Road To Winter (Fae's Captive #2)(2)

“Leander?” Gareth still holds his sword high, ready to splinter her into nothing more than shards of black glass. It’s the only way to kill her.

If he doesn’t strike now, we won’t have another chance. I can’t let her go, not when my mate’s life is on the line.

“A boon for your mate! I swear on the Spires!” Thunder cracks through the trees.

A promise like that cannot be broken, not in this world or any other.

“My lord?” Gareth vibrates with aggression, ready to strike the final blow.

“No.” I release my magic. Or at least I try to. When I’ve drained it like this, it holds onto me like a tether, tugging me away from myself and into the otherworld. I fight its pull, but the effort takes me to my knees. This is the danger, the thorn on the rose of magic.

I glare at the witch. “One wrong move, foul one, and I swear to the Ancestors I’ll find some other way to end your miserable life.”

“I gave my word.” She shakes off the outer layer of ice but doesn’t dare move too much. “My word is just as good as yours.”

I gulp in breaths and try to calm the fury of my heart. My eyes close. The magic calls to me, promises me rest, promises to reveal secrets that only the greatest magic-wielders have ever discovered. It’s a lie, I tell myself. Magic is wily and cruel at its heart, but it speaks to me so sweetly that I almost falter.

“Steady, Leander. Your mate. Remember your mate.” Gareth’s voice comes to me as if from a long distance.

“I am your mate, your true one,” the magic dances around me. “Come and I will teach you forgotten ways. Things no other immortal knows. You will truly be a king then, never to be defeated.”

Its whisper is like the kiss of silk. I want to know the deepest ways of magic. Maybe I could go with it, just for a moment. Just for a glimpse of what lies in the otherworld.

“Yes.” The voice turns into a dainty fairy made of blue embers. “Only for a moment. Take my hand and you will know the treasured secrets that can save your kingdom.”

I raise my hand, though it seems to carry an almost unbearable weight.

“Leander.” Another voice, this one soft and sweet.

“Who—”

“Shh, take my hand.” The fairy reaches for me.

“Leander, please.” A gentle touch across my forehead, and the sweet voice comes again, “I need you.”

“Don’t listen,” the fairy hisses.

“Leander. It’s me, Taylor. Please wake up.”

“Taylor.” I step back from the fairy. “My mate needs me.”

“Your mate,” the fairy snarls and snakes into a looping swirl of pure magic. “Your downfall. The downfall of your world.”

“What? What do you mean?”

The magic laughs and fades, the blue embers disappearing. “You will only know if you come to the otherworld. If you let go and take my hand.”

“I can’t let her go.”

“Then you shall learn what I mean soon enough.” The magic evaporates, and I open my eyes.

“Leander.” Taylor strokes my cheek.

The mate bond roars back to life inside me, and I sit up and pull her into my arms.

I cup her face with my palm and kiss her.

She squeaks with surprise, but I can’t go another second without this connection. I’m too rough, too fierce, but I can’t stop this. She grips my tunic and holds on as I run my fingers into her hair. Her lips—at first hard and closed—soften as I tease them with my tongue. Her eyes flutter closed, and I caress the seam of her mouth, urging her to open for me.

When she does, a low purr rumbles through my chest, and I delve my tongue into her slowly, touching and tasting the sweetness of my mate. Where she is hesitant, I am hungry, starved for her touch. I take her mouth like I want to take her body, feeling every bit of her, making her mine and leaving my mark.

She melts in my arms, pressing against me as I stroke her tongue and squeeze her silky strands between my fingers. My cock is so hard it almost hurts, and the need to claim her fully beats like war drums in my veins. When I slant my mouth over hers even more, she moans in her throat. I’m balancing on a razor’s edge, and that sensual sound threatens to send me careening headlong into mating her.

“My lord?” Gareth clears his throat.

I can’t relinquish her, not now. Not when she’s in my arms, her soul grazing the edges of mine. I clutch her to me, the primal instinct to shield her from any other male taking over. She’s not marked, not fully mine. That means she isn’t safe. Some other male could try and take her. I growl and my fangs begin to lengthen.

Taylor pulls away, her eyes widening. She tries to scramble off my lap, but I hold her still.

“Leander!” She can’t escape my grasp.

Claim her, mark her, take her. The primal fae roars inside me, demanding I take what is rightfully mine.

“You’re scaring her, Leander.” Gareth’s voice is gentle. “Old friend, please.”

“She’s mine.” The words are guttural. I can’t let her go even though she’s trying to push me away.

“I know.” Gareth steps closer. “But you’re suffering from magic withdrawal and blood loss. You aren’t thinking straight. You need to release her.”