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“The ancient practice of marking one’s mate with one’s teeth is as barbaric as it seems.”

Unseelie Fae: A Scientific Study

T he stiff wood of my window ledge digs into my backside as I stare into the night, wishing I could see Ever.

Eventually, they will catch the wolf that prowls our streets, then the curfew will be lifted, and life can go back to normal. Until then, all I can do is try to find a semblance of patience and fill my days with plenty of walks so my legs and mind are tired by nightfall.

My plan hasn’t worked thus far, but there’s always tomorrow.

According to the books I checked out of the library earlier today, the wolves can grow as large as a horse. After reading the Unseelie book, I don’t have much faith in the tome’s accuracy.

Still, for this beast to shut down an entire city, it must be fearsome, indeed.

As if conjured from my deepest, darkest imagination, a shadow stirs down in the garden. I press my hand against the cold windowpane, holding my breath as the shadow takes the form of a gigantic wolf?—

No, not a wolf. A man.

My heart hums inside my chest, beating faster when I realize who is in my aunt’s garden.

What in the world is Ever doing here? Doesn’t he realize it’s not safe? How did he get around the guards? I fumble for my robe and throw it on over my shift.

The way he prowls through the hedges reminds me of a mountain lion I once saw on an adjacent cliff back in Gravale.

He scales the trellis with grace, keeping to the shadows as he slips along the thatch to my window. I open the latch and ease the barrier aside; the cool kiss of spring air wafts over me.

“If someone catches you, there’s no telling what they’ll do.” I search the street for signs of the guard. He’s out there somewhere.

“No one is going to catch me,” Ever says with a smirk and more confidence than anyone has a right to possess.

While I appreciate his bravado, he clearly doesn’t understand what’s happening on this side of The Divide. “There’s a guard at the gate and more patrolling the streets. We’re not allowed out of our homes after dusk because of a wolf.”

“Nonsense. No wolf has crossed The Divide.”

“Are you certain?”

A nod. “The forest has been silent, and there are no tracks anywhere near the bridge or the village. Either the wolves sprouted wings, or they have not returned.”

If the wolves aren’t what killed that poor goat, then what did?

My fingers tighten on the sill as I shift closer to where he perches. “Do you want to come in?”

His gaze darts to my darkened room before settling back on me. “I thought perhaps we would do something special tonight.”

“And what is that?”

“Come with me, and I will show you.”

Far be it from me to turn down such a generous offer. I grab my slippers from beneath my bed and then climb out the window behind him. My robe threatens to come untied as I scoot down the roof like an awkward toddler. Meanwhile, Ever saunters to the end of the thatch and leaps silently onto the ground.

If I tried that, I’d probably break my neck.

On my way down the trellis, my hose catches on the thorns, and they must cut me because I can feel wetness dripping down my leg. Isn’t that lovely? Hopefully the blood doesn’t ruin my shift.

Ever offers to help me, but I insist on doing it myself because I am a fool, and by the time my slippers meet solid ground, I have at least two splinters and my knee has been raked clean. Heaven only knows how in the world I’m going to get back up.

Instead of taking the main path into town, Everett leads me through the back field where the tall grasses sway like dancing phantoms. We don’t go left, to The Divide, but right, out of Rosehill. Ever holds my hand the entire time, and although it’s a small thing, my heart soars at his touch.

This is not over.

Is this the night he finally makes good on that promise?

Ever stops suddenly, his nose lifting into the air.

When I do the same, all I smell is grass and cow dung. “Is it a wolf?” Tell me it isn’t a bloomin’ wolf. Although, if I had to face a wolf with anyone by my side, I’m glad it’s Ever.

“I smell blood.” His head falls, eyes narrowed on me. “Are you bleeding?”

He can smell my blood? That’s disconcerting.

“It’s only a scratch.”

Letting my hand fall, he braces his fists on his hips, his expression far too grim for the current situation. “Let me see.”

“No.”

With a beleaguered sigh, his eyes trace my outline as if he can see through the fabric of my robe.

“Even the smallest wound can turn septic, Kerris. Show me so that I may heal you.”

A few weeks ago, his scowl would’ve cowed me, but now all I do is scowl back. “I don’t want to.”

His dark hair tumbles over his furrowed brow when his head tilts. “Why not?”

A lie is on the tip of my tongue, but I stop myself.

If tonight ends up where I think it might, he’s going to find out the truth anyway. Better for him to know now than to have him discover my secret in the heat of the moment.

