after wave of forest scent rolling over me. It shook the air like an earthquake,
and the sounds of icy streams cascading down a mountain slope filled my
ears. I could taste the new snow on the air. It was so real, my tongue turned
cold.
How I longed to warm it in his mouth.
My mind drained of its senses, and I pushed toward him, trying to reach
his lips. But his hands, still clutching my raised arms, locked me rigidly in
place.
I struggled and pulled back but couldn’t move. A faint part of me
screamed in rebellion against his control. But the rest of me reveled in his
power, his mastery of the moment. So I let him hold me there, in silence and
stillness.
My world was crumbling around me. A sorcerer was trying to cut out my
soul. Dozens of werewolves couldn’t wake because of me. And I didn’t even
have control over my own body or magic.
And amid the storm, for one moment, I’d found something steady.
Immovable. A rock that I could hold on to. A promise that wouldn’t be
broken.
Our eyes didn’t part as we stood in stillness. Finally, I let my arms relax
—submitting, no longer pushing back or pulling, but content to just be in his
steady grip.
The tension left his body, but he didn’t let go. And then, slowly, his head
began to drift downward toward mine.
I beckoned him with my lips, letting them part as I breathed him in. Did I
really want this? The kiss of a man who hated my family and despised what I
was? A man who had more control over my body than I did?
Yes.
Jaxson’s hands released me, and he gently traced his fingertips down my
forearms, around the bend of my arm, and softly up to my shoulders. My skin
was flushed and sensitive, and almost burned at his light touch. He pulled me