Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 89572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89572 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
“Declan.” Her voice is more desperate now and she tries to turn her body my way, further twisting the shirt, exposing more skin.
Reluctantly, I release her nipple and tug at the shirt. “I want to take this off you. I need it off.”
“God, yes. Please.” She wiggles and shimmies her arms out of the sleeves and I help her pull it off the rest of the way.
“Damn,” I breathe out, pulling back to admire her. Skin flushed a perfect shade of pink, a slight dusting of freckles over her chest. Breasts round and perfect. Big enough to fill my hands. My pulse accelerates. “Sit up.”
Dark lashes flutter. “What?”
“Sit up. I want to see you.”
She studies me for a moment, then tucks her legs under her and kneels next to me, resting her hands on her thighs. The blush creeping up her cheeks deepens but she doesn’t try to hide herself.
“You’re…beautiful.” Fuck, really? I can’t come up with something better than that?
She ducks her head, a shy smile curving her lips. “You’re pretty damn handsome yourself. Probably the hottest guy I’ve ever—” She bites her lip, her eyes going round with embarrassment.
A shocking jolt of possessiveness thunders through me. “Don’t tell me about anyone else who’s ever seen you like this. I’ll have to hunt them down and end their time on Earth.”
Her eyes widen even more.
Yeah, that was an insane thing to say. Can’t help it.
I curve my lips into what I hope is a charming enough smile to reassure her I’m not a menace. My gaze drops to her breasts. “God damn, your breasts are spectacular.”
She blinks, then laughs and glances down. “I don’t know. Lefty is just a tad bigger than righty, and it always bugs me.”
“What?” My brain scrambles at the gibberish that just came out of her mouth. I reach for her hand and tug her down next to me. “Let me see.” I cup both breasts and teasingly pretend to weigh them in my hands. “Nope. Not seeing it. Still damn fine.”
She giggles and squirms under me. “It’s true.”
I suck one nipple into my mouth and tease my tongue over the tip. The wriggling stops and she arches her back.
“Mmm.” I release her nipple. “Tastes perfect. Let me test the other one.”
Her whole body ripples in a sensual movement and she lets out a moan as I suck the tip into my mouth.
“God. Your mouth. Your hands. You make me feel so…alive,” she says on a breathy whisper.
She reaches up, dragging her fingers through my hair, pulling me closer.
“Oh my God!” she gasps, and not with pleasure this time. “Declan, why…what happened? Why is this…this mark brighter and why is there more of it?” Panic pulses through her questions.
I grip her wrist, careful not to touch the mark directly. The light beats in time with her pulse. “It’s spreading.”
She jerks her arm back. “Spreading? What do you mean spreading?”
I should’ve explained this to her instead of getting distracted first thing this morning.
She sits up, pressing her back to the pillows, then tugs the sheet up to her neck and curls her arms around her knees.
I rake my hand through my hair. Words taste like rust in my mouth. “It’s a tether. A piece of the Rider’s binding. When you touched me, you woke it up. It’s been climbing since.”
Her eyes widen. “Climbing to where?”
“To your heart.” The answer lands hard in the quiet room. “When it gets there, he’ll own you the same way he owns me. The curse doesn’t just mark. It claims.” I trace my fingers over the living, cursed ink on my own chest. “This isn’t decoration. It’s alive. It’s both my cage and the conduit that keeps the Rider tethered.”
Heat prickles beneath my skin like the ink resents being called what it is. Then the black lines shiver once and sink beneath the surface.
Emery flinches, wide eyes darting to my hand. “Tethered to what?”
My hand stills over my sternum. “To me. To my blood. My family was the anchor that bound him when he was first called up. Each generation inherits what’s left of the chain.” My voice roughens. “And I’m running out of links to give.”
I flex my fingers, watching the black lines ripple under my skin. “When he rides, when he claims someone, I feel it here.”
Her serious gaze remains fixed on me. “How do we end it?”
End it? No one in my family has ever tried. The Rider isn’t something you end. He’s something you survive. The Sterling Oath has always been about control. Containment. Not eliminating the Rider.
For the first time since I was branded, I want to believe the curse can be broken.
But what will it take from us first?
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Emery
Is this curse real, or should I bring Declan to the closest hospital for a psych evaluation?