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He tried to iirl, suffering that cutting, and it alht hih I don’t knohat all he loaded into it I shouldn’t have been able to leave the mountain Every time I’ve tried in the past, I’ve hit a wall at the outer warding, then been consumed by so ot me out of there"

"You were unconscious If you suffered, I didn’t know it" His brows dren as another thought occurred to hi extend that far?"

"Only recently After Vhyper arrived, Birik beca what kind of power I could draw from Ferals Vhyper and I created sparks between us, but they weren’t the right kind"

So coiled in his chest "Did Vhyper hurt you?"

"No, not really He kissed me, and I hated it I’ve never had an affinity for snakes, nor for the soulless"

"He’s not soulless" The words came out hot and fast But as he watched Skye visibly tense, he forced himself to cal to find a way to free hiaze "I hope you do"

Paenther nodded once He would "Anyway" he prompted

"Anyway, Vhyper assured Birik other Ferals would co for hi to include the Market" A fleeting smile flickered across her face "It was the first time since I was a child that I’d been able to touch the outside world I spent two days in that place, watching the television, looking at theover the junk food before the day you finally arrived"

"Drooling? You didn’t buy any?"

"I didn’t have anythat she didn’t have the power of a witch, to control the ain, he suspected she wouldn’t have taken even if she’d been able to Stealing wasn’t in her nature anyof innocent creatures He wasn’t sure how he knew that, but he’d bet money on it

"How did Vhyper know I’d wind up at the Market?"

"It’s the only public building on the mountain"

Paenther considered that "I won’t send you back there"

"I don’t want you to" The strength in her eyes hardened "I meant what I said to Lyon I won’t be used to free more Daemons" Fire leaped in her blue-and-copper eyes as she released her legs and rose to her knees "I’m not your enemy, Paenther I’m not the enemy of any of your people I hate Birik I hate what he’s doing, and I’ll do anything to help you stop hi I know you can never completely trust me, but trust me in this Please?"

He pushed away from the wall and went to her, as drawn to the fire of her conviction as to the woe of the bed in front of her, mere inches from her knees

"I do trust you" He reached for her hand and took it in his "But I want you to trust me, too Trust me when I tell you I don’t hurt women, not without certain cause" His thu the soft flesh of her pale of his flesh "It et past the copper in your eyes It’s been a syet easily"

With his free hand, he reached for her face, glad she didn’t turn away As he slid his fingers along the silken line of her jaareness rippled through the air between them "But I won’t hurt you, Skye"

To his surprise, she lifted her hand, her soft pale of his jaw Her eyes softened and glistened, tightening the band of tenderness around his heart

"Noto stroke his cheek,him ache with the need to take her into his arms "No matter what you ultimately have to do with me, I want you to know you’re the finesthe intended to ultimately do with her was protect her But he couldn’t make that promise Not when there were still so many unknowns about her role in all this

Besides, her words made his conscience rebel "How can you think that when I’ve hurt you?" Not only had he torn a chunk from her arm, but he’d scared them both by what he’d almost done to her in the prison

"You never hurt ers slid into his hair, sliding through the locks,hiht you were going to hurtyou, was reprehensible"

"You didn’t have a choice"

She looked away, even as her fingers dug more deeply into his hair as if she needed to anchor herself Her eyes, when they looked up again, were deep wells of regret "I did have a choice, though I almost told you to run that day, the day I led you into the woods I was terrified of ould happen to you if I captured you Birik had assured me I’d be able to keep my Feral, that he didn’t mean to kill you, but I knew he’d do whatever he wanted His word o, Birik would only capture another Feral for erstendrils of lush exciteaze flicked back to his, her eyes lu the heat he felt in his own

"I didn’t want another Feral, Paenther I wanted you It was selfishness that made me lead you into the woods that day I wanted you inside me And I wanted to keep you"

Her adered him, but all it did was inflame him more Because the truth was, from the moment he first laid eyes on her, he’d wanted her, too His hands slid into her soft hair and he pulled her to him and kissed her, a tender kiss meant to cherish instead of dominate A kiss he wanted to share instead of take<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>