His Virgin Princess. Grace Goodwin
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tipped up my chin. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
He put his jacket on, taking what little warmth he could from it. He moved toward the entrance and I followed. Slowly. Thinking out loud. “We can’t walk back to the Touchstone. It’s too far. There’s not enough food or water. While I can forage for both of us and hunt for meat if I have to, you’re weak. Injured. We don’t have time for that.”
“You are injured as well.” He looked down at my ankle, as if he could see that it was swollen inside my boot. In the daylight, I could see the olive tone of his skin beneath the blood, the fullness of his slightly darker lips, the play of shadows over his very ripped, very muscled chest and back. Holy hell. Hottie. Score one for me. His deep, rumbling voice made me shiver, and not with cold. “Did you bring a ReGen wand?”
I frowned. What? “I don’t know what that is.”
He sighed, then smiled at me for the first time. “That’s all right. You’ve done a good job. Thank you.”
I returned the smile with one of my own. “Now that I found you, we can call the cavemen for help.”
“Cavemen?”
“The mates of my two friends from Earth.” I pulled the comm unit from his hand and reached into my pack for tools—which consisted of a carving knife I’d stolen from the kitchen—and the battery—or whatever they called the odd lump of metal I was placing inside the unit to turn it back on.
“Your friends are mated to Hunters who live in caves? I have never heard of such Hunters. Not even in the old lore.” He slowly shook his head as he took another bite of the energy bar. “I do not believe we should summon strange cave dwellers to our aide. Someone wants me dead. If you hadn’t found me, they’d have accomplished their task.”
“Who?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “I have no idea.” He looked up at the sky, closed his eyes. Breathed deep. It was as if he’d expected never to see the sun again, to feel fresh air on his skin. “We can’t trust anyone.”
“Not even your friends?” I asked. “Your family? Do you have a family?”
He reached out, stroked a finger down my cheek. “I am a member of the Seven. On Everis, this is a high-ranking position. I am known throughout the planet. My family has held the seat for thousands of years, passed from generation to generation, but I am the last of my line. I have many enemies, Danielle. Any number of people could be involved in this. I do not wish to get my father’s mate or my sister involved. It’s too dangerous. As for friends? I don’t have friends, only those who want something from me.”
“That’s terrible.”
“It is as it has always been.” He grunted his agreement, but didn’t say more. I disliked that he was resigned to this. Not a fun life.
“Well, I have friends. We’ll call Katie and Lexi. They’re also from Earth. They’ve only been on Everis for a short time, just like me, and I promise you, they aren’t part of any plot to kill you. They don’t even know who you are. Hell, when we volunteered, we had no idea we would be matched to Everis. You can trust them.”
“I do not know them.”
“Do you trust me?” I asked, looking up at him.
He straightened, as if I’d insulted him. Puffed up his chest. “You are my Marked Mate. I trust you implicitly. You are the only one.”
I put my hand on his arm. But not liking the cold, stiff cloth separating us, I slid my palm down until our hands, our marks, touched.
“Then trust me in this. Katie and Lexi will help. Their mates—Elite Hunters—will help.”
“I don’t know. They sound suspicious, and not worthy, living in caves. How do they properly care for their mates?”
I laughed, I couldn’t help it, the Earth-girl reference to caveman mentality obviously was not translating well through Warden Egara’s handy NPU. “They don’t actually live in caves. On Earth, that’s what we call a man who is overly protective, dominant and bossy.”
“Who is we?”
“The women.”
This made him grin for the first time, and I knew I wanted to see humor in his eyes a lot more often in the future. “Then they sound like excellent males indeed, for that is how I intend to be with you. Overly protective, bossy and definitely dominant.”
I batted my eyelashes at him, the first real smile on my face in what felt like forever. “Do you know what happened to cavemen on Earth?”
He pulled me close, pressing our bodies together in a warm embrace that was so much more than an introduction. It was a homecoming. When he bent his head and his lips lingered in the wild, tangled mess of hair just above my ear, I could feel his smile. “They kept their mates safe and protected and very, very naked so their beautiful, small Earth females did not go a single day without experiencing wild, carnal pleasure at their masters’ hands?”
“No.” Holy shit, was my pussy wet and aching? Now? In a hellhole cave with my mate injured and bleeding and days of filth and sweat coating both of us? Gross.
He groaned in my ear and pulled me closer still, until I could feel the large, hard length of his cock. “That is what will happen to you, Danielle, once we escape this place and you are healed. I will claim you in the sacred order of three, learn every single secret your body would try to keep from me. I will make you beg for release and scream with pleasure. I will kiss every inch of you, mate. Claim you. Make you mine.”
Sweet talker. “As soon as I’m healed? You’re a mess. I’m fine.”
“No. You are not. And as soon as we have a ReGen wand available, you will be seen to.”
“What about you?” I pushed back, staring up—way up—into his dark eyes.
“My wounds are nothing compared to yours. You will be tended to first.”
Was this guy for real? He could barely stand. He was cut and bleeding from so many wounds I couldn’t count them all. Freezing. Starving. And he was worried about my stupid ankle? “My ankle injury happened months ago on Earth. It’s nothing. Just sore from too much hiking.”
“You will be tended to first. This is not a negotiation, Danielle. Refuse me and I will spank you for disobedience, as I should right now for your presence, and defiance.”
“I saved your life.”
His gaze went from intense and sensual to hard in an instant. “And risked your own.”
“You could try being grateful.”
“I am grateful that through some miracle of the gods you found me and survived. You are never to do anything this reckless again.”
“Shit. I thought Von and Bryn were bad.”
“Commander Von? Of the Elite Hunters?” His tone changed once more, from annoyingly arrogant and bossy to inquisitive. Trying to keep up with his rapid mood shifts made me feel like a silly cat chasing a dot of light from a laser pointer. Jump here. No, there. No…
“Yes. Von and Bryn are both Elite Hunters. They are mated to my friends, Katie and Lexi. I told you this already. They are the people I think we should call. I trust them.” His face relaxed into a semblance of calm, even though I could feel the coiled tension in his body as he constantly scanned our surroundings, listening. Paying attention. But so was I. And I wasn’t half dead. We were well and truly alone out here. “Do you know them?”
“I have heard of Von in the council meetings. Not long ago, we sent Bryn on a very sensitive mission.”
“Yeah, to Rogue 5. That turned out to be a cluster fuck.” I frowned at him, but my disapproval was nothing to his reaction.
“That is highly secret information, Danielle. A very