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They both had responsibilities that neither could walk away from.
"So are you ready to tell me why you have been acting so weird? Or should I wait a little bit longer while you brood?" Vanth asked over his shoulder.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Elektra said. Her gaze drifted over his wide shoulders, down his back to where his jeans hugged his ass.
"Yes, you do. You've been weird ever since my grandfather interrupted us yesterday." Vanth slowed his pace until she became level with him. "If you're bothered by it, just say so. You know I'm not the kind of asshole to pressure you into something that you don't want to do."
"I know that. I'm not bothered by it, and I don't regret it. I'm just doing my best to keep my priorities straight. I can't get distracted with wanting to flirt and make out with you. It will end up getting us both killed," Elektra replied.
Gods, she really didn't want to hurt him. She also didn't want him to be a victim of the pheromones that she was currently pushing out either. Other females might not have cared, but she wasn't one of them.
Vanth fixed his black eyes on her. They skimmed across her face, lingering on her lips. "Are you sure that's all it is? You looked… I don't know…differentwhen you came in for dinner last night."
"I saw the extent of your mother's hoarding. That was probably it."
He looked like he was going to argue with her and then decided against it. "If you say so."
Somehow, Elektra knew that he wasn't going to drop it. Maybe she should just come out and tell him the truth, and then that way, she wouldn't feel so guilty about encouraging him and then immediately pushing him away.
Elektra stopped walking and let him go on ahead again. She was too close to him, and the urge to touch him was getting worse.
It's just the mating cycle. Breathe through it, and everything will be okay.
She was still trying to reason with herself when someone dropped from a tree behind her. Two fae males dressed in the same greens as the forest smiled as she whirled around.
"Can I help you?" she demanded. She didn't risk turning back around to see where Vanth was.
"You tell us, lovely," the brown-haired male said. "We were going about our business when we smelled your call."
"I don't know what you're talking about," she said, her hands itching for her sickles.
The other male smiled like a cat. "Deny it all you wish. I can smell how ripe and wet you are for mating."
They started to close in on her when suddenly she was pulled backward, and Vanth was standing in front of her. His magic seeped out of him in smoky, threatening tentacles. The ends of them formed into sharp points and all focused on the two males. Elektra couldn't see his face, but whatever was on it made the strangers step back, their honey complexions turning pale.
The brown-haired male dropped into an elegant bow. "My apologies, good sir. We didn't know that the lady had already chosen a consort for her mating cycle."
Elektra prayed for the Earth to open up and swallow her whole. Of all the big-mouthed, fucking assholes in Faerie, they had to find her.
"Well, she has, so fuck off before I tear your eyes out for coveting what is mine," Vanth growled, standing his ground. The two males backed away, and with a flash of light, they both turned into swallows and disappeared through the trees. Heturned slowly to face Elektra. "You want to tell me what that was all about?"
"Not here," she replied, her eyes scanning around the trees in case they had more friends. She hadn't even heard them because she had been too caught up in what was happening between them.
They needed to get out of Faerie before she opened up to him, or they would be like sitting ducks.
Vanth's magic floated around him for a few silent seconds before he let the power go, and the gray shadows blew away on the breeze. His face clouded with worry, and he reached up to brush her cheek with his thumb. It took all of Elektra's self-control not to lean into the touch.
Vanth's expression hardened, and he lifted her chin. The dominance in the gesture sent lust singing through all of her senses.
"It better be a good explanation. Anyone looks at you or talks to you like that again, I'm going to chop their fucking heads off with my new sword," he said. He leaned down until his lips almost touched hers. "Understand?"
"Yes?" Elektra's head was getting fuzzy, and her heart began to race. She tilted her head up invitingly.
Vanth stared at her lips. "Good," he growled, letting her go and stepping away. "Inferno is this way."
Elektra watched him stride away. She took three shaky breaths and then hurried to catch up with him. Maybe if she told him the truth, he would freak out, and that would remove the problem of her growing ache to do very dirty things to him.
Somehow, she doubted it.