If he turned me away then, I’m not sure I would ever recover.

“I’m afraid,” I confess. And it makes me a coward, but there’s nothing I can do about that, now, is there?

He leans down, his knuckle grazing beneath my chin as he applies the slightest pressure, lifting my face to his. “I would never hurt you.”

“I know that.”

The tiniest wrinkle appears between his knitted brows. “Then why are you afraid?”

For the same reason I didn’t want to swim in the quarry.

When you spend your entire life listening to everyone tell you how “beautiful” and “perfect” you are, the last thing you want is to disappoint them with the truth.

Ever has been nothing but honest with me, and he deserves the same courtesy.

So I lift the hems of my robe and shift, exposing the cut on the back of my calf. It’s a bit deeper than I thought, and my hose are shredded to bits.

Everett kneels in the dirt, his eyes lifting to where I wait, teeth pinning my lower lip and my breath stalled in my lungs. “May I remove your stocking?” he asks with a slight tremble in his voice.

All I can do is nod.

His hands graze up my calves, but before he reaches the top, his movements falter. I watch his brow furrow and then realization dawn as his eyes widen. “What happened to your legs?”

Only those closest to me know this shameful secret. And now Ever is one of them. “When I was five, there was a fire in our home. My father and brother were camping in our back garden, so they weren’t inside at the time.” They used to love sleeping under the stars. “My mother fell asleep putting me to bed in the loft. By the time we woke, there was no way out. She threw herself on top of me, saving me and sacrificing herself.”

By some miracle, I made it out alive.

My mother did not.

“The burns were so deep, not even the water in the well could heal them properly.” Leaving behind mottled, dimpled skin from my feet up to my thighs.

Ever stares up at me, a myriad of emotions playing on his handsome face. I wait for the disgust to settle in, but it never does.

Instead, he peels down my stocking and presses a tender kiss to my hideous knee. “In my world, scars are worn with pride. They are a testament to a fae’s strength and resilience.”

If only that were true on this side of The Divide. “In my world, they’re just ugly.”

“Nothing about you could ever be ugly.”

He doesn’t realize how much those words mean to me. How much I needed to hear them.

Tears slip silently down my cheeks as Ever withdraws the small flask from his pocket and twists open the lid. He pours water over the small wounds until all that remains is the stain of blood on my stocking.

Ever’s fingers curve around my calf, his thumbs making idle sweeps, as if memorizing each hideous dimple. “Do they still pain you?”

“Only when I’m idle for too long.” That’s why Wednesdays are so difficult. When my legs start to burn, walking is the only relief.

With a heavy sigh, Ever draws my stocking back up my thigh. When he stands, my skirts fall back into place, hiding my scars once more. He takes my hand without a word, leading me farther from the city. Further from the rules that govern us. From the thoughts and fears of others.

Until we are in a world that is entirely our own. One where a symphony of crickets fills the night with their song. Where moonlight paints the landscape silver. Where a lake stretches across the dark horizon, the starlight making the water look like a sheet of glass.

“It’s beautiful.” That word doesn’t begin to describe the serenity of this place. “How did you know this was here?”

“My mother used to sneak me over the bridge when my father was away on a hunt.” Ever’s fingers tighten around mine as he helps me navigate the rocky shoreline to where the water laps at the stones. The man is like a mountain goat, not slipping once on the algae-covered rocks.

I try to imagine a tiny Ever sneaking across The Divide, but it’s difficult to picture him as anything but imposing. “Tell me about her.”

His lips tug into the smallest smile, his eyes taking on a faraway glaze as he stares into the distance. “She was beautiful. Kind.” His smile falters. “Too soft for life in the forest.”

Soft, like me.

He slips his hand from mine to collect a stone from the ground. “She longed to live in Rosehill. Always claimed she had a Seelie heart beating in her Unseelie chest.” He launches the stone into the air. A few seconds later, there’s a quiet plop .

How sad that she wanted to live on our side but never had the chance. People should be allowed to live wherever they choose.

“I do not know why she married my father,” he goes on. “He used his fists when he was angry. By the time the chieftain found out, she could not be healed. My father was exiled the very next day.”

I cannot imagine how devastating that must have been for him, to lose his mother so tragically and at his father’s hands, no less. No wonder he was so irate over Ronan grabbing me.

“I’m so sorry, Ever.”

Wounds, even ones made long ago, may heal but the memories can still turn septic. Look at the scars on my legs. Because of what happened, I can barely stand to smell smoke from a fire. The nightmares that once plagued my dreams may not come as often as they once did, but they never completely go away. Haunting my mind with visions of my mother’s lifeless body covering mine. The stench of burned flesh. The unending pain.

