Page 13

Instead, he glimpsed a feminine figure about twenty feet from the ground, slowly working her way down the rope.

He didn’t want to admit to being impressed, but he was.

He climbed onto the railing and then leapt into the air, changing into his wild form.

As an owl, he flew down in a slow spiral to the ground beneath the rope and then transformed into his normal self.

He crossed his arms and stared up at Kate’s bottom as she continued to scoot down the rope inch by inch, unaware that she had been discovered.

He could hear her mutterings as her voice bounced off the rocks around her.

“Stupid idea... Ouch ... What the hell was I thinking? I mean, I reach the bottom, great. Then what? Catch a bus back to Earth?”

When her boots reached the top of his head, he cleared his throat.

She looked down at him and then shrieked, losing her grip on the rope.

Roan caught her easily in the cradle of his arms. She was warm, and the sweet, faint scent of her sweat teased his nose.

Her arms wrapped around his neck, purely on instinct, but he couldn’t resist squeezing her just a little tighter to him.

“Dammit,” Kate muttered. Her lovely brown eyes, the color of the tree trunks of his forests in the summer, stilled that racing madness in his head as he looked back down at her. She didn’t take her arms away from his neck, and he felt that was a small victory.

“Kate,” he said in light admonishment. “Did you really think you could escape so easily?”

Her eyes narrowed in challenge. “It was worth a shot.” He did not normally like being challenged by anyone, but he found it oddly charming when this woman ruffled his feathers, so to speak.

Roan narrowed his eyes at her. “Surely you realize you cannot leave.”

Her nose wrinkled. “Why not? This is your world, not mine. I don’t belong here, Roan.”

“You are mine.” It was that simple. Why couldn’t she understand?

“I am not?—”

“If I wish to reorder the planets or birth a new star in the sky, such is my power.” He felt her tremble as the words left his lips, and he tightened his hold on her before continuing.

“You are mine. I will reorder time itself and break every rule for you, if you but ask me to. Consider it. Anything you wish will be yours. Any pleasures you wish to seek shall be found. In this land, there is no limit to your desires. You may have anything.”

Her eyes flicked up to his with that word, and he could feel the heat that flushed into her skin. His fingers dug into the fabric covering her thighs, his body hardening and his lips quirking up slightly. She licked her lips, her lashes fluttering. “Anything?”

“ Anything ,” said Roan, “but your freedom.”

Her head snapped back. “Roan, I have to go back! My family?—”

“Your family does not care for you,” he said cooly.

The pain in her expression made him regret his words but not the truth of them. Her family had no interest in her, but he did. He was a king with vast power at his command who could have anything, and he wanted her .

“No one here cares for me either,” she said, her tone quiet.

“I want you,” Roan replied.

She turned away, her gaze looking toward a land he could not reach. “Wanting someone isn’t the same as caring for them.”

For one so young, she had moments of wisdom that many would not see in their entire lives, Fae or mortal.

The distance cleared from her eyes as she looked back up at him.

“Fae like to make bargains, don’t they? You get me for one night, and then I get to go home the next day.” She bit her bottom lip as she waited for him to reply.

“I may only want you, Kate. But my desires would not end after one night. My appetites can last a millennium. I offer you a chance to forget your old life and take this gift—to live in the land of the unchanging. To live well past your human lifetime, to do whatever you desire, so long as you belong to me.”

“But what about my brother? I can’t leave him. He needs me. Sandra will ruin him. I have to go back.”

“No,” Roan said simply, carrying her toward the path that would lead back up to the palace. “Forget your brother, forget those who would forget you—stay with me. I will show you such pleasures you will fear you will die from them.”

He lowered her to the ground, keeping one arm around her waist while his other hand cupped her chin.

Roan leaned down and kissed her, softly at first, then roughly, letting her taste the passion he held in check.

Her soft lips parted beneath his, and his tongue delved into her mouth, seeking its mate.

