hovercraft, stepping up until he was inches from her.
“What the fuck do you think you are doing?”
Erin flinched at his tone, staring up at him. His body was trembling too, but most likely from rage, not adrenaline, like hers was. This was the Jaxor she’d first met, the angry one, the crazed one, the cold one. His eyes were like flint, or like sharp shards of ice that could pierce her clean through.
When she didn’t answer, he turned to the wall of the cave—as if he couldn’t bear to look at her—raking both hands through his shorn, inky hair. He let out a short bellow of anger, the sound echoing through the mountain, stirring the kekevir, who gave responding hisses.
Erin tried to stop her hands from shaking, squeezing them into fists at her sides.
“Tell me now!” he roared, his eyes pinning her back in place.
Her temper pricked, but she forced it back. “Only when you calm down.”
Which only seemed to enrage him more. Erin actually saw the way his eyes unfocused with that wild beast that was always lurking inside him. Her heart thudded in her chest. This was what he’d become. Her lonely, slightly mad, devastatingly handsome male. He made her hurt when she looked at him. He made her heart stutter and her toes curl too.
She liked him more than she should, Erin realized. She remembered the night they’d talked about love and he’d asked her if she’d ever loved anyone in singular moments…and she realized that she had. Him. She’d joked about it at the time, but a part of her had fallen a little in love with him in small moments.
And all she wanted to do right then was wrap her arms around him, even though he looked like he wanted to tie her up again.
“Jaxor—”
“How long?”
She swallowed but didn’t say anything.
When he realized she wouldn’t answer, he clutched one of his horns, his claw curling into it, leaving a small mark, making her wonder if it hurt.
She went to him, taking his hand away. “Jaxor, stop,” she said gently, trying to keep calm. Trying to keep her temper in check, especially given the state he was in. He needed her to be the calm one here.
He didn’t hear her.
“Do you know how dangerous that is?” he bellowed, barely looking at her, his gaze going to the tunnel entrance. “What would have happened had you…vrax!”
Realization went through her. “You’re mad because I could’ve gotten hurt?” she asked dumbly.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” he hissed, turning those wild eyes on her. He came forward, gripping the back of her neck, his thumb coming to the pulse that was pounding hard in her throat. As if he needed to ensure it still beat.
He was worried for her. Insane with it, even though she stood in front of him, safe, unharmed. Erin swallowed, her hand coming to his wrist. He shook his head, growling like he was trying to keep something back, like he was trying to maintain his own sanity.
“Leaving me too,” he murmured, his pupils dilating, his eyes seeing her but also not. “Leaving me. Of course, she is.”
Her heart throbbed. “Jaxor,” she whispered softly, reaching out to touch his cheek, feeling his claws prick her slightly. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, but given the state he was in, he might cut her accidentally and he might not realize it. “Your claws.”
He laughed, the sound bitter and sad. It left her aching. Even still, he heard her. His grip loosened even as he leaned down and bit the side of her neck.
Erin gasped, stiffening, her body pulsing.
Not fair, she thought, feeling arousal flow from that claiming bite. And that was what it was. He was deliberately marking her as his in one of the most animalistic and primal ways she could think of, short of sex.
He rasped against her skin, “Leave me then. Fucking go.”
She called his bluff. “You don’t want that. And I wasn’t leaving.”
Not yet at least, she silently added, feeling insanely guilty for it since his body seemed to relax slightly at her words. The fact was that she’d been caught red-handed.
Only…
Why feel bad about it?
He wasn’t giving her a lot of options here.
Pulling away, she felt her temper prick again. “If you tell me nothing, what else am I supposed to do? Wait until you decide my future? Wait and see if I’ll have any choices left after you’ve taken them away?”