Page 49

A Warning Ignored

R iver had laid it all out, and now, she waited for Nikhail to nod and pull his hands away. She’d told him everything, and she knew—she just knew—that he would get up and walk away.

That was for the best, and honestly, she hoped he’d do it soon. Her heart was in the process of breaking—it had started shattering the moment she’d sat down with Nikhail, and he’d kissed her. She needed time to dry her tears and gather the broken pieces of herself.

Once he was gone, she would glue herself back together as best she could before the rehearsal dinner. She’d hold it together until she could call Ember tonight and cry with her best friend over the phone.

And then tomorrow, River would be strong. She wouldn’t cause a scene during Ryker and Brynleigh’s bonding ceremony, wouldn’t ruin it. She’d already taken so many years of Ryker’s life, but this… this, she could give him. This, she could do.

Waiting for Nikhail’s response, River memorized the way his amber eyes swept over her. She clutched the silver necklace, grateful he hadn’t taken it back yet. It was a lifeline, and she was holding on to it dearly.

But when he stood to leave, even though the space on her neck felt painfully empty, she’d give it back.

Seconds became minutes, the library’s clock steadily ticking away, before Nikhail’s lips formed a thin line. A vein in his jaw pulsed.

“No,” he said.

What? River stared at him, shaking her head. Had she misheard him? Or maybe he hadn’t been listening earlier.

“No?” she echoed, unable to say anything else.

He moved closer to her. Brushed his leg against her jeans. His warmth ran through her at that solitary touch, and gods.

She shouldn’t have let him do that. Shouldn’t have let him near her because it would make leaving so much harder.

If Tertia found out that River had told Nikhail about the Incident, she’d be furious. The Representative had been clear from the beginning—the fewer people who knew about her daughter’s immense failings, the better.

But when River sat down to tell Nikhail her story, she hadn’t felt any qualms about telling him the whole truth. If anything, she knew it was the right thing to do. This was her secret to share, not her mother’s, and she would tell people if she thought it was for the best.

“No,” Nikhail repeated, and River wondered if she was losing her mind because why wasn’t he leaving? Why wasn’t he running for the proverbial hills now that he knew how dangerous she was? Why was he looking at her like that?

She swallowed, dropping her gaze to her lap. She wasn’t sure she could handle watching him leave. Wasn’t sure her heart would survive.

“Nik, I’m cursed,” she murmured .

A growl rumbled through him, low and dangerous and utterly primal. The fae part of River, the same part that loved her magic because it meant she was strong, preened at the sound.

He was growling for her.

“I listened to your warning .” Was it her imagination, or did his voice deepen on the last word? “I heard you, River, but here’s the thing.”

His fingers found her chin. He seemed to love doing that. He was touching her again , and she wasn’t moving. She didn’t jerk away as he lifted her head, didn’t do anything at all.

Bracing herself for the inevitable hatred and hardness she’d see in his gaze, she swallowed past the lump in her throat and slowly lifted her eyes. Time to get this over with.

“You can’t scare me away,” he whispered softly, his thumb caressing her skin. “You think your power frightens me?”

“It should.”

It scared her . From the moment her magic came in and she realized her well of power was endless, she’d been living in a state of fear. How could there be so much? It didn’t seem right. Where was the balance that should have existed?

“It doesn’t,” he countered.

“But—”

“No, River.” His voice was firm but not cruel. “You’ve had your chance to speak, now it’s mine. Okay?”

Why did she like it when he bossed her around? Why did it make her feel all warm and tingly inside? She’d never enjoyed being it before, but she was finding that she didn’t mind at all when Nikhail was doing the bossing.

She shut her mouth, and he smiled softly before picking up her hands.

“Do you remember what I told you about when we were in the hospital?” He waited until she nodded before continuing. “I said everything would be okay, and I meant it. That applies to this, River. To us .”

Her lips parted, but apparently, he wasn’t done.

“Your storm doesn’t frighten me, River. Nothing about you frightens me, save one thing.”

She should get up and put space between herself and Nikhail. Staying here and continuing this conversation was dangerous. If he wasn’t going to leave, then she should.

