Page 9 of Fake Fae-Ancée

Bear growled in my mind, louder this time.

"Please, just give me one minute to explain…"

"Fuck off!"

Okay, this was enough. I was fucking done. Apparently it didn't matter that I kept saving her pretty little ass again and again — last night included. A simple thank you would have sufficed and I probably would have reacted differently.

But now, Bear came forward like rolling thunder. I didn’t shift, but he took over nonetheless. I grabbed her wrists. A surprised yelp escaped her as I pinned her to the wall like a bug.

"You will listen to me, woman!" I roared.

Kai looked at me from below, breathing heavily, eyes wide with shock. I pressed her hands left and right above her head against the wall. Unyielding. Only hours before, such a maneuver would have been downright impossible.

She was close now.

I swallowed. Maybe I should have mentioned to her sometime in the past five years that the divorce she’d filed for never actually came to pass, legally. But… she still was my wife, wasn’t she? Making me her husband. And hope was like a weed, actually. Once taken root, it was almost impossible to kill. So I had followed Baba's advice. Stick around. Be present. Protect her. And for heaven's sake, don't upset her more than you already did. She'll come around. Eventually.

Great advice that hadn’t worked.

"What's going on?" Kai whispered, horrified, trying to yank her hands free. She was smaller than I remembered. A mean little fighting machine stripped of her powers, backed into a corner. Without her strength she was just… well almost normal.

"Shut up and listen to me," I growled.

She struggled in my grip, but her squirming had the same effect a caterpillar would have heaving against an ocean liner.

Okay, this felt too good. Bear was growling beneath the surface, on the verge of crashing through my mental walls and pummeling her into submission.

"Let go of me," Kai hissed, her eyes taking on a purple glimmer, usually my cue to take cover.

"What if I don't?"

Really, way too good… Her wrists twitched in my grip, securely pinned against the wall. Bear snarled, a primal sound purring underneath the surface of my soul. I had completely forgotten what I had wanted to tell her that was so damn important. Words I’d wanted to say faded out, crumbling at the edges. There were only her eyes and the bewildered glimmer in them.

Being this close to her had always been dangerous.

"You'll fucking regret this," she said, but the venom in her voice had dissipated. I sank closer. My gaze dipped down to her mouth. Her breath hitched. Her lips opened slightly.

"Yuri..."

She said it in a panicked whisper. Probably meant it as a warning. But her voice was just as longing. And full of rage.

My name on her lips.

I caught it before she could say anything more, closing her mouth with mine. She stiffened, uttering a sound of surprise. And then leaned into me, her lips opening, her body melting in my grip, and everything that stood between us fizzled out, vanishing in one furious kiss. She craned her neck, groaning in surprise, and I pushed her harder against the wall.

"Yuri..."

The kiss deepened, her tongue sliding against mine. Damn the fates that had forged me to this woman! Why couldn't I finally let her go? Why was this still so intoxicating? Her taste flooding my senses, her touch like poisonous fireworks in my veins. Bear gave a deep growl, closer now to the front. Demanding more.

Closer.

She arched against my grip and the intoxicating feeling of being able to overpower her had my control crumbling. I had tried, really tried. But in vain. I couldn't get away from her. We crashed into each other, the tension between us grinding and electric and inevitable.

"Yuri, stop…" she uttered but did not stop. And neither could I. Might as well have stopped an avalanche rolling down the valley, devouring everything in its way.

"Stop it!"

She squirmed, tearing her mouth from mine, glaring from violet eyes. Bear roared in protest, closing the distance immediately, recapturing her lips with another crushing kiss.

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