Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,27
doesn’t let me go. Instead, he draws me closer to him, pressing his chest against mine, every inch of his body enfolding mine like armor.
Gorgeous, sexy-as-sin armor.
“If anything had happened to you . . .” His forehead leans against mine, and his cool, wintry breath dances over my lips. “I’m sorry, for everything. Letting him take you. Not finding a way out of this yet. You deserve so much more in a mate.”
“No. You didn’t fail me.” I sink my fingers into his back, punctuating my words. Willing him to really hear me. “Do you understand?”
I feel his hand move from the small of my back to my waist, and when his thumb brushes along the ridge of my hip bone . . .
A sigh slips from my parted mouth. My world shrinks. The trees, the terror from moments ago—all of it retreats as primal lust sweeps through me. A deep, animalistic need to be with him. To finally solidify the fraying bond between us.
To feel his skin against mine. His teeth and lips and fingers exploring me the way they did in the maze—
As if he can hear my thoughts, he drags his lips over my neck and I swear, for a moment, my mind completely blanks.
I come to with his fingers moving up my belly, curling and teasing just below my bra line.
A tremor rocks my core; my spine arches violently.
At the same time, his mouth moves to mine, teeth capturing my lower lip.
Danger, my mind screams, but it’s drowned out by a whirlwind of molten pleasure deep within.
How had I forgotten how wondrous this feels? How completely unstoppable?
I could no more halt this than I could a train barreling down the tracks at a hundred miles an hour.
A part of me knows this is going too far. Being alone with him. Touching him. But the larger, greedy part of me doesn’t care.
Damn the contract. Damn the consequences.
Everything about this feels right. As if I’ve been lost, stumbling my way through a blizzard, and I’ve finally found a glorious home with warmth and food and laughter.
When his tongue brushes past my lips and glides over mine, a guttural moan vibrates the back of my throat. Warmth pulses from my core, rippling out of me in an explosion of fiery heat.
All at once, Valerian rips his head away, his jaw gritted as he forces space between us.
Jerked back into the here and now, I retreat away from him, unnerved by my loss of control.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he growls. His chest snaps up and down as he drags in furious breaths, his predatory gaze riveted to me. Those ice-blue eyes light up as a wolfish grin tugs his lips. “Actually, fuck it. I’m not sorry. That kiss alone was worth whatever consequences await me.”
Me. Meaning I’m safe, relatively speaking. Because Hellebore is only using me to punish Valerian. I’m a pawn, not the endgame.
The endgame is my mate shattered and powerless and broken, stripped of everything he cares about. The endgame is when his entire court lies in a smoldering pile of ruins.
Only then, when Hellebore has stripped every ounce of power and influence from Valerian, will Hellebore strike the final killing blow, taking from Valerian the only thing he cannot live without.
Me.
My stomach sinks, reality chasing away the last vestiges of euphoria I feel from my mate’s presence. This might feel right, but it’s an illusion. A smoke screen to hide the end result—Valerian’s complete destruction.
“But the antidote—”
“You’re the only antidote I need, Princess.” His teasing expression darkens as his eyes grow solemn. “If only you knew how much. The poison Hellebore used might be killing me slowly, but it’s nothing compared to not being able to talk to you. To feel you warm and alive in my arms.” He steps closer. “To hear you laugh.” Another step. “Watch your eyes light up when you smile.”
I can see him fighting his urge to be with me—and losing.
My own mind and body are currently battling as well, fighting a war over logic versus nature. Common sense versus overwhelming need.
Being with him feels like gravity. Impossible to resist. A force of nature that takes every ounce of my willpower to fight. Even then, it’s a losing battle.
“Valerian.” I shake my head, unsure if I’m about to warn him off or beg him closer.
I want to run from our inescapable bond; I want to drown in it.
I want to forget him; I want to lose myself in him.