She knew that, and yet, she didn’t move. “What frightens you, Nikhail?”

His answer came a heartbeat later.

“Living without you.”

Her mouth fell open, and she stared at him.

She was so filled with shock that when his hands landed on her hips and he lifted her, she didn’t fight him.

Her knees spread of their own volition as he set her on his lap.

His thighs were hard as she settled, and there was no hiding the thick presence of him beneath her.

She sucked in a breath.

“Do you feel that, little storm?” Gods, his voice was low and rough and made her feel all sorts of things she had no business feeling.

How could she not? It wasn’t that she was a stranger to men’s erections, but this… Nikhail’s… Oh, gods. Her mouth dried, along with her thoughts, and all she could do was nod.

Nikhail rolled his hips in a way that confirmed that yes, he would be an amazing lover. As if she’d had any doubts based on the way he’d kissed her in the solarium.

His cock rubbed her clit through her jeans, and she groaned, wishing there were no layers between them at all. Who had invented clothes anyway? They were awfully inconvenient.

“This is all for you,” he admitted huskily, each word sending a bolt of heat past her navel. “I want you , River.”

She breathed his name, her eyes searching his.

“Do you think a storm scares me?” He leaned in, his amber eyes darkening as his breath brushed her lips.

Warmed them until they were tingling, begging for more.

“I fucking love your storm. Your power. I love that you aren’t weak, that you’re a gods-damned force to be reckoned with. You don’t frighten me at all.”

His fingers dug into her hips, pressing her down on his length, and his mouth fused with hers. Hot. Powerful. Urgent .

This kiss wasn’t kind or gentle or a goodbye. It wasn’t a sorrowful whisper, a last embrace before he left her life forever.

It was a claiming. A declaration. A promise that despite the curse coursing through her veins, despite the pain she felt, he wanted her.

River should’ve shoved him away and left. He was her brother’s best friend, for the gods’ sake. She should’ve insisted he leave because, in the end, it didn’t matter whether he was scared of her or not; he should be.

She should’ve done that, but she didn’t.

Instead, her hands—those treacherous hands connected to her treacherous body that didn’t seem to understand why she’d tried to build walls around her heart in the first place—rose and tangled themselves in Nikhail’s hair.

“You’re really not afraid of me?” she asked, pulling back to lose herself in his amber gaze. “Of what I can do?”

“Never,” he snarled, and gods, she wanted to believe him so damn badly.

“But what if I hurt you?” Like she’d hurt so many others .

“You won’t.” He sounded so sure of that—of her—that her fears melted away.

Maybe he was right. Maybe they could be together, and her curse wouldn’t keep them apart. If that was the case, why had she spent years pushing him away? Why had they been dancing around each other all that time, when they could’ve had this ?

She just… she had to be sure. “You don’t want me to leave? You still want to be with me?”

Even after she’d told him everything? Even now that he knew she was a bringer of death?

“By the gods and all that is holy, yes,” he growled. “I want you, River. I want to be with you in every single way, if you’ll let me.”

Let him?

“I was waiting for you to break my heart and walk out that door, Nik,” she admitted. “Waiting for you to leave me in pieces. I want you so badly, I barely know what to do with myself.”

His eyes darkened as she spoke, and the moment she was done, his mouth crashed onto hers. Desperate. Hot. Full of need.

There were no more words between them, which was good, because River thought she might be done with words forever.

They became a tangle of lips and tongues and teeth as they explored each other.

He nipped at her lips, and she whimpered. Gods, he felt so good. Rolling her hips over his length, she delighted in his responding groan. She did that to him. Made him feel like that.

He spread his thighs, forcing her lower on him, and gods. Above .

Every layer of clothing felt like the most insurmountable of barriers. Why were they still dressed?

He groaned her name like it was a prayer. All husky and low and meant for her ears alone. His lips traveled from her mouth, kissing and sucking a trail down her jaw.

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” she panted, pressing herself closer to him.

Rubbing herself against him. He was steel beneath her, and she couldn’t stop grinding against him.

