Page 105 of Savage Blood
His knee forced my legs apart and rubbed my aching center. “Why do you have to tempt me so damn much? Why can’t you be with him and let him heal you?”
“We can find another way to get rid of this sickness,” I murmured, rocking my hips and letting the friction build. “It doesn’t have to be him.”
“No.” Fane pushed away, leaving me cold and trembling with need against the wall. “Lethimscratch this fucking itch for you.”
Hot rage crashed over me, but it didn’t lessen the ache blooming deep in my core. “Why are you so adamant about this? When Saint held me away from Marissa after I shifted, you freaked out. And now you’re telling me to go have sex with him?”
Fane’s massive fist slammed into the wall near my head, breaking easily through plaster and drywall. Bits of the materials rained on my boots, white particles speckling the black like snow.
“After I calmed down that night, I realized something,” he said.
My breaths grew ragged, anticipation crackling in the air. “What’s that?”
“I would rather share you with him than watch you die.”
As the words poured out of Fane’s mouth, each one another dagger to my heart, the desperation and anguish he tried to shield from me broke through his barriers. The urge to reach for him and take his pain wrapped around my neck, stealing my air.
But if I tried, he’d only raise those brick walls again and vanish into the shadows.
So instead, I plastered my palms to the icy wall behind me, my eyes burning with unshed tears. “I love you too much to be with anyone else.”
Fane’s clenched fists trembled by his sides as his nostrils flared like those of a wild animal on the verge of attacking. “And I love you too fucking much to be selfish, no matter how much I want to. No matter how much it hurts to see you with him.”
“Just tell me the truth, then,” I pleaded, my voice barely audible over the thudding music. “Tell me if you remember us before Kaspin’s spell.”
Fane’s lids lowered, those thick, sooty lashes creating half-moons on his cheeks. He stood there, his muscles tightening and chest heaving as a battle raged through his mind. My bottom lip quivered while I helplessly watched him struggle.
We’d been through so much, too much, together, and there might never be a perfect, peaceful life for us.
But I never wanted perfect. I just wanted him. More than I wanted air.
When Fane’s eyes finally opened, those blue and gold orbs seared all the way to my soul. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed hard.
“I remember,” he finally whispered. “I remember every fucking thing.”
Tremors raced through me, and if I hadn’t been leaning against the wall, I would have fallen. “Everything?”
“I remember the first moment I saw you on this very balcony. You were so fucking beautiful I couldn’t look away. Even when the enchanted bloodstone marked you as Warin’s killer, I still wanted to touch you, taste you, bury myself in you.”
“You did?” He’d certainly been good at pretending to hate me.
Well, wedidhate each other, but that didn’t mean we didn’t want each other.
“I remember sinking my teeth into your throat to give you my shifter bite, and for the first time in my entire life, I didn’t feel alone. I would never be alone again. You would be with me.” He lifted my hand and held it to his chest, his heart racing. “Youwould be here. Always.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks as memories of that night flooded my mind. “I never knew anyone could feel as lonely as I did until that moment.”
Fane stepped into me, pressing his body into mine as our noses brushed together. “The first time I heard your voice in my head, I was so pissed, but not because I hated the invasion.Not at all. I was ashamed of loving it so much, for wanting to hear it all day, every day.”
I took a ragged inhale, breathing in his familiar scent of warm fire, leather, and cinnamon. “Fane, I?—”
He pressed his finger to my lips to quiet me. “When that agrigon bit you and we had to race toward Logan’s, I was so scared of losing you. And it had nothing to do with the Infernal Sol being destroyed if you’d died.”
A sob slipped out of me, and I grabbed his shoulders, my fingers digging in. “What else did you lie about, Maverick? Are all these tattoos real, or do you paint them on to make your look more badass?”
His broken laugh made my heart ache. “I’ve loved you for a long time, Tate, much longer than you think. That night in Heldrok wasn’t the first time I realized it.” His forehead rested on mine, his hot breath teasing my lips. “Maybe I’ve loved you since the moment we fought in the alley, when you unleashed that smartass mouth.”
Unable to resist any longer, I lifted on my toes and found his lips. I kissed him with everything I had, telling him how much he meant to me. Fane wasn’t the sharing, emotional type, but he’d just poured his heart out to me. The least I could do was make damn sure he knew I felt the same.
