Page 49 of Kiss of a Hellish Prince

“I want this. I want you. I don’t want to wait. I can’t.”

He stopped me when I tried to unbutton his jeans again. “Tori, you need to know if we go further, then you are mine. I won't do casual, not with you. I can’t take only part of you. I want everything.”

He was serious. He didn’t want this to be a casual onetime thing. In that moment, I realized neither did I.

“I’m yours, if you are mine,” I said.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Rune smiled, then with his hand in my hair, he pulled my lips to his.

When he finally let me unbutton his pants, I was about to slide down the zipper when both of our cell phones started pinging. We were both getting several back-to-back texts.

“Someone had better be dead.” Rune reached over and grabbed his phone, unlocking it. “Fuck. Tori, get dressed. We have to go.”

“Why? What’s happening?” I didn’t want to go. I wanted to come, again and again.

“I just got an SOS from Evie. We need to get downstairs now.”

12

One Way to Raise Your Heart Rate in the Gym

Iwas going to punch that smug grin off his smug face.

My feet were planted the way Kylie showed me. I tightened my core, and I threw my weight behind my fist aimed straight for Rune’s face. He dodged my hit, grabbed my arm, pulled me closer, and fucking tickled me.

I hated being tickled.

It took me a few minutes to get out of his grasp. I was trying to spar, trying to get better. He was goofing off.

“If you want to land a strike, you are going to have to move that sexy ass faster.” He reached out and slapped my ass before hopping back.

When I woke up that morning, the compound was quiet. Apparently, Darrius and Ulric had left to go spend a week in Hell, leaving Rune and Murmur in charge. Kylie went to the Flagstaff location to help with interrogation, and everyone else was enjoying a rare opportunity to sleep in.

I still felt worked up after the night before, not to mention extremely irritated by the cock blocking teens who didn’t know what does and does not classify as an emergency! I figured would go for a run on a treadmill, try to burn off some of the leftover hormones and frustration.

I wasn’t the only one with that idea. When I walked into the gym, Rune was already here. I agreed to spar a bit, which might have been a mistake.

I sank back into a fighting stance. When he did the same, I tried to fake a left punch and then strike with a right. He saw it coming and deflected, then grabbed me and pulled me in to tickle me again.

“Still too slow, gorgeous.”

“That’s not what you were saying last night,” I taunted.

When I got free again, this time a little more annoyed, Rune took off his shirt and threw it on a bench against the wall. Maybe a direct attack was not the way to go here. Maybe I had to be sneakier. Didn’t someone say something at some point about knowing one’s enemy?

“I still cannot believe they sent an SOS because they needed people to play D&D,” Rune said while stretching his arms over his head.

“I can’t believe you are surprised,” I said, shamelessly watching the way his muscles flexed and released while he moved.

“Evie should know better.” He stood back on the mat as he readied for the next round.

Evie and Vivi did manage to rope us into a game. Then they realized that we were putting more effort into playing footsie under the table than actually paying attention to whatever story they had concocted.

The night ended when the girls gave up and Vivi started asking Rune questions about a terror attack that happened a few years before I was even born. Vivi was fascinated with Hell, and she was trying to figure things out. I should have probably paid more attention to what they were saying, but I wasn’t nearly as academically minded as my little sister.

When Vivi started asking about the Folkvang, saying the abrupt attack didn’t make sense, Rune shut her down. That was a mystery for another day.

“So, am I going to defend myself against a lot of demons who just want to tickle me and cop a feel?” I threw out a half-hearted punch, knowing he would catch it and pull me back into his arms.

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