Dark Solstice by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page A

she convulsed with ecstasy. He issued a low growl of satisfaction when he felt her climax, stiffened for a split second, and then thrust harder and faster until he joined her release.
    She felt completely drained of energy when the convulsions had eased off, hardly even possessed of the strength to breathe. It was fortunate he didn’t release her at once, instead leaning heavily against her and bracing her between himself and the wall. She knew with absolute certainty that she couldn’t have stood on her own. She could barely lock her knees to keep from slipping to the floor when he did finally allow her to slide to her feet.
    He tangled the fingers of one hand in her hair, dragging her head back so that she was forced to look up at him. “You’re mine, woman,” he snarled through gritted teeth. “Don’t ever forget that.”
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Nine
    Perish the thought!
    Rhea didn’t voice that thought aloud, though. In point of fact, it was a while before her sluggish brain even managed to decipher the unnerving possessiveness of Raathe’s claim so that she was able to grasp that it went deeper than a simple reminder that she was his ‘munch’. The anger in his voice when he’d said it seemed to indicate that, in any case, since he’d never shown anything before but cold indifference.
    Maybe she’d misunderstood, though? Maybe it only occurred to her to think he’d begun to feel possessive of her because she’d been so focused on ‘punishing’ him by pretending she enjoyed sex with Kyle as much or more than she did with him?
    She’d succeeded far better than she’d anticipated, she realized, more than she should’ve wanted.
    “What did he say to you?”
    Rhea looked at Raathe blankly. Hours had passed since she’d made the ‘payment’ on the information Raathe wanted and his reaction had so completely redirected her mind that she hadn’t actually given a lot of thought to her interlude with Kyle since.
    The question jarred her out of her absorption with her thoughts about Raathe, though. She felt her face redden. “I don’t remember,” she lied uncomfortably, partly because she didn’t want to provoke Raathe any more than she already had and partly because she was reluctant to share her intimacy with Kyle any more than she’d been forced to already.
    The look he gave her was a clear indication that he knew she was lying and it sent a surge of anger through her. She glared at him. “I can’t hold it, baby!” she snapped.
    Raathe’s face darkened—with anger, she was sure. She doubted very much that he was the least bit embarrassed. His lips tightened. She could see he was wrestling with the inclination to pursue it, realized she was still lying, or at least omitting something.
    “Besides that,” he ground out finally.
    She stared at him while she struggled with the instinctual fear that telling him would be a mistake somehow. She didn’t know how it might, but the very fact that it had surprised her that Kyle knew her name made her wary of mentioning it. “I honestly don’t remember. I had other things on my mind at the time. I wouldn’t have remembered that except that I thought he was going to run off and leave me hanging.”
    Fury glittered in Raathe’s icy blue eyes for a moment. He tamped it with an obvious effort, looking her over speculatively. “I’m glad to see your experiences haven’t completely crushed it, but it would be mistake to let that feisty spirit of yours overrule good sense,” he said coolly.
    Rhea swallowed with an effort against the hard knot of fear that leapt into her throat. She felt the blush that had heated her cheeks recede until she felt cold instead. “I did what you wanted,” she said in a suffocated voice.
    He looked angrier for a moment but seemed to thrust it aside. “And now you’re going to answer the question,” he said evenly.
    Rhea chewed her lip, thinking. “He said he wouldn’t hurt me.”
    “I heard that.”
    “I don’t