Tethered by Meljean Brook

tongue beneath his jaw. Shuddering, he lifted her against his erection, grinding between her thighs, and a groan ripped from his chest. God, this feeling. So rough, so sweet. No other woman had ever excited him as she did. No other woman ever would.
    Her breath rasped in his ear, each inhalation ragged, as if her control was as tattered as his, the need to touch overwhelming.
    With her legs anchored around him, she loosened her grip in his hair. He caught her hands, drew them down. No need to hold him, to bite him. He was all right now, exactly where he wanted to be, and this was
him
, hungry for her. Her claws thrilled him, but he didn’t need them. He didn’t need her to threaten him. He just needed her. He just needed to show her that the disinterest had been a lie, that he could never
not
want her, and to soothe the hurt he’d caused. It wasn’t the danger that excited him; it was her. Only her.
    Her pulse thrummed beneath his thumbs as he captured her hands behind her back, gently shackling her wrists with his fingers. He’d use only his tongue now, and show her—
    Yasmeen’s body exploded into motion against his. She ripped out of his arms, her foot shoving into his chest—not hard, just enough to get away. Still, shock sent him tripping backward.
    The same shock was reflected on her face. Crouching on the deck boards, Yasmeen stared at him, openmouthed. “I didn’t…” She swallowed hard. “Don’t restrain my hands.”
    Oh, now
that
was pain. Anger came with it. “You don’t trust me?”
    Her jaw tightened. “That’s not what I said.”
    “I know. You said today, ‘I know you’d never hurt me,’” he mocked her accent. “I see how well you mean it.”
    “You don’t see anything.” Her eyes narrowed, and she shifted her weight, as if preparing to pounce. Christ, his cock had never been this hard before. “You’re a goddamn fool right now.”
    “
Your
fool.” He spat the words, and she laughed.
Laughed.
    “And God help us,” she said—but didn’t pounce. Her attack was far more liquid than that, a sublime dance of muscle and stealth. He had but a moment to watch, her deadly beauty striking him speechless, motionless.
    Then she was behind him, around him, dragging him down to the boards. Her knees pinned his arms; her weight across his stomach stole his breath. She leaned down, her incredible face directly over his.
    “Archimedes.” She whispered his name and pressed her lips to his jaw. “Archimedes.”
    He opened his mouth to answer, but she took it from him with a soft, searching kiss. His eyes burned. The ache that filled his chest was unbearable, but he wanted more of it, more of this. A kiss meant she loved him.
    Loved
him.
    God, and this was what he’d come back for. What he’d feared might have been destroyed. And he
had
been a fool—not to run, but to think that he would find what he needed anywhere but here.
    He trembled, and she released his arms. He held her to him,returning the kiss, deepening it. Her breath seemed to catch in her throat, her chest hitched, and then he was lost to the heat of her mouth, the taste of her skin, her shuddering cry as she took him in. Here was rage and sorrow, joy and fear. Despair…and love. She gave him everything.
    And he would never get enough.

Chapter 5
    She couldn’t breathe.
    She should have been able to. The hole at the top of her brass helmet let in air. But air wasn’t the problem—it was her chest. Her heart was giving out.
    Ravenous growls filled her head. She chopped away at the zombies. The door was only a few feet away. Archimedes was trapped behind that rotten wood, bracing the entrance against the zombies’ attack. He just had to hold on. Only a few more were left, but she had to hack and hack and endlessly hack, and more were coming, and the wood…was cracking.
    The sound splintered through her chest. The door shattered inward.
    Her scream ripped like a knife from her gut to her throat. Staggering, she was hit from