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“Warrick…”

And tore it off like it was tissue.

I cursed and dropped to my knees again, bringing up my hands. “Why are you like this? So damned stubborn. I know you’re strong, you don’t need to prove it to me by bleeding to death…” My words died in my throat. It was almost gone, the deep gash across his stomach was now just a long scratch. I looked up at him, stunned.

“We heal fast.”

I looked back down, truly shocked. “I’ve seen fast, but this is…holy shit.”

A wide, rough palm cupped my cheek, tilting my head back, forcing me to look up at him.

“I’m the one who protects,” he said in a gruff voice.

He stared deeply into my eyes, head angled down, his long dark hair falling forward. I tried to look away, but he wouldn’t let me.

“You were worried about me,” he stated in a low rasp that set off sparks in my belly.

I quickly pulled away and looked down again. “I didn’t want to get stuck lugging your huge ass out of here, that’s all.”

“Because I’m yours as well,” he said. “You feel it.”

I didn’t answer because I didn’t want to think about it, about the way I felt. It was a waste of time. He didn’t feel tender emotions, didn’t understand them, and I sure as hell did. He was immortal, and I most definitely wasn’t.

This thing that swirled and pulsed between us was utterly hopeless.

A recipe for emotional devastation—mine.

His abs tightened and the muscles in his monster thighs flexed—and his cock, that had remained flaccid up until then—began to grow and harden. I should look away, I needed to look away, but couldn’t. He was huge, long and thick and…right there. His breathing grew choppy, harsh, and I didn’t dare look up.

Blood from the wound had trailed down, dampening the dark hair surrounding the thick base of his cock, had dripped down the shaft and smeared his thighs.

Adrenaline still pumped through me, my heart pounding in my chest. It was dark, and there was no one around. The evil had gone, and it was just him and me and the moonlight. It felt like another world, like it wasn’t real. My blood-slicked hand lifted to that impressive cock before I had time to second guess it.

And ignoring the voice in my head telling me to stop this now, I curled my fingers around him. There were so many reasons not to do this, but I needed this, this moment, so badly it eclipsed every bit of the common sense, of harsh reality I’d been clinging to.

Air exploded through his clenched teeth. “Dove…”

The way he said it, so deep and full of desperation, of need, made something swirl low in my belly, and I couldn’t stop myself from gripping him more firmly.

I glanced up at him then, and his hungry gaze bore into me as if he were waiting for me to stop, as if he expected me to realize what I was doing and pull away.

I didn’t do either of those things. I stroked him from base to tip, the blood coating my hand and his cock easing the way and forcing a harsh groan from him—and the look on his face, god, it was…utterly breathtaking.

I kept my mouth shut. I didn’t want to talk. Talking would only make this real—I wouldn’t be able to pretend this wasn’t really happening, that it was a dream, or some alternate version of reality.

And honestly, this moment couldn’t be any more fitting. This violent, potent male, hard cock slicked with his own blood, thrusting into my hand in the woods under a full moon…

How many times had I thought about him in some variation of this exact scenario? More times than I cared to acknowledge. I didn’t want to think about how good it felt to finally be touching him like this, or how much more of him I wanted to touch.

Curling the fingers of my other hand around him as well, I stroked him again. Warrick widened his stance, the muscles in his thighs jumping, and he growled low.

The wild sound had my belly quivering and my thighs squeezing together.

“Turn around,” he gritted. “Hands and knees.”

My inner muscles clenched, but I shook my head. No, I couldn’t give myself to him, not here, not like this. If I did that, it wouldn’t be a shadowy dream anymore, it would be too real, too much.

I stroked him faster, gripped him tighter, and he snarled, thrusting into my hands.