Perhaps that pain is what connects me to this beautiful man. My brokenness calling to his.

Water licks at the shore, leaving the stones on the bank shining like gemstones. “Is the water safe?”

For some reason, my question makes him smirk. “Asks the woman who befriended an Unseelie monster.”

“Befriended” seems like such an innocuous word for this bond growing between us. Has he already forgotten about the pie I gave him? “We aren’t friends, though…remember?”

His eyes seem to ignite at the reminder. “I remember.”

What would it be like to truly belong to Ever?

To kiss his mouth. To share his bed. To let him mark me as his.

How I long to find out.

I look back out at that water, my over-heated skin beginning to tingle with anticipation.

Why not now? Why not tonight?

The silk ribbon keeping my robe fastened slips through my fingers, slow, tantalizing, and luxurious. “Would you like to go for a swim with me?”

He nods solemnly, fixated on my every move as my robe falls into a silken puddle on the stones. His eyes ignite as they sweep down my lace and silk shift.

“Am I to be the only one undressed?”

Ever toes off his boots and removes his socks, then slowly slips the leather strap of his belt free from the buckle and slides off his trousers, revealing a pair of dark short pants beneath.

Short pants that conceal a very obvious bulge.

My cheeks flame as I step back into the cool water, the damp silk at my thighs sticking to my bare skin beneath.

The drawings in my Unseelie book flash through my mind as he enters the water, sending ripples of lust through me. Tonight, I am going to know what it’s like to kiss this beautiful, quiet man.

Something tells me that afterward, I will never be the same.

I swim a little deeper, forcing Ever to come to me.

He swims with the same grace that he does everything else. Moving with purpose, strong muscles pushing him through the water.

When he reaches me, I splash him in the face. He looks so indignant, I can’t help but giggle as he swipes a hand down his cheek, clearing the drops there.

I expect him to splash me back, but instead he catches my ankle and drags me toward him. I let out a yelp and make a half-hearted attempt to get away, only to have him pull me closer, until I’m within the safety of his arms. “You caught me.”

He rolls his eyes. “Did you doubt I would?”

“Never.” I think I could swim all the way across the lake, and he would still come after me. When I lick my lips, I taste the briny water clinging there.

I wrap myself around him. Legs around his hips and arms around his shoulders. “Now that you have me, what are you going to do with me?”

“I suppose that is up to you.”

Our chests brush, and the bulge beneath his pants thickens. I pretend not to notice, but the sensation of him settling against where I ache is impossible to ignore. His confession from all those nights ago drifts through my mind. Secret desires that mirror my own.

“I want you to touch me like no one is watching,” I whisper, my heart pounding in my breast. “To mark me as yours. To taste my most secret places and fill my body with yours. To hear my name on your tongue when you shatter.”

Ever groans, his forehead falling against mine as his calloused hands bracket my thighs and slowly glide up to my hips until he’s clutching my backside with only my thin undergarments between my skin and his.

My legs tighten, grinding my aching center against his hardness?—

Heavens…

That feels…

I move again, harder, stoking these flames erupting between us.

Yes. More. Yes.

Ever’s lips skate along my neck as he uses his grip on my backside to rock me against him. His hips roll, creating the most mind-bending friction even as his tongue swirls over the hollow of my throat.

A tongue that isn’t smooth but scratchy, like a cat’s.

There probably are a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t be with him but in this moment all I can think about is the reason I should.

Because I need to know what it feels like to give in, to take for myself.

So I fill my hands with his hair, tug his head back, and slam my lips to his.

Ever’s fingers dig into the flesh of my backside, pressing me closer as he opens his mouth to devour me.

He kisses with the same controlled violence I’ve sensed in him from the very first day I caught sight of him at the well. He could destroy me, crush me, kill me in one practiced move, yet he holds me with such reverence as his tongue slips past my parted lips, finding and scraping against mine.

I can’t get close enough; even the silk separating our chests is too much.

This is what I’ve been searching for.

What I’ve been missing.

To choose anyone else would be settling.

I don’t care if the whole of Rosehill turns against me, I want this man and no other?—

A broken sound climbs his throat, and he jerks back. Ever reaches behind his head, unclasping my hands, his hold vanishing as he lets me drop back into the water. “This is wrong.”

“No, it’s not. I have never felt anything as right?—”

“I belong to someone else.”