“Anyone could walk in at any moment. That door”—he grazed his canines across her neck, and her words came out in a ragged gasp—“doesn’t lock. ”

And this was her parents’ house, and he was her brother’s best friend.

Those were problems that she should’ve considered, but right now, every bit of her focus was on the man in front of her. On the way he made her feel. On the fact that he hadn’t broken her heart, hadn’t left her alone like everyone else always did.

“I don’t care,” he said, reclaiming her lips once again. “Let them walk in.”

And then his hips shifted, his clothed cock rubbing the seam of her jeans in just the right way, and she moaned wantonly. It turned out, she didn’t care either. How could she, when he made her feel like this?

Nikhail smirked against her lips, as if he knew where her thoughts had gone, and repeated the action. She gasped, and he swallowed the sound with his mouth, kissing her desperately. As if he’d been dreaming of this for as many years as she had.

Part of her realized this was inappropriate. She was rubbing herself against Nikhail, riding him like he was a gods-damned horse, chasing her pleasure. But she didn’t care. How could she, when he made her feel like this ?

She lost herself in his touch. His kiss. All things she’d convinced herself she couldn’t have, but somehow now were happening to her.

Nikhail’s hand tightened on her hip, and the other traveled to the waistband of her jeans.

“Is this okay?” he asked roughly, his fingers trailing her soft skin. She nodded, and he flicked open the button and slid down her zipper.

He slid his thumb across the top of her panties, and she writhed against him. She needed…

She needed…

He grazed her clit, her underwear still an awful barrier between them, and she moaned, her forehead dropping to his shoulder. He did it again and again, and gods, he learned exactly what she wanted quickly.

A myriad of desperate sounds came from her mouth, but she couldn’t find it in herself to be embarrassed. Not here. Not with him.

“Oh gods, Nik,” she panted, rubbing herself against him. “I’m not going to last.”

The words spurred him on, and his hand tightened on her hip as he increased his efforts. Soon, a stream of words left her lips.

More. Please. So close. I need you.

“Come for me, River,” he breathed roughly. “Let me see you fall apart.”

Her vision was hazy. “Nik, I want…”

Nikhail increased pressure on her clit. She moaned, and he captured the sound with his mouth. “I know, princess,” he said against her lips. “Let go. I’ve got you.”

So she did. She let go, knowing that he was here. He would catch her .

And when she finally crested that peak, when pleasure stronger than anything she’d ever felt ran through her, all she could do was say his name, over and over again. He held her through it all, his kisses turning soft and sweet as she slowly came back to herself.

“Fuck,” he breathed, drawing the word out as though it had several syllables.

All she could do was nod, having been rendered mute by all… that.

“You are magnificent, little storm.”

Was she living in an alternate reality? Was this a dream? When she’d come in here, she thought she’d be leaving with a broken heart, not having experienced the best orgasm of her entire life. Especially not since they were in Waterborn House, and the rehearsal dinner…

“Oh, gods!” She bolted off Nikhail’s lap, blood rushing to her cheeks as she fumbled with her zipper and button, doing up her pants. “We have to go.”

River frantically glanced at the centuries-old grandfather clock in the corner, her heart pounding as she scrubbed at her cheeks. Dinner was set to start in fifteen minutes, and the last thing she needed was to be late.

It didn’t seem like a lot of time, since she had to go change, get presentable, and cover up Nikhail’s scent on her.

His scent.

By the Blessed Black Sands, his scent. How come she hadn’t thought about this before? The library was thick with Nikhail’s cedar and almond, and it mingled with hers in a way that would let all fae and other species with enhanced olfactory senses know what they’d been doing.

It wasn’t that she regretted what they’d just done—how could she, when her knees were still weak from the way he’d made her come—but she didn’t want to deal with her family knowing about them yet.

“I… this was… nice,” she breathed, clutching her necklace and racing for the library door. Heat rushed to her cheeks. She hadn’t known it was possible to blush so furiously. “See you at dinner, Nik.”

And then, before he could reply, she was running down the hall.

Away from Nikhail, their kiss, and the conversation about her curse that had gone absolutely nothing like what she’d expected.