so tightly it should be painful. Maybe it is. Maybe I want it to be. My claws dig into the soft curve of her waist, holding her in place, my fangs scraping over her bottom lip as I devour her, tasting everything she offers.

She shudders against me, her body trembling, whether from exhaustion, desire, or grief, I don’t care. I don’t stop. I refuse to. If she wants to kiss me like this, as if her very existence depends on it, then I’ll take every last shred of it. Because I need it, too.

Her small hands are restless, roaming over my chest, nails scraping over my battle-worn skin. I catch a scent that is unmistakably hers, dark, rich, intoxicating. My control is fraying at the edges, slipping through my claws, and I don’t fight to hold on.

Not this time.

I spin her, pressing her against the cold, unyielding surface of the war chamber’s stone table. Maps and battle plans scatter to the floor, parchment crumpling beneath us, but I don’t care. There is no battle plan that matters more than this. Thanher. Thanus.

She gasps, her fingers gripping my shoulders, nails biting into my flesh as I cage her there. Her violet eyes are wide, her lips parted, breath heaving. She’s trembling still, but I see something in her eyes, resolve. A decision made. A storm brewing.

She wants this. Wantsme.

“Are you trying to distract me from killing you?” she breathes, her voice wrecked, her words laced with something sharp and broken.

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