Kate made a kittenish noise at the back of her throat that drove his hunger for her even higher.

He let his magic wrap around his body and hers, as he painted a future for her to see within her mind.

“A consort to sit at my side, nights of sweet ecstasy in my bed, adventures and magic are yours.” Kate trembled as he spoke within her mind.

He backed her against the rock wall, gently pinning her there with his body as he continued his sensual assault on her senses with his kiss.

He sent her a vision of him kneeling at her feet as she sat on the edge of his bed, naked, as he kissed his way up her inner thighs, to explore the taste of her.

The Kate in his vision fell back onto the bed, drawing him up her body until he covered her with his own and sank into her welcoming heat.

He rode her until she screamed his name and the stars in the sky fell to the earth at the force of their lovemaking.

As the vision faded from her mind, Roan brushed his lips along her jaw to her ear and then down her neck as he caressed one of her breasts through her sweater. She pressed closer to him with a moan, and he wanted to howl in triumph at her answering need. Yes. Good.

He gripped her bottom and slid his hand down the back of her thigh until he reached her knees, to lift her body up so she wrapped her legs around him. He rocked into the cradle of her thighs, letting her feel his desire for her.

“Roan...” She breathed his name, her nails digging into his shoulders.

“Tell me you belong to me,” he encouraged. “That is all you must say.” He was on fire at her touch, at her single utterance of his name. He’d never wanted anyone or anything as much as he wanted her, and it stunned him.

But rather than promise herself as his, his words brought the rebel back into his little human.

“Put me down! This isn’t real. This...” She kicked and almost dislodged herself, but he tightened his hold.

“It’s real, little one. Very real,” he assured her. His gaze hardened as he watched her struggle with that truth.

Her eyes widened. “If this is real, and not some fever dream, then I really do have to go home. I have to. I can’t leave Caden.”

He paused. Now he understood what must be driving her need to get free. He’d already violated the ancient treaty about mortals once. What more could he suffer if he did it a second time?

“If you wish to be with your brother?—”

She stopped fighting. “You’ll let me go home?”

Roan closed his eyes. “That is not what I promised you.”

An instant later, he and Kate appeared in the palace dungeons.

The cells were empty at the moment. He set her down on her feet, and she glanced about in bewilderment.

The dungeons were made of cold iron, one of the few places in the palace to have the wretched metal because it kept most of the Fae imprisoned and weakened, except Roan, who was too strong to be contained by iron.

Lit wall sconces illuminated the grim place.

It was empty and clean, but not at all welcoming.

“What is this place?” She glanced around the large iron-barred cell they stood in, clearly confused.

“My dungeons. Since you cannot be trusted to sit still in my bedchamber, you will wait here until I return.” He stepped back a few paces and then waved his hand, sending the iron door slamming shut between them, containing Kate in one of the large cells.

“Roan... Wait, what are you doing? Don’t leave me here!

” she called out as he turned his back on her and walked up the stairs to exit the dungeons.

Once he was outside, he traveled back to Kate’s realm and retrieved the child she seemed to care so much about.

It was an easy enough thing for him now that he was healed, and the child would not be missed because time passed far more quickly in his world than the mortal world.

Ten years could pass here before even a minute would pass for Kate’s human realm.

Roan reappeared once more in the dungeons, the child at his side in the cell next to Kate’s.

“Caden!” Kate gasped and ran to her brother and caught his arms through the bars where their cells connected.

The boy, still wearing his red-and-black checkered pajamas, looked around, confused and scared.

Roan wanted to tell the child he had nothing to fear, that this was only to motivate his sister to acquiesce to Roan’s wishes, but he held his tongue for now.

Kate had to learn that he was in command of her future now.

This was his realm, and he was no hero to rescue her.

He was the king of the dark woods and lord of the Twilight Court.

“Kate? What is this place? I’m scared.”

