Soulfire by Juliette Cross Page A

that you’d lied. But something occurred to me. You hadn’t responded to his touch at all. And I know how you respond when you want someone.”
    I smiled.
    “So I came back, and I saw—” His teeth ground together. “I would’ve killed him. I still want to. I want to break his bones into splinters. I want to find him right now and finish it.” His muscles bunched underneath me.
    I comforted with a gentle hand, rubbing along his chest, letting him know I was here, and safe.
    “When I saw him on top of you, I thought I would go insane if I didn’t feel his breath leaving his body. Only the thought of you left alone kept me from the brink.”
    He looked at me. He wore no mask now. None. Emotion, raw and intense, rippled off him. “Jessen, if you don’t know it by now, my heart is already yours. Will you—” he took a deep, jagged breath. “Will you bind your heart to mine? Will you be mine through life’s flame and beyond?”
    I’d never heard those words before, and yet somehow they spoke to my heart as if I’d been waiting for them all my life. Waiting for him. The lump in my throat, a swelling of such utter joy, kept me from speaking.
    “Woman, if you don’t answer me soon, I may die from not knowing.”
    I laughed, a tear slipping. “Yes!” I twisted my body toward him, my hands on his shoulders. “Always.”
    “And I will be yours.” He caressed my cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Always.”
    I waited for him to kiss me, but he didn’t. His eyes roamed to my cheek, a frown marring his gorgeous face. His hand came up near the swollen bruise, but he didn’t touch. His eyes fell to the small cut on my lip. His body tensed as if he might toss me aside to seek out and murder Aron anyway. Not that I gave a damn about the bastard’s life, but I didn’t want him intruding on this special moment of mine. I wanted Lucius all to myself, not lost in murderous thoughts.
    I leaned closer and combed my fingers through his hair, kissing a light trail up one side of his face and down the other. His body relaxed underneath me. I brushed one hand over his shoulder, down his chest, and back up, gentling my giant with touch. He trailed a line up and down my spine with his fingertips. While the tightness in his chest and shoulders softened, his hard ridge strained against my bottom, my thin dress no barrier to disguise his desire. His hand on my thigh tightened, then relaxed.
    I pulled back and stared into his eyes. Yes. I could see it. He feared my encounter with Aron would dampen my desire for him right now.
    “Lucius, I told you I will be yours. I want you in every way.” I cleared my throat, plucking up the nerve to say what I wanted more than anything. “I want you to—” Oh, God. How do people say this stuff? Heat filled my cheeks.
    His devilish yet tender smile warmed me further. “I want you, too.” He shifted under me, showing me just how much. Whoa! I swallowed.
    He pressed a kiss to my temple and lifted me in his arms. He set me down on the edge of the bed and turned. “Would you help me unbutton the back-flaps?”
    He wanted me to undress him. Okay. Yes. This was moving forward. I could do this. My mind rattled constant encouragement as I kneeled on the bed to reach the seams under his wings. It was pretty cool to see how the clothing fit. I started on the line of buttons along a nearly invisible seam beneath each wing. Once undone, he pulled the jacket over his head.
    “How do you dress every day?” I began releasing the flaps of his black shirt.
    “That’s what Brant is for. Among other things.”
    I giggled. “Like fetching tea for damsels in distress.” The topic soothed me from all the drama and what was going to happen in his huge bed. My pulse pounded faster. I focused on the buttons. One step at a time.
    “Definitely for my damsel in distress.”
    “Is that why you Morgons wear so many stretchy T-shirts?”
    He laughed this time. “I suppose it is. Most of the flaps are