Page 15 of Possess Me at Midnight
After shaking branches and crunching leaves under my boots, I listen. I’m relieved when Mathias’s minions dash toward me. By the time they figure out it’s a ruse, the princess and I will be long gone. Hopefully.
In a flash, I teleport back across the river, to the base of the tree in which Sabelle huddles, shivering and looking terrified. She’s smartly pulled her long, golden curls behind her back so that only the crown of her hair glows in the moonlight. For both warmth and concealment, she’s curled up into a ball, clutching her knees, cloaked in dark denim, against her chest.
“You all right, princess?” I pull myself up on one of the sturdy, low-lying branches before hauling myself up beside Sabelle.
“Can we escape now?”
I hold up a finger to stay more questions, just in case some of the Anarki have remained behind to keep watch on this side of the river. We can’t give away our position. Since a woman can write her true wish in the Doomsday Diary and have it granted, even the onslaught of doomsday if she has the proper power and passion, Mathias can never be allowed near the book again.
Balancing my big feet on branches that flank Sabelle, I lift her into my arms. She gasps and tenses but quickly forces herself to relax. I settle her in my lap, pulling her naked back against my chest. Heat flares where our skin touches, a dangerous contrast to the biting cold.
“I’ve got you,” I vow, my breath stirring the fine hairs at her nape.
She shivers and nestles closer. I will myself to ignore how bloody soft she is…but it’s no use. The velvety curve of her breast brushes against my thumb with every exhalation. This close, her addicting scent fills my nose and scrambles my head. I stifle a groan. Holding Sabelle—knowing she’s placed her precious life in my hands—is exquisite torture.
Every nerve in my body flares. Against my will, I tense. My cock turns stiff as steel, as it does every time I’m near her. I swallow a curse, but there’s no hiding my reaction. No doubt, she feels it, but better she understands now how she affects me, even if nothing will ever come of it.
My primal attraction to the princess isn’t my most pressing problem. We’ll likely be stuck together overnight. Maybe even for days before we reconnect with Duke and the rest of the Doomsday Brethren. The fact we can’t teleport without being detected throws a serious wrench into every plan I’ve made.
But I’ll work around that. I have no choice.
Energy, however… That’s a huge worry. What will I do when my magic needs the charge necessary from sex? My usual outlet is hundreds of kilometers away. And though Sabelle is sitting in my lap, she’s far out of my reach.
In lieu of sexual energy, I’ll have to rile her up and hope her fury provides me enough juice. The arrangement isn’t optimal, and I’d rather cut off my arm than hurt her. But better to anger her than insult her with my lowly touch.
“Don’t move,” I murmur in her ear. Bloody hell, even her hair smells incredible. “I think they’ve fallen for my distraction, but I want to make certain no Anarki remain on this side of the bank before we make a run for the village.”
She nods. “Thank you. They were creeping terribly close.”
“Of course.” When I imagine what the Anarki would have done if they captured magickind’s most prized female, I shudder.
I tighten my arms around her, and closing my eyes, I breathe her essence. I savor her for a forbidden moment. No one, least of all Mathias, will ever touch a hair on her head—not while there’s a breath left in my body.
But to keep that vow, I have to get us out of this valley alive.
It seems as if we’ve eluded Mathias and the Anarki when a twig snaps directly beneath our tree. My arm tightens protectively around Sabelle. Quickly, I cup my hand over Sabelle’s lips to smother her gasp.
In the moonlight filtering through the branches, I catch the flash of a silver insignia on black robes.
Mathias left someone behind, after all. And he’s looking directly up at us.
Chapter
Seven
In the moonlight, the Anarki goon opens his mouth to alert the others. My rage spills over. No one threatens what’s mine to protect.
Placing a hand in front of Sabelle and silently urging her to stay put, I lock onto his shocked stare for a fraction of a second, then flick my wand. His voice dies in his throat as my silencing spell takes hold—but that won’t stop him from teleporting away to alert the others.
Sabelle tenses, but she smartly nods as I slip from our perch like a shadow. I manage to land behind the robed figure with barely a whisper of sound, taking advantage of his momentary confusion to hook my arm around his neck. He thrashes, fingers clawing at my forearm, but I have too much at risk to allow myself to be overpowered by one of Mathias’s lackeys.
With a harsh jerk of my arm, I channel a burst of cold magic through my grip. His body goes rigid, then limp, frost coating his eyelashes.
As I lower him to the ground, I feel Sabelle’s shocked stare on me. I look up to find her wide-eyed—not in horror but something like relief. That expression pierces me in a way no blade ever could. She’s seeing me for what I am: dangerous but not to her. Never to her.
With the momentary threat neutralized, I hold up a finger to stay Sabelle. She must be freezing, and the tree branch can’t be comfortable, but she doesn’t complain. She doesn’t even fidget. She merely nods and waits. Three blessedly silent minutes tick by, punctuated by the occasional sound of Anarki still across the river, beating the trees to find us.
Fog rolls in. It’s a blessing and a curse. The thick haze will hide us. But the temperature drops, and I fear rain soon. I can withstand the freezing wet, but Sabelle… I doubt her pampered existence has conditioned her to endure it. I must get her to shelter quickly.
