Captive Of The Warg, (Wargs of the Outland #2)

Smoke and Heat

Reia's lashes fluttered up, languid at first, her eye thick with sleep. Yet nothing proved more of an antidote to slumber than fixing eyes on a naked warg.

This again!

Was she dreaming? Reliving the first time this happened?

As before, she froze to see her limbs entangled with Bayne's, her naked breasts flush against a solid wall of muscle. It was hard to imagine that the aurog, the ice bear, and the goblin had ever happened. But they had, a lifetime had passed in a matter of days. Her muscles all but screamed their testimony, and the wound on her leg gave a prompting throb. But it was more than that—she felt different. Nothing was the same anymore.

And that terrified her. Her feelings scared her all the more. A sudden confusion of adrenaline shot into her chest.

This time, unlike before, she gave no thought to waking the sleeping wargrex. She dragged her thigh off his good leg and pressed her heel against his side before shoving herself back. How satisfying it would've been to kick him to the floor, but he was too much a mountain of hard flesh.

By the time she'd scooped the furs up over her breasts, he was scrubbing his eyes with the heels of his palms, muttering irritably.

Her spine was rigid as she scowled down at him, endeavoring not to notice that the bedcover was perilously close to uncovering his cock. "This wasn't part of the bargain, warg."

"What worm crawled up your arse?" he muttered, favoring her with a sour glare.

"Where are my clothes?"

"I don't know, woman, you threw them off and crawled into my bed."

Her head jerked back. "No, I most certainly would've recalled—" A sliver of a memory chose that moment to worm its way in from the back of her mind. Her lips clamped tight as she leaned over the bed to see that, yes, the bloody tatters were lying exactly where she'd shed them. "Oh, right." Chewing the inside of her cheek, she glanced back to see him still glaring at her. "Still, I didn't bargain on sleeping with you, warg. That was not part of the—"

"Then don't crawl into my bed, human."

Right. That was a bloody inconvenient observation. She pinched her lips tight and shifted her scowl to his crotch.

"If you're waiting for him to stand to attention..."

"Shut up," she said, appalled to feel heat creeping into her cheeks, "and let me tend to your wounds—that I did agree to." But first things first—she pulled the covers up a little higher. Herb wives didn't swan about scolding their patients in the raw. She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bent a searching gaze over the room. As she did so, the covers in her tight fingers slipped an inch.

For a heartbeat she was struck by how sharp the details of the room appeared. Ever since Bayne had discovered her in the fox hole, she could see in the dark. Despite the ember glow in the hearth shedding very little warmth, the shadows seemed to shimmer with strange, deep colors. Brighter darks that delineated every nook and corner. Hues and shades she couldn't name and didn't recognize as...earthly. Then her eyes came full circle, landing on the ruined garb she'd scattered on the floor.

Clothes, she reminded herself, scowling.

Knowing brute that he was, Bayne sensed what she was after. "Here," he said gruffly, swinging his legs off the bed. She suppressed a coy smirk, her gaze affixed to his perfectly muscled backside, as he limped towards the antler hooks on the wall. But she averted her stare as he grabbed a blue tunic and turned to face her.

The mattresses dipped as he rejoined her on the bed. The soft weight of his fragrant woolen tunic landed with a sigh in her lap, dragging her eyes down. She muttered her thanks and twisted away, giving him her naked back instead. The wildness of his scent enveloped her instantly. She forced herself not to scramble into the tunic for safety, but the press of his eyes shot gooseflesh up her raw flesh and, in the end, she yanked the hem down. Her breath hitched as the fabric rippled down her swollen nipples.