Page 53 of Eclipse Sector

He arched a brow and leaned against the dimly lit light post, the top of it dangling off over the vacant street to provide an ominous glow behind him. “I wasn’t aware that I needed towaitfor anything.”

I couldn’t swallow back my responding growl, my irritation inflamed by the condescension underlining his tone. “No Alpha is going to want to date me with you hovering over me like this, Cillian. I need space so I can be properly courted.”

“My existence shouldn’t impact your courtships, Ivana. If an Alpha is worthy of you, he won’t care if I’m five feet away or a thousand feet away. Because I won’t even exist in his orbit.”

I blinked at him. “What?” That didn’t make any sense. “The Alpha energy is practically pouring off of you. Of course they’ll care that you’re here.”

He pushed off the post to walk toward me. “You’re wrong, Ivana.”

“Clearly, I’m not,” I argued, gesturing at the space Ransom had just stood in moments ago. “He vanished because you scared him off.”

“He disappeared because he’s not worthy of you and he knows it.”

My eyebrows shot upward. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me, Vana,” he said, only a foot away now. “He’s not worthy of you.”

I ignored the random nickname—one I’d never heard him use before—and focused on the latter part of his statements. “And who are you to decide that?”

“If he were good enough, he wouldn’t have cared that I was here. Fuck, he wouldn’t have even noticed. He’d have been too taken by you to sense my presence.” He cupped my cheek, his palm singeing my skin in a way that Ransom had not.

Stars, Cillian’s touch felt like a brand. An imprint. Aclaim.

Why couldn’t Ransom have felt that way?

Why was it only this way withhim?

“You deserve an Alpha who will only ever see you, Ivana,” Cillian went on, his thumb brushing my bottom lip. “An Alpha so obsessed with your presence that he forgets everything and everyone else around him. An Alpha who will kiss you without caring who is or isn’t watching.”

“Cillian…” I shivered, his name leaving me on a breath.

Because he was so close now.

So… so warm. So strong. SoCillian.

His dark eyes smoldered with hidden secrets, his intense gaze holding me captive as he bent his head to brush his lips against mine.

A soft touch.

An unexpected one.

And yet, it sent electricity humming through my being.

The hairs along my arms stood on end, my neck prickled, and my heart… my heart felt like it had just beat for the first time.

His mouth met mine once more, this time for longer than a beat. He lingered, inhaling and exhaling against my lips.

“Vana,” he whispered, the nickname sounding reverent on his tongue.

I couldn’t move. I could hardly even think. Too swept up in Cillian’s aura, his dominance, hisclaim.

I’d waited so long for this, dreamt of it, craved it since the night we’d first met.

Yet nothing compared to the experience of finally feeling his mouth against mine.

His palm left my cheek to grasp my nape, his tongue parting my lips as he deepened our embrace. I shuddered, lost to him. His scent. His commanding presence. His sensual taste.

I’d never been kissed like this.