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I wrapped my hand around his nape and pulled him down for a kiss. Even if he couldn’t forgive me, or even fully understand me, I knew from the pain in his eyes that he still cared about me. Loved me. And I loved him, too, even though I’d left him alone in Shianga.

His lips met mine. Softly at first. Just the barest touch of my lips against his, and for a moment the stiffness made me think he might pull back and shove me away.

But then it was as if something inside him snapped. He growled low and possessive in his chest, then wrapped his arm around my waist and hauled me flush against him. His other hand raked through my hair; he kissed me so hard I bent back with the force of it. I wrapped my arms tightly around his neck and moaned into the kiss, a sound of desire and relief both. My wolf was just as pleased as I was, close to the surface, heightening the sensations. It felt like it’d been years since I’d kissed him. Now I couldn’t get enough, chasing his lips, deepening the kiss, even nipping at his lower lip.

He growled again when my teeth set into him, and this time we were pressed so close I could feel the vibrations rolling through me. Desire settled low in my hips. It’d been so long since I’d felt this way. It licked over my skin like delicious flame. I whined at the sensation, a wolfish sound, and that only made Elias dig his fingertips harder into the muscle of my waist. He wanted this just as badly as I did.

Our wolves were right at the surface, reaching for each other, heightening the sensations. My whine then morphed into a bright laugh as he hauled me toward the bed and tossed me onto it. I felt my back hit the straw-filled mattress with a whump, but all my exhaustion melted away under the heat of his gaze. I met it steadily, my lips slightly parted as his stare traveled hungrily over my body. I felt vulnerable, and exposed, but desired, too—and I wanted him just as badly as he wanted me.

“Come here,” I said, reaching for him. “I missed you.”

He exhaled hard, then crawled onto the bed on top of me, his knees straddling my thighs, his forearms bracketing my head.

“I missed you too,” he said, so quietly I almost thought I imagined it. “I’d thought I’d lost you forever, Reyna. I thought when he took off with you, I’d never see you again.”

“I’m here,” I said through the tightness in my throat. I wound my arms around his neck.

“You chose him,” he said again, half in despair and half in disbelief. “You chose him, and I was never going to see you again.”

“Elias,” I said again desperately, then pulled him into another burning kiss.

I didn’t know how to explain any further what I’d done. Even if Elias understood logically why I’d gone along with Draunar’s terms—that didn’t mean his heart could accept it. I could feel the hurt radiating off him, and my wolf whined internally at the sensation. Words wouldn’t fix it now. He met my kiss with equal intensity, kissing me like he’d never get a chance to kiss me again.

Maybe part of him still felt that was true. His wolf still felt betrayed, abandoned. I’d told him I wanted him—told him I’d made a mistake. I had to show him, too. Had to make his wolf believe me when I said I wasn’t leaving again.

I slid my hands under the hem of his shirt and over the skin of his back. I pulled it up and over his head, revealing the sinewy, tan plane of his chest, dusted in dark hair. I slid my hands over the curve of his shoulders, drawing my nails gently over the skin. He dragged his mouth hungrily over my jawline, then my neck, then down to my shoulder where he could reach over the hem of my shirt. The scrape of his beard was a delicious contrast to the softness of his mouth, an unfamiliar sensation, but it heightened the pleasure all the same. His breath rushed hot over my skin, and each kiss made the need spike inside me as I pressed my fingertips into his muscles.

Desire coursed through me like magma, burning hot, melting my coherent thoughts away. All that was left was desire, want, need, Elias.

He set his teeth against my neck and bit down, not hard enough to break the skin but hard enough that the sudden sharp pressure made me gasp and arch my back, pressing my breasts to his bare chest. He exhaled hard against my skin, then shoved his hands under my quilted shirt and wrestled it off, freeing my breasts too. Elias began sliding his hand up my torso, up to cup my breast. He squeezed gently, smoothed his thumb over the hardening nub of my nipple, and I moaned into the kiss and the delicious sensation.

I needed more. I couldn’t get close enough. I gripped his hips, then the hard curve of his erection in his slacks. Just the feeling of it, thick and hard in my palm, made me gasp into our messy kiss. I squeezed; his length twitched. He groaned, then nipped at my jaw, neck, and shoulder, in animal desperation.

“Please,” I said. “Need you, Elias.”

Elias reared back, just enough to gaze down at me with his eyes burning gold. His lips were slightly darker from kissing, swollen, framed by his rough beard. There was a high flush on his cheeks, and his black hair stuck to his temples with sweat. He looked wild. I felt like prey beneath him, and it felt good. I wanted to submit to him—to show him I meant it when I said I wouldn’t leave him again.

He wrestled me out of my slacks, so I was nude beneath him, my center already throbbing with desire. I squeezed my thighs together, still a little shy so exposed under his heated gaze. That made him hum a laugh low in his chest, and my ears burned hot. I turned my head against the mattress, eyes fluttering closed.