Chapter 13
thirteen
Eryn
The moonlight didn’t hide a single detail. His broad chest was toned with enough muscles to make me take a second look. A light dusting of hair started just beneath his navel and danced an enticing path beneath the band of his briefs. I ripped my gaze away and looked up.
Kaiden’s usually tamed locks were wild and unkempt.
The soft strands tempted me to touch as they fell over one eye, hiding the scar there.
I kept my hands clenched in my lap. Focus.
He spoke again, saying those same words—skin to skin.
My pulse kicked into a gallop at the idea, and my stomach rolled along with my next shiver.
I wanted this to stop—the pain, the nausea, feeling like I was about to shake right out of my own body.
The antidote was obviously not working, that wasn’t a lie, but maybe I hadn’t taken enough of it.
Was jumping to this extreme really the only option?
I turned my head to break Kaiden’s stare.
His thumb slipped from my lip, leaving his hand hanging between us before it dropped down to the bed.
My gaze caught on the half-empty vial he held.
“C-can you ask Ezra to make more, please?”
Kaiden’s head cocked to the side. “I can,” he said slowly. “I was going to regardless, just in case, but that won’t help us right this moment.”
He settled more solidly on the bed, leaning closer in the process, and I nearly fell on my ass as I scrambled off the other side.
My bare feet met the cool hardwood, and my knees almost buckled at being forced to abruptly take my weight.
I locked them. With more space between us, I felt a little more in control.
We could figure this out. I appreciated his worry, but I was sure there was another solution to my…predicament. My stomach clenched, and I bent in half at the pain. Okay, that hurt. Groaning, I crossed my arms over my waist and rode out the responding shivers.
“Eryn—”
“No!” I held out a hand and took a deep breath. After another moment, I straightened. “It’s passed.”
Kaiden’s expression hardened as he slipped off the bed in one fluid motion. Definitely smoother than my attempt. He rounded the bed. Each step closer, I mirrored with one step away, until I felt the dresser dig into my back.
“This isn’t really up for discussion,” he warned, blocking my attempt to flee to another part of the room.
Gone was the gentle-talking TA I’d gotten to know these past months.
Standing before me now was the stubborn warlock who refused to let me run.
His jaw was set; there was no talking my way out of this.
My eyes darted to the door on my right. I could reach it, if the next round of stomach cramps didn’t take me to my knees.
Even now, my symptoms were worse, and I shivered despite the sweat beading on my brow.
I glanced back at Kaiden. Yeah, I could make it to the door, but out of the apartment? Escape? I wasn’t so sure. Still, I had to try something.
“Don’t even think about it,” Kaiden growled, legs spread and shoulders back. He was ready to rush after me and take me down if he had to.
Dammit.
“P-please Kaiden.” My teeth chattered. “I don’t w-want to do this.”
“I know.”
He was right in front of me now. The heat of him did nothing but battle with my rising fever.
So close. He was so close. I swore each of the hairs on my body rose and reached for him.
We weren’t even touching, and the bond between us was palpable.
Like my body knew what it needed—what it wanted—and holding out became harder by the second.
“We won’t complete the bond,” he promised. “I won’t touch you anywhere that’s covered.”
I glanced down at my lacy bralette and matching panties.
Too exposed. Peering over at him, I got an eyeful of tanned skin only restrained by a dark pair of boxer briefs.
A tight pair. There was little left to my imagination as I stared at the growing bulge in the front.
Kaiden groaned, and that bulge twitched. I sprang for the door without thinking.
“Seriously?” he sighed, arms catching me and caging me in.
His forearm hit hard against my hips and lower stomach, sparking a new wave of nausea. When it eased, my back was once again against the dresser, and less than an inch separated us. He lowered his head, cool breath mingling with mine.
“What are you really afraid of?” His lip curled. “If forcing you was what got me off, we wouldn’t be here. We’d already be bonded.”
I felt the truth in his words, but that couldn’t eliminate years of fear.
How did I tell him that I was scared of everything?
Creating a bond that I couldn’t escape from.
Letting down my walls and paying for it later.
Falling for him and the hope he sparked, then having it all ripped away at the last moment.
I was terrified that the future he promised wasn’t real.
