Page 75 of Rejected Mate

“What can I do to show you I’m here for you?” he asked, his dark eyes searching for mine. “After the funeral, you wouldn’t even look at me. I wanted to hold you. I wanted to…”

Tears welling in my eyes, I glanced up at him. “You wanted to what?”

Anguish flooded his features. “I wanted to take away all the pain you’ve ever felt and feel it for you. I wanted to erase anything that had ever hurt you. I wanted to kiss away your tears, but you wouldn’t even look my way.”

Tears that I’d held back started to slide down my face. “Icouldn’tlook at you. Can’t you guess why?”

He nodded and was quiet for a beat. “How you must hate me? I helped to keep you locked up. You missed the last days with your grandfather because of me.” His head dipped.

I stepped forward and gripped his chin. “Not because of you.” The last of my anger toward him dissolving and letting me see things cleared. “Because of William. He hasn’t given you a single choice since you got to the castle, right?”

Ares paused and then shook his head.

“Did he ever give you a choice, even when he turned you into a vampire?”

Ares’s jaw hardened.

“Then it isn’t your fault.”

“I have to stop him. I can’t let this go on.”

I caressed the cheek that rested against my palm. “We can do it together.”

His arms slid around me and then we were kissing. His softness and longing made my legs weak, not to mention my heart. Ares was a prisoner too. We had a common enemy and needed to find a way to work together to secure both our freedoms, but not only for our sake. This was bigger than I had imagined, and there were many at risk. William’s plans were terrifying, and I’d already seen the cruelty he was capable of. He needed to be stopped.

And I had a feeling the answer to William’s plan and the key to defeating him lay just within reach, and Ares and I could find it together.

Our kiss deepened. I was in mourning, but I also craved his closeness, something solid to cling to in these tumultuous times.

Without thinking and seeking only to feel something good, I pulled him down into the soft grass. It was damp with predawn dew, but all my attention was on Ares, on his body and how every inch seemed carved out of marble, sculpted into the finest male specimen I’d ever laid my eyes on. We lay side by side, gazing into each other’s eyes. I pulled his shirt apart and slid my hands over his chest. Smooth taught muscles dipped and rose beneath my fingertips.

He shivered, one of his hands caressing its way down my hip. “Wren, you drive me crazy.”

I smiled. “A good type of crazy?”

“The best.” Then he leaned forward and licked my lips apart.

Soon, his mouth, his hands, and his deft fingers were coaxing tingles out of me I didn’t even know were possible.

“What about the driver?” I breathed into the hollow of his neck. “Will he come looking for us?”

He shook his head. “He knows to stay in the car until we come back or face my wrath.”

“Then what about the sunrise?” I asked, noting the gray light of dawn all around us.

Ares brushed an errant strand of hair from my face. “Wren, at this moment, I burn for you more than a thousand sunrises.”

His hand went under my shirt, but it stayed at the edge of my bra. There was a question in his gaze, and a nod from me gave him permission. When he cupped one of my breasts, delicious heat exploded between my legs, causing my back to arch. I clung to him, reveling in the raw sweetness of his touch.

Ares reached down, grasped the edge of my shirt, and pulled it over my head. His eyes raked over me with hunger, making me want him even more. He removed his shirt next and, along with mine, blanketed it over the ground. I sucked in a breath, admiring the perfection of his body from his round pecs to the hard lines of his eight pack to his perfect V. But before I could get a good look, he lifted me as if I weighed nothing, he moved me to lay on top of our shirts.

Unbuttoning my pants, I pulled them off with Ares’s help. He did the same until he lay next to me in tight boxer briefs.

I shivered with anticipation. I’d pictured this for so long. No matter how many times I’d tried to deny it, I’d wanted nothing more than to claim Ares Raith as my own.

With practiced hands, I removed my bra. His eyes went dark and his fangs elongated over his lower lip. I had the power to drive him crazy, and it felt good. Taking him by surprise, I grabbed his shoulders, pushed him down, and crawled on top of him.

He hissed in a breath as I slithered up his body, brushing my torso against his.

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