Page 49 of Infernal Bonds

I closed my eyes and took a slow breath, listening to the faint shifting of bedsheets.

How had the candy not run its course?

She stomped across the room.

The sound of her closet door hitting the wall made me curious. But I wouldn’t go to her. I wasn’t foolish enough to face her without the others near me—not after the way she tested my restraint in the kitchen simply by asking me for what she wanted.

My touch. Something so simple and innocent.

She didn’t understand the power she offered and wielded over me simply by making a request.

She stomped back to her bed, and moments later, her scent spiked.

I closed my eyes, ignoring my shadows stirring beneath my skin.

I wouldn’t go to her room.

But it didn’t stop me from listening to the shift in her breathing or the soft sounds she made. Despite the thick walls, I could hear her with remarkable clarity, and at that moment, I understood the power of a partially formed tether.

Still, I wouldn’t go to her room.

Raelynn had been too confused to understand what was happening in the kitchen. To take advantage of her in that condition would have been unforgivable.

Still, I remembered what she looked like when I’d caught her with Ash back on Earth. Laid bare, watching me with apprehension, curiosity, and unmasked desire.

Ash had spilled her secret.

Her body had reacted to me.

She wanted me.

She allowed me to watch them.

She obeyed me.

I ran a hand over the front of my lounge pants, squeezing my cock. I would not indulge in memories while my Nyrith suffered.

It wasn’t long before the cloying scent faded.

The silence that settled over the house lasted less than an hour, though it allowed me to fall asleep and deny my body what it craved.

Frustration pulled me from the darkness before I realized what was happening.

As I gazed at the dark ceiling, listening for any indication of trouble, I recognized that the frustration wasn’t mine.

Then I smelled it.

The sharp sweetness of apple cut through the air, making me lightheaded.

Her arousal wrapped around me, but discomfort bled beneath the surface, tugging at my protective instincts.

The effects of a single piece of starmin should not have persisted this long.

Closing my eyes, I pictured her spread out on the bed we’d prepared for her, the image melding with the view I remembered. Need ripped through me so violently that my shadows surged to the surface, and the strain of forcing them down winded me.

I contemplated leaving the house, but I couldn’t do that. Not if Zeke was right. Not if Raelynn wasn’t well.

I threw the covers back and stood, moving down the hall as I braced myself for what awaited me in the next room.