Bound By Darkness (Guardians of Eternity #8)(62)
Author: Alexandra Ivy

“Yeah, you’ve made that painfully clear.”

She again hesitated, as if searching for the right words.

“We work on the barter system.” Her finger shifted to outline his lips in a light caress. “If I’m going to risk my neck to save the world then I intend to get something out of it.”

Ariyal instantly hardened, finding it more and more difficult to concentrate on her words.

“Something?”

“You.”

Oh … thank the gods.

He shuddered with need as he swooped down to press his lips to the curve of her neck.

“That’s precisely what I’m attempting to give you, poppet,” he said huskily, “if only you would cooperate.”

“I want you.” There was a long, dramatic pause. “As my mate.”

Chapter 18

As showstoppers went, this one was a doozy.

As her shocking words sliced through the air, Ariyal instantly went into mannequin routine, remaining frozen in place for what seemed to be an eternity.

Not that she’d expected him to break into song and do cartwheels, she wryly assured herself. Still, she had thought he might be …

Pleased?

Excited?

Delirious with joy?

At last he pulled back to regard her with a wary expression.

“Mate?” His voice was thick with an emotion she found difficult to read, his hands holding on to her hips with a bruising grip. “You said that Hunters aren’t allowed a mate.”

“They aren’t.”

He muttered something beneath his breath. “Then what am I missing?”

She lifted a hand to brush it over the satin heat of his cheek.

“I had no choice about becoming a Hunter, just as you had no choice about becoming prince of your people,” she said, wrinkling her nose at her awkward bumbling. Who knew it was so difficult to ask a man to become her mate? It was a damned good thing she was a Hunter, not a diplomat. “We’ve both been trapped by duty.”

His eyes smoldered with a bronze glow. “And now?”

“I want us to be trapped together.”

Without warning he was spinning away from her, shoving his hands through his chestnut hair until it cascaded down his back in a ripple of satin.

“Dammit, poppet,” he rasped. “You don’t know what you’re doing to me.”

Jaelyn’s fangs lengthened at the sight of Ariyal’s body outlined by the moonlight streaming through the bedroom window. Oh, it would be so easy to be distracted by that chiseled, male perfection.

Wondrously, insanely easy.

With an effort she resisted the urge to close the short distance and explore every sexy inch of those muscles.

“I thought you wanted to be mated?” she accused, feeling unnervingly vulnerable.

It wasn’t a sensation she was used to.

And it was making her downright edgy.

Perhaps sensing her unease, Ariyal turned back to stab her with a frustrated glare.

“Not if it puts you at risk from the Addonexus.”

He worried about her?

Was that why he hesitated?

Relief jolted through her as she offered a slow smile, shimmying out of her tight pants. Obviously he needed to be convinced that she didn’t give a damn about the dangers.

Walking forward she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against his fully aroused body.

“We both know that there’s not much likelihood of us getting out of the caves alive.” She deliberately rubbed against him. “We’ll worry about the Addonexus if we manage to survive.”

He sucked in a sharp breath, but his brow furrowed as if he had been struck by a sudden, unpleasant thought.

“Hold on.”

“What?”

“What if we weren’t facing certain death?”

It was her turn to frown. “I don’t understand.”

“If we weren’t facing imminent death, would you still want to have me as your mate?”

Holding his accusing gaze, Jaelyn took his hand and placed it to her chest. Her heart might not beat, but it functioned just fine when it came to love.

And in this moment it was overflowing.

“Feel,” she commanded softly.

A wicked smile softened his expression as his gaze skimmed over her bare br**sts.

“With pleasure.”

“No, I mean really feel.” She lowered the last of her guards, releasing her too-long-restrained emotions. “You’re my mate whether we exchange blood or not. I just want to make it official.”

She didn’t know what she expected.

Arguments.

Teasing.

Embarrassment.

It wasn’t for Ariyal to slowly kneel before her, his face pressed against the bare skin of her stomach as his arms wrapped around her.

“I thought Morgana le Fay had destroyed all but my loyalty to my people.” His voice was low, raw. “You have given me back my heart.”

She tangled her fingers in the warm satin of his hair, her love for this man blasting through her.

It was nothing she had wanted, or expected, but now she couldn’t imagine how she had ever survived without Ariyal in her life.

“Will you share it with me?”

He tilted back his head to regard her with a somber gaze. “My proud, beautiful Hunter.”

“My stubborn, gorgeous fairy.”

“You forgot sexy,” he softly chided.

“Did I?” She deliberately licked her lips. Hey, it worked in the movies. “Maybe you should remind me.”

On cue, Ariyal surged to his feet, locking his arms around her waist. Then, with gratifying speed he was tossing her onto the mattress and covering her with the welcome heat of his body.

“If you insist,” he murmured.

She stroked her lips down the stubborn line of his jaw. “I do.”

He shuddered in violent response to her teasing caress, turning his head to crush her lips in a kiss of pure demand, his hands lightly tracing up the curve of her waist to cup her br**sts.

Jaelyn moaned in approval, arching her back as he teased the tips of her ni**les into aching peaks. But it was the rich scent of herbs filling the air that made her fangs throb with need.

Wrapping her legs around his hips, she ran her hands up and down his back, urging him put an end to her torment.

“I want you,” she moaned.

“It’s too fast,” he muttered, his mouth pressing frantic kisses over her face before he at last lowered his head to capture her nipple between his lips.

She scraped her nails over his hard ass, smiling as he hissed in pleasure.

“Slow and tender can be good,” she assured him. “But there is a time for fast and hard.”