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Thea took a breath. ‘She told her best friend that you would need a warrior fiercer than her to withstand the force of you. Then she told me thatIam that warrior, that you found that strength in me. She told me not to let you down.’

Everything in Wilder softened. ‘Thea…’ he breathed.

Her eyes were brimming with tears as her gaze darted around the tent. ‘But Ididlet you down. I was so stupid, refusing to question what was right in front of me, letting blind loyalty rule my actions, believing the worst of you when I know better. I put you in that dungeon. I put you in harm’s way. And I almost —’

Wilder leant in, tucking her hair behind her ears and touching his forehead to hers. ‘Look at me, Thea…’ he said quietly. He had been so deeply hurt by her – hurt that his love hadn’t been enough to earn her trust, her faith in him, but… he couldn’t stand her pain. He couldn’t bear it.

At last, she raised her head, meeting the intensity of his stare.

He cupped her face, his thumbs stroking the contour of her cheekbones. ‘What do you need, Princess?’

Thea made a noise that could have been a whimper, her hands rising to rest on his forearms. Raw grief was written all over her face. He should have known that there would be a breaking point, that any one of the revelations Thea had experienced would be enough to overcome a regular person. Thea had taken each one in her stride, and now they had piled up, the weight becoming too great. Adrienne’s words, however kindly meant, had been the final straw. He saw how her guilt compounded, lining her gaze with tears.

Wilder ran his fingers along the sharp line of her jaw. ‘Tell me what you need,’ he said again.

‘You,’ she told him. ‘It’s always been you.’

He felt himself cave. He could no longer deny her that.

There was no telling who moved first. They came together passionately, violently, in a tangle of limbs, their kiss hard enough to bruise.

Gods, hermouth. Wilder moaned against her lips as she opened for him and allowed his tongue to brush hers. That alone sent a frisson of need straight to his cock.

Thea melted into him and he into her as he grasped a handful of her hair and tipped her head back so he could worship her more thoroughly. She met every kiss with a demanding one of her own, the strokes of her wicked tongue matching his, deepening the longing unfurling between them, an attempt to wash all the hurt away.

‘I want you,’ Thea breathed, clawing at his clothes. ‘I want you so badly.’

Wilder fused his mouth to hers, regretting nothing but the time he had spent not kissing her. For every moment he wasn’t doing this was a moment wasted. He ran his fingers down herdelicate throat, feeling her pulse fluttering beneath her skin, her softness so intoxicating he was drunk on her.

He was desperate to slide his cock inside her, desperate to feel her clamped around the length of him, but her muffled cries from their deep kisses alone made him want to draw this out. He wanted to make her beg, to sob with the need for him, to drive her so mad with desire that she’d never let him go again.

Thea’s hands were all over him, raking down his back, tugging at his shirt, but he batted her attempts away and backed her up against the support post in the centre of the tent. He would have her his way first.

There, he slid his hand down the front of her pants. Thea’s breathing hitched and Wilder broke their kiss to watch her face as he dragged a finger down her centre, through the wet heat he found there.

Thea’s head tipped back, a flush spreading from her cheeks to the tops of her heaving breasts. Furies, he wanted her naked. He wanted to lick and suck every inch of her and then he wanted to fuck her so hard she couldn’t walk straight. But now was not the time. Right now, it was about her and her alone.

A strangled cry escaped her as he circled her clit. In slow, luxurious strokes, he teased her until she was writhing beneath his hold. She reached for his belt, but he caught her by the wrist and trapped both her hands above her head while he continued his taunting touches. An echo of their first time together in the Bloodwoods.

She arched her hips towards him and he chose that moment to slide a finger inside her, biting back a moan of his own as with the motion he imagined burying himself in that tight heat.

‘Holy Furies,’ Thea panted, her eyes wide, her mouth open as he began to fuck her with his finger slow and hard, adding another and circling her clit again with his thumb.

She cried out loudly, spreading her legs wide for him.

Wilder had never been more aroused in his fucking life. His cock was nearly bursting from his pants, the tip damp with need, his balls aching.

‘You’re going to come for me, Thea,’ he told her, his voice thick with lust, curling his fingers inside her until she was half sobbing. ‘You’re going to comehard.’

They were both still fully clothed, with just his hand down the front of her pants, but gods, it turned him feral. His control was slipping second by second, his own desire pulsing through him, a force of its own, only intensifying as Thea became wetter and tighter around his fingers.

‘Thea…’ he warned, about what, he wasn’t sure anymore. He was lost in her.

‘Wilder, I —’

Thea’s whole body tensed, and her eyes locked on his as a moan broke free from her lips. She shuddered as her climax hit. Wilder took her over and over, dragging every wave of her orgasm from her with primal satisfaction until she was shaking beneath him.

He was playing with fire when it came to Thea. He’d known it from the moment he’d first seen her, but this…