I fought to get away, but he was there, holding my hips. His grip was tight, punishing, as he dared me to look him in the eye.
“Face it,” he commanded. “Face the fear, and let me help you.”
I really didn’t have a choice. The symptoms were beyond worse in the short time we argued.
My nausea was constant, my entire frame shook, and my head felt like it was about to explode against the back wall.
But my fear was rooted just as deep. With the little strength I had left, I pushed against his chest, ignoring how even that small touch sent sparks up my arms.
There was no moving him. I only wore myself out trying. Kaiden sighed and reached down to catch me behind my thighs. The world spun as he lifted me up, holding my legs on either side of his waist. Instinct had me kicking and fighting to squirm my way down.
“Let me go!” I shouted as he spun us toward the bed.
No amount of hits slowed him. Two steps, and I was flying again. My back met the soft sheets with Kaiden climbing right over me.
“I’m going to save your life whether you want me to or not.”
He straddled my hips until his knees dug into my sides, keeping me pinned. I thrashed anyway, panicking with every second I couldn’t break free. Inside my chest, the bond flared.
“I don’t trust you!” I screamed.
“Obviously!”
I flinched at Kaiden’s tone, and he blew out a breath, softening his face. The air was charged, but I felt the fight slowly draining from me. Everything hurt, and I was so, so tired.
“I know you’re scared,” he whispered. “But I refuse to let you die just because you’re afraid of our bond growing stronger.” His large hand cupped my chin and pressed down until my mouth was forced open. “Drink.”
The last of the antidote poured past my lips and cooled some of the fire ravishing my body.
But just like before, it wasn’t enough, and I knew what came next.
Faster than I could counter, Kaiden rolled off me and pulled me onto my side.
He tucked me against him, tight. From back to thighs there was no part of him I didn’t feel.
I hissed at the overwhelming shock of it.
Like being dunked into ice water, my system was overloaded.
Warmth grew in my chest, impossible to ignore, but it wasn’t the fever.
Our bond slowly cracked one eye and awoke.
I knew Kaiden felt it too. His soft gasp brushed over the back of my neck, and his dick grew hard against my ass.
I rolled away, reaching for the side of the bed, but Kaiden threw a long leg over mine, pinning me even more.
“Have I ever hurt you?” he asked into the dark.
I shook my head. Never, but I couldn’t form words over the wash of emotions battling inside me. He pressed his lips to the skin behind my ear. And my heart rate spiked.
“Have I forced myself on you? Even after feeling you slick against my fingers and ready in my arms?”
“No,” I croaked.
“Then trust me to control myself now.”
Trust. He made it sound so easy. Sickness and fear reigned over my senses, but Kaiden fought them with gentle touches.
His fingers brushed through my hair until the tension in my shoulders eased, and I sank into the mattress.
He took his leg off me but wrapped an arm around my middle and tugged me deeper into the curve of his body.
His shadows continued those calming strokes until the fight left me completely.
“I could never hurt you, princess.”
With his lips nuzzling my neck, his words followed me into unconsciousness, and I swore the bond smiled.
I was on fire. My entire chest, my thighs, even my arms were smothered in the flames.
I clenched my eyes tightly, fearful that the fever had returned, but after a few tense moments, I realized the heat wasn’t coming from inside me.
Blinking against the thin strip of daylight, I was greeted with a wide expanse of tanned skin peppered with scars and warmth under my palm.
What the…?
The chest under my cheek rose and fell in a steady rhythm, and it took every ounce of my control to not freak out.
A quick stock of my body was enough to send me right back to the edge.
I was wrapped around Kaiden like a freaking octopus.
Well, we were actually wrapped around each other, but that was my leg thrown over his like a sneaky parasite.
Shit.
Another heart-stopping moment passed, and when my squirming didn’t wake him, I wiggled my ass off the bed and onto the floor.
Popping my head past the mattress, I kept a critical eye on him while blindly searching for something to wear.
Escaping in only a bralette and panties wouldn't get me far unnoticed.
My fingers caught on cotton, and I pulled the dark material on without thinking. It was a T-shirt—his T-shirt–but it fell to mid-thigh and covered all the important bits. I didn’t have the time to be picky. The bond told me he was still in a deep sleep, but who knew how long it would last?