Page 60 of Trapped By Claws
The moment that moan escaped me, his arms tightened around me. He engulfed me as I clung tight. My fingers tangled in his hair.
Salt's bane, this fae could kiss! That rumbling purr that vibrated through his chest drove me wild. I needed to be close to him.
I had to be closer!
"Mine," he growled against my mouth.
Before I could repeat it, his mouth devoured mine.
My hands rubbed along the contours of his shoulders and up the back of his neck before curling once again in his silky-soft hair. Sharp jolts of pleasure shot through me as I rubbed against him. I loved him. He was mine, and I was his.
I knew what I wanted.
I wanted him.
"My sweet mate," he gasped. The sound grew ragged as his eyelids shuttered, and he held me tighter, his forehead pressing to mine. "And I have to let you go." His voice shook at the end, racked with pain.
His words cut through me. I froze.
No.
No!
I wasn't going to lose him.
"Come with me," I said hoarsely. My fingers pressed against his scalp and neck as I clung to him. "You and Tagger. Come with me. We'll find a way. We'll get you away from the King of the North Sea. We'll get you away from all of this."
He dipped his head forward. A shudder passed through him as he held me closer. "I don't know how this happened. I don't understand it. But, darling, you are the most precious gift in my life, and I can't let them destroy you."
"Listen to me." I bit back a sob. "Just listen to me, Corvin. You have to come with me. They've been lying to you all your life. Those herbsaresuppressants. They've blocked you from finding your mate and shifting. You aren't diseased. They're using you and the other shifter fae. Harvesting your blood. Keeping you isolated. You started burning through the medicine after we met because…"
He pressed his finger to my lips, his bright eyes soft now. "All my life," he whispered, his voice rough and resonant with emotion. "All my life I have been alone. I thought I would always be alone. I had no mate, yet I longed for one. And now it turns out there was someone for me. Even better, she's the one I would have picked if I could."
I knew what I felt. It was intoxicating, powerful, and comforting all at once. "So you do feel the bond? That's what this is?" I wanted to stay in his arms forever. To never be apart from him. It all made sense.
He nodded as he nuzzled me, but sadness filled his voice. "The mate bond is coming into place. It's working in my blood and my core even now. But, my dear sweet, beautiful Mena, it doesn't matter. It's more important than ever that I get you to safety. The only comfort that will be left to me is knowing you are alive and safe."
"Why can't you come with me? If you get onto the island, we'll protect you. I'll fight to the death to protect you!"
"The magic prevents me from setting foot on the island of my own will. Even if you dragged me onto the land, it would pull me back eventually." He shrugged. "The best I'll be able to do is get you back to your mother. Hosvir has already alerted Baider.Another ship is on its way. The boundary line will shift again, and they will be able to rescue you. Now come on. Once the king discovers my treachery, he'll start activating the claws in my wrist. If I'm in the water when that happens, it will make me far easier to track."
"Then we'll find some other way," I said sharply. "I'm not leaving you behind. What about the temple with the staircase and the portal?" I ripped out the book from my pocket and opened it to one of Mama's drawings. "The one whose twin is on that island."
He scowled. "It would still require going in the open waters unless we took the cave passages. But do you know how dangerous those are? They're dark and cold and narrow. And there's no guarantee that that portal will work when we reach it. No one has entered the temple for decades."
"Mama said that the only reason that the portal hasn't worked on the grounded staircase is because the right runes aren't being used. I know how to make those. Or I can figure it out based on what she wrote." I flipped to the section where it listed reagents for the basin to empower the runes. They were relatively basic: stone, lavender, caraway, feathers, blood of the speaker, fire. Easy enough to obtain. Fire would be the hardest, but I had my flint. And I knew there was oilcloth in the storeroom. "And the portal would open up. We'd jump into the middle of the island and hold on to you long enough to open the portal up to another place. Then we'd jump through and sever the last of that bond!"
He shook his head, pushing the book down. "You don't comprehend how dangerous the cave paths are, darling. I can't guarantee that you'll come out alive on the other side."
"Does the cave path allow us to reach the temple without swimming through the open ocean or at least cut down on our time in the ocean?"
His jaw clenched. "You might not survive it. Risking the open waters, even with the leviathans and the water fae pursuing us, isn't as dangerous for you. And unlike in the caves, if something happens to me, you'd have a chance of reaching the surface while I dealt with them."
"You're fast, but I doubt you can swim faster than a leviathan." I gripped his hand.
His brow lifted slightly. Then he shrugged.
Son of a scallop! He hadn't planned on surviving at all. It wasn't just a high chance he wouldn't make it. My mate planned to lay down his life to save me.
