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Yet all Thea wanted to do was touch him.

When she reached him, she kept a few feet of distance between them. ‘I had to see you, had to talk to you before… Before everything changes.’

Those silver eyes pierced hers as he stepped closer. ‘We have unfinished business, you and I.’

Warmth pooled low in Thea’s body. ‘We do.’

‘I need you to know,’ he said, voice rough. ‘That the other night… I didn’t want to leave you. I have never wanted to leave you.’

And then his lips were on hers, hard and demanding. His tongue brushed against hers, sending a rush of lightning through her veins. Thea arched into him, savouring the weight ofhis hands at her waist, at her lower back, pressing her to him in a quiet hunger. More than anything, she longed to feel his blazing skin against hers, to shed the final layers between them.

But she broke away, her chest heaving, his shirt balled in her fists. ‘Show me,’ she said, unable to stand it any longer, the ache for him was all-consuming. ‘I need you to show me you want this, that you wantme.’

Wilder searched her face, his intense gaze softening.

Thea stared back, determined, her whole body singing out for him.

His throat bobbed as he glanced around the dark forest. ‘You’re sure?’

‘I’m sure.’ The words came out low and husky, and Thea’s heart pounded mercilessly, for she had wanted him from the first moment she’d seen him. She undid the clasp of her cloak and let it fall from her shoulders into a puddle on the ground.

‘Thea…’ Wilder said quietly, his fingers finding the buttons of her shirt, the first coming undone. ‘It won’t be gentle.’

Another button. ‘I don’t want it to be.’

‘You’re certain?’ He leaned in, the question tickled the crook of her neck as the rest of her shirt came apart. The night air was crisp against her skin and she gasped as Wilder tore through the band of fabric that covered her breasts, exposing her to him.

He gazed upon her hungrily, his silver eyes hooded, his huge body tense.

‘Yes,’ Thea told him.

Whatever restraint he’d shown so far snapped, and he shoved her back into a tree, trapping her beneath his powerful torso.

Thea’s hand reached up, gripping the shaft of the arrow he’d once shot at her.

His mouth claimed hers again, hot and insistent, his tongue exploring her as his rough palms closed over her bare breasts.

Thea pushed herself into his touch, demanding more, moaning at the contact she’d been craving for so long, her nipples hard and wanting. But it wasn’t enough. It was merely the surface of what she needed so deeply, and she had never needed like this before, never been so insatiable.

She fumbled with his cloak, discarding it without a thought. Then, his shirt. He pulled back, only to yank it over his head impatiently, throwing it aside.

Thea’s mouth watered. Gods, she had seen enough before to know that he was glorious and littered with scars. But up close, when she could run her hands over his naked sculpted chest and the rippling plane of his abdomen, his skin hot beneath her touch, Thea swore he was carved by the Furies themselves. The moonlight revealed the whorls of black ink trailing from his hand to the right side of his torso and lower, the V-shaped groove that pointed to exactly what she wanted.

‘Did you come here just to look?’ he murmured.

‘No.’ Thea palmed the hard length of him straining against his pants.

‘Fuck,’ he barked, before brutally taking her once again with his lips and tongue.

Thea smiled against his mouth and went for his belt.

They were ravenous, hands stripping away clothing in a frenzy, fabric tearing, buttons popping and still it wasn’t fast enough. Thea needed to feel him against her, needed the weight of his body on her.

Thea’s mouth went dry, and every thought emptied from her head as Wilder’s cock sprung free, his pants bunched around his knees.

She reached for him, but he caught her by the wrists and pinned them above her against the tree. ‘I’m not done with you yet,’ he growled.

Warmth spread from Thea’s spine in a wave through her whole body, her heart hammering in her throat as Wilder held her in place with one hand, and peeled her undergarments down her legs.