away from me in the water again, and it takes all my inner strength to not grab her and throttle the answer out of her. I know that won’t work with her.
“Narah, if you insist on playing these games, I will tie you to me until you respond to my question. Or would you rather I chase you down… it’s something I hear you quite enjoy.”
Her eyes widen at my words as her attention swings over to Crius closer to the shore. What she doesn’t seem to understand is that my men and I are a unit, and there are no secrets between us.
“Why do you know so much about magic? Most Alphas hate witches,” she counters, and the corner of my mouth curls at her clever tactic. Distraction is the key. Smart move, but it won’t work on me.
“If I have to ask you one more time to answer my question, you aren’t going to like the way I do it.”
On impulse, her head jerks up, her eyes burning with fury. “What do you want me to say? We made a deal where I’d detect and guard you from magic, and I did that. Why are you now insisting I’m something other than a Cursed?”
I don’t expect the deadly tone in her voice but am also suddenly turned on by her fiery temperament. Her chest rises and falls quickly beneath the surface of the water, and now I wish more than ever that I had stripped her down before bringing her into the river. But my concern at the time had been to cool down her burning body. Now… well now, my interest has shifted gears.
She whips away from me and pushes herself into a frantic swim toward the shore. A laugh escapes past my throat, and I take my time going after her because she’s not going to get far. The thought of going after her has my cock twitching, and I reach down and stroke it once. I hiss with the hunger growing for my little fox. She has no idea what she’s doing to me.
When Stone and Crius slosh through the water to block off her path, she pauses and frantically looks from them to the other end of the shore for her escape.
“Are you in the mood to chase down an Omega?” Crius nudges Stone, his voice filled with sarcasm, loud enough for Narah to have heard.
I use that moment to my advantage. I dive under the surface, kicking fiercely, my sights set on her through the murky water. Her legs are paddling in the water, as she no longer reaches the sandy bottom of the river.
I sweep right up behind her and grab her waist, then dunk her under with me. She bucks and splashes crazily as I pivot her to face me.
Her eyes are wide, and underwater, they are like fiery flames come alight. Air bubbles slip from her mouth and float upward as she desperately thrusts against me to free herself. She scowls at me, then throws a hand to my shoulder as she pushes against me to get to the surface. But I hold onto her waist tighter just a while longer, just until trepidation sets in her eyes.
There is something magnificently beautiful about the fear in her eyes, the panic on her warped lips, the way she fights me. My cock hardens further at the sight, and I find such allure in her as we teeter on the edge of death.
My heart soars in my chest, and my skin pricks with a strange excitement. I want to claim her as mine, dismiss every hesitation.
I grab the back of her neck and pull her to me, then drive us upward in an explosive burst. Our heads break the surface, and she gasps for air, splashing about as I hold her against me, facing me.
“What the fuck? Were you trying to kill me?” She shoves her hands against me, but she isn’t going anywhere.
“Are you ready to talk?”
Her eyebrows shoot up. “Are you mad? You’re torturing me to answer your stupid questions?”
“If you prefer to call it that. I think it’s nothing more than me swimming with you.”
“Ha, you’re hilarious.” Her fury is intoxicating, and fuck, she’s gorgeous. Her lips are full, and all I can picture is them wrapped around my cock.
I understand now what Crius meant when he said the chase awoke something inside him that he hasn’t felt in years.
I draw her face closer to me and my mouth