Page 56 of Gladiator's Captive

“What are you saying to me, little girl?”

The shine in Rager’s eyes had lightened from the darkest sea to a bright jewel-like emerald. My heart seemed intent to win some unexplained race and my mouth was as dry as the desert sand. I opened my mouth to speak again, but my voice was choked up and I only managed a squeak.

“I love you.”

The words slipped from my mouth, my voice clear and even in the surreal stillness of the air.

“I love you,” I repeated, stronger this time, like the words gave me some kind of invisible power.

Rager blinked and his face lost all expression. My heart’s fluttering suddenly stopped and I thought for one dizzying second that it had died altogether.

Why isn’t he saying anything? He should be saying something.

My guts twisted in a painful knot as Rager’s face slowly recovered and things moved under his skin. His features morphed into a fearsome, hungry mask, the animal markings on his skin turning a dark brown color and his fingers dug in my flesh, forcing me to take the next step.

Our bodies touched, his hot and hard against mine. Powerful and tall, full of a strength I would never have.

I opened my mouth to speak again, to tell him to say something, anything, but I was silenced by Rager’s lips on mine.

He kissed me like this was the last thing he would ever do. His mouth covered mine, his breath inside my lungs, his soul molding mine to his in an embrace that could send me straight to death with no regrets.

The kiss lasted and lasted until I didn’t know where I ended and where Rager began.

Finally, Rager pulled away just enough for me to breathe in a long, shaky breath.

“Does this mean you love me, too?” Somehow the words left my lips although I thought I had no oxygen left in them.

“If I love you, little girl?” Rager nuzzled my hair softly as he spoke. “I breathe you. I drink your essence with every breath I take. You are the blood in my veins, the bones in my body, holding me up. Without you, Serena, I am nothing. I don’t just love you. I adore you.”

Rager’s voice was a deep purr that reverberated through every cell in my body. Suddenly, every inch of me was on fire, lit with a desire for him that made me ache and shiver at the same time.

I was famished for him, for his flesh and his touch. For his possession that made me forget who I was and left me free to just feel.

And Rager didn’t make me wait long.

Chapter Twenty-Seven