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“Josie… how’ve you been?”
“Oh, you know.” Elara follows my gaze, looking warily over at Rune man-spreading at the table, then at Fintan by the bookshelf. She isn’t shy about ogling their beauty. Finn smirks when he catches me staring and I look away quickly, heat rising to my cheeks at being caught staring so unabashedly.
Elara is studying me. “You’re different. Your aura is…”
“It’s what?”
“Well, before it was dull and… wrong. I figured you were tired and grieving for your grandmother, but now that I see the difference—it’s like night and day.”
“Ah, that was my grandmother’s doing.” I explain the gist of what Callius told me before removing the spell for me.
“That makes so much more sense,” Elara says.
“Why couldn’t you sense the spell binding me when we first met?” I ask Adelaide.
She could tell so quickly that I was bound to the vampires. How could she not have felt the presence of Grand-Mère’s influence? Callius sensed it within a few moments of us meeting. Even Elara sensed it, though she didn’t know what exactly she was picking up on.
Adelaide looks taken aback, glancing up at me from the sachets of herbs she is putting together. “Who says I didn’t?”
“You noticed, and you didn’t say anything?”
“It wasn’t my place to interfere. Claudette was a dear friend to me. If she placed a spell on her granddaughter, it wasn’t without reason. Besides, it seems you’ve rid yourself of her influence now.”
I’m not sure whether or not to be angry at her.
“Besides, you’ve got bigger problems,” Adelaide says.
I follow her gaze to where Sebastian is looking out at the darkened city. “You can say that again.”
Yep. I’m doomed. One hundred percent doomed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
FINN
The moment we reach Josie’s room from finishing up our last-minute preparations for her plan, her demeanor changes. She shuts the door behind us, flicking the lock into place and turns on me, dark eyes growing darker as she steps into my space.
“Josie?” I step back and bump the wall next to the door.
“You’ll need to be in peak condition tomorrow,” she says.
“Are ye asking me to feed on ye, lass?”
“Not just feed,” Josie whispers, pressing her palms against my chest and exploring the contours of my abs over my shirt. “I’ve been waiting for you to make a move—to claim me as your own—I want you, Finn. I want you inside me. Show me how you make love.”
My expression drops a little. “I’m not sure I’m capable of making love anymore, Josie.” My chest rises and falls erratically as I lock down my hunger for her.
“Then claim me, however that works for you. Despite what you think, you don’t need to be gentle with me.” She leans in to kiss along my jaw.
I groan, my fingers splaying against the wall to avoid grabbing onto her and crushing her fragile body with my superhuman strength. “Aye, I do.” My words come out strained. “It would be too easy for me to lose control and break yer fragile body. Gentle is exactly what I need to be.”
The heat that burns in her gaze is molten hot and impossible to ignore. It’s even harder to ignore when she slides a palm down my chest, gliding lower to fondle the growing bulge in my pants. “You can’t deny you want me.”
I’d never utter such a lie.
“Josie, please,” I beg, my head banging against the wall as I tear my gaze away from her. “I’m already having difficulty holding back. My needs have been growing for almost three weeks. Aye, I want ye more than ye can possibly imagine.”
“Then stop holding yourself back and let go.” Her fingers go for the zip of my pants, and I nearly lose control.
