perfume and bath oil, aphrodisiacs. Nothing works. She has no passion, no fire, and she arouses none in me.” He held his hand out to her beseechingly. “I ache for you .”
The rigidness of her shoulders softened. “I’m sorry.”
“Come to me,” the king ordered.
She shook her head.
“I am the king.”
“With a duty to your people.”
“What of your duty to me? I have loved you to the exclusion of everyone else for the last five years. You belong to me, Sapphire.”
“I was contracted to you. You never owned me.”
The king’s gaze narrowed. “Our contract is void. You must come to me of your own free will. Come now.”
“No.”
“You deny me?”
“Yes,” Katie said simply.
“You love me,” he stated. “You’re angry with me for setting you aside.”
“How could I love you, my king? You belong to one woman and are in love with another, and I am neither of them.”
“It will never be over between us.” The king began to pace with a powerful, agitated stride. “If I must court you anew, I will. If I must bend you”—he jabbed a finger in her direction—“I will. Whatever it takes, Sapphire.”
Katie dipped her head in an elegant acknowledgment of his threat. “You will do as you wish, Your Majesty.”
He glared at her for a long, tension-filled moment, then spun in a flurry of robes and stormed away, the guardsmen filing out behind him.
A moment later, the Guardian advised, “His Majesty has departed, Mistress.”
Dalen released Wulf just as Katie sank to the ground.
Wulf went to her. “If you hadn’t stopped him, I would have.”
Dropping to his haunches beside her, he tried to pull her into his arms, but she recoiled. He frowned. “Don’t be afraid. No one will take you against your will.”
She didn’t meet his gaze when she spoke. “Go home, Your Highness. The Guardian has the information you’ll need to cross the border safely and she will arrange your transportation.”
Wulf yanked her toward him. “Talk to me.”
“I’m no longer in the mood to take you to bed,” she said without inflection. “You should go.”
He tensed, insulted. “Don’t punish me for another man’s faults.”
Katie opened her mouth to argue and he took it, gripping her by the elbows and lifting her to meet him halfway.
For endless moments she hung motionless in his arms, her lips unmoving beneath his. He changed tactics, revealing his need in soft, deliberate licks. Soft, coaxing sounds rumbled from his throat. He rubbed his furred chest against the softness of herbreasts until her nipples peaked hard, and strained for his touch. He obliged, lifting one hand to cup the full flesh, his thumb and forefinger tugging the taut point in just the way she liked.
Katie surrendered. She opened her mouth to him with a growl of hunger, sharing a passion so potent it enslaved kings and princes alike. Wulf’s tongue swept inside and tangled with hers.
His hands cupped her buttocks and pulled her into his lap. She whimpered. He tore his lips from hers, pressed her to the ground, and settled between her spread thighs.
Wulf gazed down at her flushed features and sad eyes, and asked, “How can you send me away after last night?”
“You act as if there’s a choice, as if there’s an option for us to be together. You know there isn’t.”
“I know I want more. So do you.” He suckled and nipped along the column of her throat. Rolling his hips, he urged the hard length of his cock between the damp lips of her pussy.
He didn’t want her thinking right now. He didn’t want to think right now. It was impossible to want something this badly and not have it.
“The time when we could’ve walked away has passed, Katie.”
“You would give up your kingdom and your freedom for sex?” she argued in a husky voice. “You’re not the man I thought you were.”
Wulf lifted his head to meet her gaze. “I wouldn’t give up D’Ashier for my life. But you…Nothing you have is truly
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