Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 79927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79927 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 400(@200wpm)___ 320(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Brux stared back. Up close, with her seated in his lap and the light from the wall—sconces gilding her creamy brown skin, she was so beautiful it nearly hurt.
“You’re really here,” he said softly, before he could stop himself.
Kiera smiled.
“Well…yes,” she said, sounding a little breathless. “So are you.”
A shaky laugh escaped him.
“Yes,” he murmured. “For now.”
He tightened his hold on her just slightly—not enough to frighten her, only enough to reassure himself that she was truly there. Her arms came up uncertainly, and then one of them settled around his neck.
The contact sent a rush of light through him. It wasn’t literal light, of course, but it felt that way. As though some dark place inside him that had been hollow and cold for so long was being filled with warmth and clarity and life. The primal part of him receded another step and the shakiness inside his shift eased.
He let out a long breath as relief flowed through him.
“Thank you,” he murmured. “This helps. Holding you–it really helps.”
Kiera studied his face.
“So it’s really true? Me touching you helps you stay…” She hesitated. “Stay…like this? Human? Or I guess, humanoid.”
Brux nodded.
“Yes. Lykans need the touch of their mate to call them back from the void.” He swallowed. “Without it, we begin to lose ourselves. First memory…then language…then reason. It all slips away.” His voice sounded hollow in his own ears.
Kiera frowned slightly.
“But you said ‘mate.’” She looked puzzled. “I’m not… I mean, we’re not…”
No, we’re not, Brux thought, though every part of him wished otherwise. He forced himself to answer carefully.
“A female doesn’t have to be fully Bonded to begin helping,” he said. “Closeness matters. Touch. Comfort. Care.” He looked down briefly, unable to keep the truth entirely out of his voice. “You have been saving me from the moment you took me from that cage.”
Kiera went very still in his lap and for a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then she said quietly, “Buck…”
“Brux,” he corrected automatically. “My name is Brux.”
She tried it out softly.
“Brux.”
The sound of his true name in her mouth almost undid him–he had not heard it spoken kindly in so long.
“Yes,” he said, his voice roughening. “Though if you prefer Buck…”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“No, no! Though I think I may need some time to retrain my brain.”
Brux found himself smiling back, though the expression felt strange on his face after so long in beast shape.
“You can call me anything you want,” he told her.
Her eyes flickered over him again—down his chest and shoulders and then lower before she caught herself and looked away and the flush in her cheeks deepened and her scent changed–becoming tinged with the rich notes of feminine desire.
Brux’s body tightened in immediate response, and he tried to stop it. Gods, not now–he couldn’t let his shafts get hard when he was holding her!
But how could he help it? Kiera was in his lap. She was warm and soft and curvy, and her scent was fucking addictive. One of her hands was resting on his shoulder and the other had curled, almost unconsciously, into the fur on his upper arm.
Everything about the moment was too much…and not enough.
He forced himself to focus.
“I didn’t mean to deceive you,” he said quietly. “When you found me, I could barely think. I knew only that you smelled right. That you felt right. I knew I needed you. And when you called me ‘Buck’ it sounded close enough to my true name for me to answer to it.”
Kiera nodded thoughtfully.
“That’s why you were howling,” she said slowly. “On the rescue ship. You smelled me and I smelled ‘right?’”
Brux nodded.
“Yes.” He didn’t add that she smelled like his mate–or one who could become his mate. He thought that might be giving away too much, too soon.
“And that’s why you grabbed my arm in your mouth,” Kiera continued.
He nodded again.
“I was trying to keep you from leaving me there. I had been sliding into the void–my primal self was taking over. Kiera, I needed you and I was so afraid you were going to leave me there.”
Her face went suddenly tender and she cupped his cheek in one soft little hand.
“Of course I couldn’t leave you there. I knew right away that you needed to come home with me.”
Brux exhaled in relief. She wasn’t afraid of him…and she felt it too. That electric connection between them…the warmth…the mutual need. It called to her too.
That mattered more than anything.
Still, the instability he had felt earlier had not vanished entirely. It hovered at the edges of his consciousness like a storm waiting to break. He could feel his animal instincts shifting and muttering beneath the surface, made restless by emotion and proximity and the impossible good fortune of having Kiera in his arms at last.
He lowered his voice.
“I’m sorry if I seem…overly needy. But I don’t think I should let go of you just yet.”