Total pages in book: 142
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134501 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 673(@200wpm)___ 538(@250wpm)___ 448(@300wpm)
Ripper stared down at her, playing his fingers through her hair. She was so fucking beautiful it made his chest ache. There was a time she’d watched him carefully, not quite sure of his intentions or nature. Now she could sit beside him, relaxed and pliant with her eyes closed. A sign of pure trust.
Emberlyn wasn’t a creature who easily put her faith in people. That he’d earned her trust was something he prized and would never take for granted.
‘You’re staring,’ she accused without opening her eyes.
‘It’s my right. You’re my mine.’
She let out a soft snort of amusement. ‘Possessive much?’
‘If I could, I’d stamp my fingerprints all over you. And I mean all over you. Someone would be able to play dot-to-dot on your skin. Of course . . . if they tried that, I’d have to kill them. Because a lot of the places that would bear my prints would be parts of you no one else gets to touch.’
‘Hmm, well, I bear plenty of other marks – be satisfied with those.’
She did bear plenty. He liked to leave little score marks and bites on her flesh. There was just so much pretty skin to mark, what else was he supposed to do?
‘Also, I don’t think there’s a part of me that doesn’t wear your scent.’
Probably not. Honestly, at this point, his scent perfumed her skin as distinctly as her magick and sheer strength of will. A strength that appealed to him as much as her looks and, well, everything else about her.
He’d spent every day of his life at Chilgrave, but he didn’t need to have encountered more of the world to know that Emberlyn was singular. As soft and sweet as she was shrewd and merciless, his witch was a living contradiction.
He coveted every layer – the classy Alpha, the warm underbelly, the cunning avenger, the uniquely talented witch, the protective friend, the sexual sort-of-submissive who demanded you earn that submission.
He couldn’t imagine no longer wearing the scent of her magick – it felt too much a part of him now. Like another layer of skin. ‘I want to claim you,’ he found himself stating.
Her eyes snapped open, her muscles tensing.
Ripper almost grimaced. ‘I never meant to blurt it out like that. I was going to broach the topic at some point tonight, though.’ Usually when he’d say something serious like that, she would watch him closely, monitoring his expression . . . as if searching for signs of uncertainty on his part.
This time, she looked away, sitting up straight. Trying to process his words, he knew. Attuned to her, he felt no rejection of his statement, only a surprise tinted with disbelief that had caused her to mentally fumble. And now the pulse in her neck beat as hard and fast.
Understanding why his declaration had taken her off-guard, his heart hurt for her. This wasn’t a person who’d ever felt truly indispensable to anyone. It always rattled her a little when he only ever wanted to get closer rather than break away from her.
Deciding to give her a few moments, he stayed quiet while she found her mental footing. If she said she needed more time, he’d give it to her. But he wasn’t going to back off completely. Not from this woman who – as unwavering as any tank – had knocked down and trampled over his every mental wall, every doubt, every reservation.
His sexual hunger for her had always been an elemental, relentless force. Something that never faltered, always intense and oppressive. Nothing had ever eased it. Almost as if that need for her had been imprinted on him somehow.
And now she felt imprinted on him.
The sensory memories of her softness, her scent, her warmth, the pinch of smoke in her voice – it was all rooted in his brain, vivid and distinct.
In hindsight, it seemed laughable that he’d once thought that he could be satisfied with just spending a little time in her bed; that he could later walk away without a qualm. But he hadn’t known her back then. Hadn’t had any clue that she had the potential to carve her name into his bones.
Logan was right that he’d needed either to take the jump or let her go. There was no way Ripper could do the latter. Ever. This woman was it for him.
Every cell in his body and instinct in his system insisted that she was his. Deep inside himself, he’d already claimed her. He just hadn’t made it official.
She sank a hand into her hair. ‘I don’t know what to say.’
At the break in her voice, something in the vicinity of his chest melted. ‘Let me have a guess at what thoughts are running through your head. You’re thinking how you’ve done the mating thing before and it didn’t go so well.’