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*****

RETH

The only day he'd felt even remotely this afraid was the day his father died and he'd realized the mantle was truly his—and that his mother wasn't going to survive to help him.

That night he'd stood alongside the royal sleep platform for the first time, his entire body trembling, barely able to breathe, and he'd wondered if his chest might actually explode.

This was worse.

Because then, he'd known what he must do. He'd even known how to do it. His only fear had been that in grief, he would appear weak—or make a mistake. He'd yearned to not be alone in it. And yet he'd kept himself alone for the very reason that now threatened to jerk the feet out from under his entire life.

Elia.

He couldn't let them do it. He couldn't let her be harmed because of his choices. And he couldn't lose her.

It was an utterly impossible situation and he didn't know what to do. He didn't even know where to begin.

And that was more frightening than anything else that had ever happened to him.

As she stood staring out over the beauty of WildWood, her lips slightly parted and eyes wide, she was so beautiful his chest ached. He groaned her name and pulled her into his chest, and she came willingly, neither of them willing to move or speak for a time. They just held each other.

Reth didn't want to speak. Speaking would require facing the terror, and he wasn't ready to do it.

So when she finally pulled her head off his chest and leaned back to look at him, his name on her lips, he didn't even hesitate. He took her mouth, his fingers clawed into her hair, walking her backwards away from the edge of the cliff.

The kiss was brutal—and she clung to him, and returned it in kind, until they stumbled and almost went down. Then he jerked away, but didn't let her go.

They stared at each other.

"I… need you, Elia,

" he said hoarsely.

She gulped a breath and nodded.

"Me too,

" she gasped and threw herself at him.

Somehow, despite wrestling against clothing, their hands grasped, their teeth clashed, and their twin breaths thundered. Without finesse or delay, they ended up naked.

"Reth, please,

" she gasped, letting him go to lower herself to the grass.

"Please—

"

But the word hadn't even left her lips before he slipped around behind her. She was still kneeling, preparing to lay down, but he growled her name and dropped behind her, sliding his hand from her hip to her stomach, then her breasts, pulling her back into his chest as he covered her from behind.

Her head sank back against his shoulder and he sucked at her neck, palming her breasts as her breath came faster.

Leaning forward so she was forced to her knees, he took her chin and turned her head, invading her mouth even as he curled over her and took himself in hand.

"Elia, are you—

"

"Now, Reth, please, Don't wait—oh!

"

He plunged into her with a roar that shook the trees.

She cried his name, trembling with the onslaught, but she clenched around him and he almost came.

But he thrust into her again, shuddering as his body called for hers, his fear soothed a hair by her closeness.

"Oh, Lord, Elia—

"

"I know, me too,

" she gasped.

She was on all fours under him, between his arms. As he thrust, he curled over her to kiss her neck again and she moaned. Then, reaching back with one hand, her fingers clawed into his hair and she pulled him in, against her skin, so tightly it hurt, but he reveled in it.

He needed to be closer, ever closer.

Strange noises broke from his throat, calls he'd never made before and didn't understand, but they spoke something about what she did to him, what he needed from her, why only she could soothe the heat and terror in him.

With her thighs shaking, she panted and whimpered, pushing back against him, his name torn from her throat over and over.

Their coupling was desperate and Reth feared he might actually lose his mind and shift—but every time the fear threatened to send him over the edge, she would say his name, or turn her head to find his kiss and everything in him centered on her again.

Until it wasn't enough. He needed her closer.

"Hold on, my love,

" he gasped, then with both hands clasping her breasts, he sat back, pulling her with him until she straddled his thighs, her back to his chest.

"Reth! Reth!

" her voice was panicked, desperate. Both arms back, her head on his shoulder and she arched, searching for her peak, but she hadn't found it.

"I'm here, love, I have you. I'm here. I'll never let you go,

" he whispered, his lips against her ear.

Goosebumps bloomed on her neck, washing down her side as he slid one hand down her body to find where they were joined, where she was so slick, he almost couldn't find that place of her pleasure.

But then her breath caught, and she clenched harder around him and he stroked again and a high pitched keening started in her throat as they rolled together.

Again.

Again.

Again.

She wasn't saying his name anymore, her breath holding at each peak, then blowing out when he eased, then sucking in to hold again when he thrust.

"Elia! My love! Come for me, beautiful—

"

She leaned forward, her hands on his knees and began moving against him, bracing, until suddenly she shuddered.

"Reth!

" her voice was high and thin.

Jerking, crying out, she rode the wave up and over the edge of bliss, then tumbled to the other side. Her arms gave, but Reth clutched her at chest and hip and held her to him.

He roared again and pounded into her as her body rippled and went slack, her breathing deep and frantic and she threw her arms back to hold his neck, rolling against him as he gave in to his own climax.