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Too soon, Wilder broke away and lifted her from him, placing her gently on the ground.

Her legs buckled, but he caught her, his eyes lingering on her once again as he tore a scrap of fabric from his shirt and handed it to her.

Thea cleaned herself up as best she could, her body still trembling.

They were quiet as they found their clothes and dressed, ignoring the rips and missing buttons. Wilder helped her tie the band he’d torn back around her breasts, his fingers lingering on the soft skin there.

Already Thea craved his touch again.

Wilder seemed to sense it, or perhaps he felt it too, for he wrapped his arms around her, the weight of them warm and reassuring.

‘Are you alright?’

Thea nodded, not trusting herself to speak just yet, still processing what had happened between them and how she felt.

Wilder tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear before gently gripping her chin, tilting her face to his. ‘This thing between us…’ he said slowly, cautiously. ‘It’s real… Isn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ Thea whispered, the ache for him already sparking anew.

‘I didn’t want it to be,’ Wilder admitted, still gazing into her eyes.

‘Nor did I. Not at first,’ Thea told him. ‘What about now? What do you want?’ she asked.

‘I want you.’

‘You’ve had me.’

His mouth grazed hers and he took her bottom lip between his teeth before flicking his tongue across the small hurt. ‘Once was not enough, Thea…’ he groaned. ‘Not nearly enough.’

His words, her name, the timbre of his voice, sent a lick of longing to her core, but Thea needed to know. ‘So, what now?’

Wilder drew back, heat radiating from him. ‘If you pass your initiation test and are apprenticed to another Warsword… We’ll have the freedom to… explore what this is,’ he said quietly.

‘Explore?’

‘Yes.’ He kissed her again, already hard and grinding against her in a way that relit the fire of white-hot need within her. ‘I’ve denied myself for long enough. I want to be with you, Thea.’

Thea returned his kiss fiercely, her fingers tangling in his hair. ‘The initiation test…’ she murmured against his lips. ‘I have to go.’

‘So go,’ he replied, his hands tracing her curves. ‘And when you come back to me…’

‘We’ll do this again?’

‘And again, and again,’ he said, a wicked smile revealing his dimple.

With that promise lingering between them, Thea tore herself away from her warrior and made for the armoury.

She needed a shield and a sword.

WILDER HAWTHORNE

Desire still blazed like an inferno as Wilder watched her go, his gaze following the determined set of her slight shoulders and then the curve of her backside. All these months of denying himself had been painful, but now that he’d had Althea Zoltaire, every second without her seemed an agonising waste.

Show me, she’d said. And that had been the beginning and the end of him. Every kiss, every touch, every second spent inside her had been intoxicating, all-consuming. Even now, as the Mourner’s Trail came into view and the distant glow of dawn lightened the edge of the sky, he wanted her beyond reason.

He should have known that she was inevitable from the moment his eyes had locked on hers and every moment after. He headed for the fortress, his blood still running hot. He wished they’d had more time, even just an hour more, so he could have wrung every last ounce of pleasure from her writhing body. But with the shieldbearer initiation…

At the thought of it, Wilder went cold. He’d been so caught up in the ecstasy of her that the harsh reality of what she had left him to face hadn’t fully registered. Until now. Thea was about to undertake one of the most harrowing experiences of her life,where every skill, every lesson she’d learnt would be put to the test.