mine. Her neck was arching. Inviting me.
“Everything is going to be fine now,” she said softly. “You’re making me warmer.”
Water dripped from her hair, along the curves of her shoulders, her skin puckered with goosebumps. Her nipples were hard in the cool air, her mouth half open with desire.
So tempting to just grab her, to take her up against the stone, my mouth on her throat. But I’d take my time with her. When I touched her shoulder, I found her body ice-cold to the touch.
I pressed in closer, sliding my hand up her back, into her hair. I pulled her head back and leaned down to brush my lips over her throat. She wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me to her. I could hear her breathing quickening, and I was enjoying having her here in my thrall.
I could feel it now—my heart beating. Life pulsing within me. I kissed her neck, tasting her. My tongue swirled over her skin, my thoughts becoming muddled. I was fighting the urge to break the skin, to release her blood…
I pulled away a little bit, leashing myself to stay in control. Then I slowly trailed kisses down her throat. I could hear her heart beating, feel her pulse throbbing beneath her skin.
I was battling a ferocious need to possess her completely, to make her mine, body and soul. I skimmed my teeth over her throat. My eyes slid over her body once more, and I fought the overwhelming need to rip off those damp pieces of white cloth. She smiled at me, hips moving closer to me. My blood roared in my ears like I was alive again.
I traced my fingertips down, from her shoulders to her wrists. I watched her shiver as I touched her, like her body was exquisitely sensitive. Normally, she seemed so fierce, but now she was helpless before me, desperate to be touched.
My assassin—tamed.
I gripped her wrists and pinned them above her head. I leaned down, pressing my lips to hers, kissing her deeply. A low growl rose from me, and I was dangerously close to losing control. I felt her damp body against mine, her soft breasts brushing my chest. I wanted to fill her. When she moaned a little, fire shot through me.
As my mouth claimed hers, I felt like I could see into her soul again—to the first time she saw the sunlight, her eyes dazzled. I wanted to keep her in the light, always. As we kissed, it was like we became one, souls twined together. I pulled away from the kiss with a nip of her lower lip.
When I ran my hands slowly down her arms, I heard her gasp. Gods, I wanted her naked, but I was staying in control. My heart was beating now, strong in my chest.
I lifted my gaze to hers. Even when I was alive, I had never desired a woman more than at this very moment.
With a light touch, I stroked my fingers up her body—then my palms grazed her breasts, and she gasped again.
She whispered my name—“Marroc”—and the word froze me in place.
Because that wasn’t my name, and at some point, she’d learn the truth.
The betrayal would rip us apart.
Chapter 36
Ali
Galin screamed, reaching for me. His face shimmered like rippling water—one moment elven, the next a twisting mass of gelatinous flesh. What the fuck?
A tentacle wrapped around my leg. One slash from Skalei cleaved it in two, and gray pus squirted from the severed end.
Galin continued to scream, but his voice was changing. No longer the singsong High Elf dialect, it had turned phlegmy, like he was trying to speak with a mouth full of goo. I leapt away from him, feet splashing in the water. My blood pounded loud in my ears.
So, this wasn’t Galin. Of course I wouldn’t be so lucky as to just run into him here in the middle of a dark cave.
“Come back to me, Ali,” he commanded. “I will protect you.”
Sure you will. I took another step back, and another tentacle reached for me, sliding over my skin. I severed it, then dove back into the frigid lake. I swam underwater, away from the island, until my lungs burned and my body began to convulse.
When I surfaced, the creature was howling with rage. Not Galin—a grotesque monster that hung from one of the ceiling’s cavities. A giant mollusk—a gelatinous body thick as a tree trunk, but with tentacles writhing around its mouth.
It called me again in a gurgling