Kate held her brother through the bars and shot a furious look at Roan that almost made him smile. Her fire was a thing of beauty. He opened the door to her cell, ready for her to comply now with his desires, but his little human glared at him.

“Send him home!” she demanded. “Can’t you see he’s terrified?”

Roan crossed his arms and shook his head. “Not until I have what I want.”

“You—” She charged him, fists raised. Roan grabbed her wrists, pinning them easily behind her back, holding her still so he could clasp her chin with his other hand, forcing her head to tilt back to look up at him.

“I suspect asking you to wait naked in my bed for me is an order that you will never obey. So perhaps I need to play a game that will help you understand the rules of this land?” He brushed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. Fury flashed beautifully in her eyes.

“Just let us go home,” she begged, contrasting with the defiance in her expression. “ Please , Roan.”

He didn’t grant her request, no matter how wonderfully erotic it was to hear her beg and say his name like that. Instead, he leaned down, feathering his lips over hers in the ghost of a kiss.

“You wished to bargain with me, little mortal, remember? Here is your bargain. Starting at dawn in an hour’s time you will have a month to solve my labyrinth.

If you do, you and your brother may leave.

But each night, I shall come for you at twilight and you will give a part of yourself to me in whatever way I desire.

And if you do not solve the labyrinth by the month’s end, I will own you. .. forever .”

Then he slammed his mouth over hers in a fierce kiss to seal their bargain as he sought to conquer that wild spirit that challenged him in a way that made him feel alive, made him feel changed in the land where nothing ever changed.

When their lips parted, he smiled softly at the dazed look on her face.

At least his kisses had some effect on her.

Yet something was missing... like a piece of an intricate clock out of place.

If all the cogs and wheels weren’t where they should be, the clock would not chime the midnight hour.

The kiss he’d taken had left him wanting.

.. aching... empty. And still, as he held her in his arms, he could feel that warmth, that promise of something yet untamed, unconquered within this human woman that drew him like the warmth of a fire on a winter’s night.

How can I have her, yet not have her?

The desire in her eyes didn’t fade, but he saw steel in her expression. This was a mortal who possessed the determination of a Fae queen.

“Thirty days?” Kate said. “I’ll finish in a week.”

He sighed softly. “Ah, to have the unfounded confidence of mortals.” Roan chuckled. “You are no match for the labyrinth.” And no match for me, he silently added.

But the labyrinth was dangerous, and he didn’t want her to face the nightmares within. He simply wanted her to agree to be his, to let him show her what pleasures she could have as the love thrall of a Fae king. What mortal wouldn’t wish for such a thing?

Her brown eyes hardened. “I may not be able to reorder the planets or turn into an owl, but I can solve your labyrinth.”

He quirked one dark brow at her. “Be careful to presume you know what something is. Remember, to you I was merely an injured owl, and now you know I am far more. You must trust nothing in the labyrinth, not even yourself.”

Kate opened her lips to speak, but he waved his hand and opened a Fae road built upon the westerly winds.

His little mortal was pulled from his arms, out the nearest window, and carried upon the air as quick as he could breathe, until she stood at the entrance of the labyrinth far away from his palace. .. from him.

Already the distance between them made his chest ache and his hands clench and unclench as he wrestled with these unfamiliar feelings.

Caden, the young boy, grabbed the bars and stared at Roan in terror. “Where did my sister go?”

“To the entrance of the labyrinth on the far opposite side of my lands. She must learn that I control this world, not her. She must learn that she belongs to me now.”

Caden’s eyes filled with tears. Then he raised his voice to shout, “Good luck, Kate!”

“She cannot hear you,” Roan said to the foolish boy.

“I know she can’t. But she’ll solve your labyrinth. You’ll see,” Caden declared confidently.

Had Roan been a kinder king, he would have set the boy free for his bravery and returned him to his home, but Caden was the key to Kate’s obedience. Roan would use whatever advantage he had to make Kate obey him.

“We shall see,” he said. “We shall see.”