Page 21 of God Touched

"We also have a new sorceress. Give her what she needs, Duncan," Arawan added before dismissing his steward. Duncan knew him well enough to figure out when to drop the subject. At least for the moment.

In the privacy of his own quarters, Arawan unstrapped his sword and stripped off his filthy clothes. The creatures were disgusting, but even covered in their blood, he couldn't stop kissing Imogen.

It had been too much, the fight, the fear that he had felt, the relief when it was over. He ran his hands through his hair. What was it about her?

He couldn't let her die. He had only just gotten her near him and wouldn't lose her because she was so damn reckless. He laughed helplessly. What did he care for one human soul?

Unlike the other gods, Arawan had never paid much attention to the living. Why would he? They had nothing to appeal to him until after they were dead.

But Imogen… There was something about her that made him feel feral. Primal. He wanted her to kill her. He wanted to pin her down and fuck every irreverent thought out of her. He wanted her to smile at him and fight with him. He wanted her to worship him.

Hewanted. It was new and strange. It made him impatient, and that was so out of character that he struggled to know how to process it.

He touched his lips. How long had it been since he had kissed someone? How long had it been since he had fucked someone? He had thought he was too old to have such feelings again. His existence had become so tedious that he had gone deep into the heart of Annwn to sleep the years away.

Nothing felt tedious now. The world he'd woken up to was so loud and fast and immediate.

Imogen was the same—all passion and intensity. She was quick to laugh and quick to anger and quick to kiss him back like she didn't care that she was kissing something unnatural.

It made his chest feel too heavy when she wasn't near and made every part of him burn awake when she was close. It was maddening. It was everything.

Arawan had been in love once. At least, he had thought it was love. He'd had a consort named Brangwen, and Hafgan had stolen her. It was what had started the first war between them. But he hadn't truly taken her … Brangwen had gone to him.

Once she had betrayed Arawan and told Hafgan everything he needed to know, Hafgan had killed her and left her body in pieces on the borders of Annwn. Her shade had been gone without a trace, so he never got to ask when she started hating him.

It had been so long ago that any love he had once known was gone. All that remained was never-ending, burning hatred.

Arawan couldn't remember ever having this feeling of need and awareness. He could feel the heat of Imogen's living soul moving through her rooms, not far from him.

He would have her, but it would be her choice. He was afraid he would crush her, bruise his deadly flower irreparably if he unleashed himself on her.

She kissed you back.

Arawan considered that thought, relived the moment her body had been pressed up against him. The sensation of her rubbing herself against him.

A smile grew when full realization hit him.

What he was feeling—this twisted connection that had him by the throat—she was feeling it too.

11

Imogen was in the bath when her phone started to beep in the other room. Arawan said that he could fix her reception, and he had. She smiled, weirdly touched that he had done that for her with everything else going on.

"Confusing ass god," she mumbled, blowing at the frothy bubbles around her. The tub was massive, and it was the warmest she had felt all day.

Except for when Arawan kissed you.

Damn it. It was rare for her to ever think she was getting in too deep, but flirting with a god was too deep. If he had been a human guy at a bar and had kissed her like that, she wouldn't have hesitated to drag him to the bathrooms and fuck him blind.

She couldn't do that with Arawan. Shewouldn'tdo that. Some things in life were bad for her health, and making out with him had been one of them.

She felt raw and overstimulated from too many days of being wound up, and she knew she would have nightmares that night.

Fucking Arawan.

Imogen rested her head against the lip of the tub, trying to stop her thoughts from racing out of control. She couldn't dismiss his actions as spontaneous either. He had kissed her with purpose because he wanted to. She might confuse the fuck out of him, that much was obvious, but she had felt his desire…it had been pressed up against her.

"Don't think about his dick. You have a spy to catch," she grumbled, and her stomach grumbled back in response. She hadn't eaten since breakfast. No wonder she was grumpy.

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