Page 6 of Conquering the King of Storms

“Thanks.” I tried to step away from him, but he held me firmly.

“The beasts below the surface could take you from me in a heartbeat.” Storm’s expression still looked… controlled. Like he was trying hard not to lose his shit.

I tried again to pull away from him. His grip relaxed, but didn’t budge.

“Got it. I’ll stay by the others.” I gestured toward everyone else, who were in a semi-formed group a lot closer to the edge of the water than Storm and I were. “You can… you know. Let go.” I gestured to my wrist with the hand he wasn’t holding on to.

His nostrils flared, and I flinched.

His body stiffened. “You act as if I could hurt you.”

Iacted as ifhe could hurt me?

Did this guy not understand how size difference worked?

“You’re huge, and buff.” I pointed toward one of his gigantic biceps. Seriously, the guy was bigger than a body builder. He had tattoos on both of his massive arms, and some on his shoulders and back. I had made it a point not to stare at them, but I was pretty damn sure they were artistic depictions of dragons andskulls. Which didn’t exactly make me feel safe.

At all.

“I’m tiny,” I continued, pointing to myself. I’d once broken my wrist just because I tripped over a fuckingrockin my backyard—and I’d been sixteen at the time. So, I was stupidly fragile.

It didn’t usually bother me, but when an ancient, seven-foot-tall fae dude with skull tattoos and biceps the size of my head was standing next to me, I felt like a bug about to get squashed. “Itwouldn’t be hard for you to hurt me. You’d only have to poke me with one of those meaty weapons you call fingers.”

Storm reached toward me, and my whole damned body clenched.

He poked me—right in the cheek.

And then slid his hand around the back of my head, slowly digging it into the curly, tangled blonde bush I called hair. I used to try so hard to make sure it looked nice and was healthy, but that had gone out the window when I woke up in Bluhm… along with toilets, and chocolate, and Steven.

That last thought made my stomach clench.

He tilted my head back slowly, until our eyes met. When his weren’t glowing purple, they were a dark lavender color that was actually kind of beautiful. And when I looked closely at them, I thought I could see the color sort of moving, as if caught in a slow breeze.

“You are my mate. It would be far easier for me to hurt Dissiri than you, and I would end my own life if I ever hurt her. You are, perhaps, the only person truly safe from me in my entire world. Don’t fear me.”

“Easier said than done,” I managed, though my throat was swollen and my body was warm. “Who’s Dissiri? Your girlfriend? Wife?”

His eyes narrowed at me. “Dove. She wanted a nickname like ours, so we gave her one. Dissiri is her given name.” He studied me for a moment before speaking again. “I’ve never taken a woman to my bed. Have you taken a man?”

Oh, wow, fuck.

This was going to be an awkward conversation.

“I was engaged on Earth. My wedding was only a few months away. I was about to… complete my mating ceremony, I guess. His name was Steven.”

Storm’s jaw clenched, and his fingers slowly untangled from my curls. Wind whipped against my face and arms as he stepped away, giving me a little space.

His long, smooth black hair flowed in the damned wind as he said in that same overly-controlled voice, “Wash quickly.”

I eyed him, my heart beating quickly as I kneeled down in the water and resumed scrubbing. The water around me moved with the wind, in motions that could only remind me of agitation.

Though I considered opening my mouth to tell him that I’d been trying to come up with a way to break off my engagement and leave Steven before I was whisked into Bluhm, I stayed quiet.

He wouldn’t understand. Ivy hadn’t understood, Margo sure as hell hadn’t understood. None of my friends on Earth had, either.

Steven was… perfect.

I was lucky.

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