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I pressed my eyes closed, even though I knew there was a precisely zero chance he would believe I was actually asleep. Arran was far too attuned to my body.

Which meant when he shrugged off his leather vest and tunic, his broad, bare chest outlined by the light thrown from the campfire several yards away, I knew he scented the trickle of wetness between my legs.

Bastard.

But he didn’t comment. Shockingly, he didn’t growl either.

He slid into the furs behind me, hooking a leg around mine and sliding his arm to my torso until I was pressed against him. My eyes were closed, but even in the dark, I knew if I’d opened them he’d see the glowing blue ring. But if I didn’t acknowledge it, maybe…

His hand, however, was not content to hover at my waist.

“What are you doing?” I hissed, swatting away his hand.

The growl that slipped through him was feral—and entirely male. “What do you think I’m doing?”

“We… we can’t!” I cry-whispered, trying to push his hand away again. But he was pushing aside my soft linen tunic, finding no barrier beneath.

Ancestors, I should have worn my leggings to bed. It was certainly cold enough. But I’d anticipated Arran’s stifling body heat, and I still wasn’t used to wearing such close-fitting garments all the time. My skin was desperate to breathe.

Hot, calloused fingertips dragged over my stomach, sending a shiver down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold night air.

“We can’t,” I said again, my voice turning into little more than a petulant whine.

Arran’s fingers skimmed lower, pausing to draw a circle around my belly button. “Why not?”

Ancestors below. He was teasing me. Unforgivable, terrible male, making me feel like this when we couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

I was supposed to be angry. Iwasangry.

He hadn’t reacted at all to Cyara’s comments about Parys researching the darkness that plagued the human lands. Which meant he’d probably known all along. This was not how we were meant to rule. It was supposed to be a partnership between elemental and terrestrial…

Ancestors, that feels good.

He was running his fingernail along the soft fold of skin just below the curve of my belly, caressing the seam right above the tangle of curls. A half inch lower, and he’d slide his fingers into those curls, dip lower until he found my clit…

I arched out of his arms, rolling onto my back.

Ifeltthe growl of displeasure in my bones.

Insatiable beast.

An answering growl—Come and let me satiate you.

Arran reached for me again, not bothering to toy with my stomach. His fingers went straight to my pussy, parting me so that cool air rushed in from where I’d rolled out from under the furs.

“They’ll hear,” I groaned, as quietly as I could. I knew it still wasn’t quiet enough.

His fingers paused. “I fucked you against a column in the middle of the festival at Lugnasa and you enjoyed every damn second. You did not care who was watching.”

“That is becauseno onewas watching,” I hissed. I had to grind my teeth to keep my traitorous hips from arching into his fingers, demanding they continue their exploration. “They were all too busy with their own exploits.”

I waited for him to argue. To growl something about how he didn’t care if everyone in the mountains, all the way back to Eldermist could hear us. It would have pushed me over the edge. I would have given in. I knew it. Arran knew it.

I was powerless in the face of my desire for him.

But instead, he shifted his weight, coming up on one knee so his body was half covering mine, shielding me from the cold.

“Veyka,” he breathed into the pointed shell of my ear. “You need this.”