Page 175 of The Delta's Rogue
I cling to the wisp of the bond winding its way through the massive wall of fog it’s been trapped behind like I cling to the flames of bliss dancing within my veins. I slow my movements, hoping to draw out the moment and keep it from fading.
“Sarina…” Sebastian shakes beneath me, my name on his lips a long groan echoing in my ears. “Eres más hermosa que la luna y las estrellas.”
You are more beautiful than the moon and the stars.The words repeat in my mind, echoing in both Spanish and English, as I collapse against him.
Our mouths meet again, twisting in slow, passionate kisses meant to express more than any words can. We embrace each other as our movements slow, our hearts return to a normal rhythm, and our orgasms fade. My enhanced senses, which Sebastian’s touch awakened, diminish along with the ecstasy, but hope blooms in the space left behind.
Because for a moment, I felt the bond. I felt it all, stronger than I have yet since he found me.
Sebastian grabs my cheeks and lifts my eyes to his, meeting my gaze with a vulnerability that verges on pain.
“What?” I ask him, still breathless from our encounter. “What’s wrong?”
He strokes my face with one hand, shaking his head. “I just… I missed you so much.” His voice cracks with his confession.
I rest my forehead against his, keeping my palms on his solid chest. “I missed you too,mi vida. Leaving you… It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”
His arms wrap so tightly around me that his fingertips almost touch his shoulders. He keeps me in his embrace, holding me close like he’s done so many times before.
“I’m just glad I have you back.” His voice is clearer now and filled with conviction. “You’re back, you’re safe, and I’m never letting you go again.”
Punch right. Dodge left.Forward roll around their legs to kick out at their ankles, then grab their arms to pin them to the ground.
“Good. Again.” Sebastian nods at me with his arms crossed.
I hop off of Maddie. Sweat dampens my skin, and my breath is speedy, but I toss a smile in Sebastian’s direction as I help Maddie to her feet. He wears a stony, serious expression—he’s in full head warrior mode—but he throws me a quick wink, and there is a glint of pride in his eyes as he watches me practice.
Maddie and I cross to our respective zones in the makeshift sparring ring at the center of my old clearing and crouch into a ready position.
“Go!”
Maddie lunges for me, but I back away, curving my body to avoid the swipe of her hand. She’s quick to recover and uppercuts with her other hand, and I spin out of reach, striking backwards with my elbow as I do. She expects it and grabs it, twisting and spinning me to face her again.
Her knee meets my stomach. The wind knocks out of me. I stumble backwards from the force of her hit, and she darts forward, landing two jabs to my stomach and one to my chin. My teeth knock together, but I shake it off and stay focused on the fight.
This isn’t the first hit I’ve taken while training with Maddie.
She launches into a fourth hit, but I’m ready for her. I grab her fist and wrench her arm around, twisting it as hard as I can. I spin under her arm to yank it fromits socket, but before I can, I’m attacked from behind, laid out on the ground with my cheek pressed into the grass.
My surprise attacker grabs my wrists and tugs them behind my back, twisting them together with their hands like shackles.
The white-hot silver of metal cuffs burns into my skin, and the clanking of chains rings in my ears. The air, cold and unyielding, rakes across my naked skin. People jeer and laugh all around me.
“Show us how pretty you are, sweet girl.” Amara taunts me with her saccharine smile and her faux-motherly tone. She wraps her hands around the ends of my very short dutch braids and yanks my face from the floor. “That wasn’t so bad, was it?”
I shake my head and fight her hold on me, bucking myself from right to left to get her off.
“I’m so proud of you.”
Her voice is a whispered echo in my mind. It bounces off every surface of my brain and etches itself into my memories and my soul.
“Lemon!” I force the word out with every ounce of strength I have. “Lemon!”
“STOP!”
A powerful, compelling aura pulses across the clearing. The body on top of me leaps off with no hesitation.
Sebastian kneels next to me. I curl in on myself and hug my knees.
