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I reached for the glass, and our fingers brushed each other in the exchange, sending a shiver through my torso.

“Thank you,” I said, teasingly curling my fingertips over his hand before lifting the glass to my lips.

As soon as the cool water touched my tongue, my thirst became overwhelming, and I guzzled down the whole thing, accidentally spilling some down the sides of my mouth. The tiny streams dripped down my chin and splashed onto the tops of my breasts.

“Oh, dammit,” I muttered.

“Here, I got it!” Tannin rushed forward with a washcloth in hand and began patting the droplets.

And he didn’t stop even when it was clear that the rag had soaked them up. He just kept staring, transfixed by my flesh, and as for me... I could hardly breathe through my gnawing anticipation.

I leaned forward, daring him to touch me, to give in to his obvious desire.Please, touch me...

He pulled away and stepped back. “Are you hungry?”

I nodded my head, trying not to show my disappointment.

“Okay, I’ll fix something for us,” he said, then went about searching through the cabinets.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

Chapter 10

Tannin

WHY DID SHE HAVE TOwear that fucking dress? Her perfect tits were practically falling out of it, and her skirt was so short I could... I could reach right under it and pet her warm, wet—

Fuck, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could control myself!

Focus, Tannin. Remember your task.

I promised my Alpha that I would kill her today. Why hadn’t I done it outside? She’d nearly fainted, and she was clearly in a weakened state. It would’ve been so easy to slit her throat with the knife I had tucked into my pants behind my back. Or push the blade into her gut.

Those mental images flooded ice through my veins, and bile rose in my throat. I couldn’t do that. How could I? Even if I wasn’t fighting a painful hard-on at the sight of her, that would still be nearly impossible.

I cut a ripe tomato into slices for sandwiches, keeping my back to Aliya and focusing on what I needed to do. I just had to stop looking at her. Stop getting distracted by how torturously sexy she looked and rip the band-aid off.