Chapter 5

A dull pounding in her head brought Cylthan back to consciousness. Eyes fluttering, she felt so uncomfortable. Her arms were tied painfully tight behind her, even her fingers. Those didn’t hurt quite as bad as one would think if they were broken. Wiggling them, she figured he must have healed her while she was out. The arm she was laying on felt like needles.

The worst part was how dry her mouth felt. Her tongue was sandpaper against the roof. Her throat burned more than she could ever recall.

The light of the fire made her squint. Lifting her head, she peered around. Noticing Roan sitting across from her, his knees up and arms slung over them, caused her heart to thump in trepidation. He was smirking at her as though he knew something terrible and was waiting for her to figure it out. It made her feel sick.

Sitting up slowly, she glared at him and opened her mouth to say something scathing when she realized not but a breath would come out. She had no voice– not even a raspy whisper.

At the exact moment it dawned on her, Roan’s smile curled ever more dreadfully with the change in her expression. Defiance melted away into terror. That was what he wanted. He had her undivided attention.

Turning one of his hands relaxed over a knee, he showed her a small glass jar, etched with magical scrawlings. Within floated a pinpoint of soft light.

“If you keep up your attitude, I won’t give it back next time.”

Standing, he approached her in purposeful strides. Gasping, she backed away but she was pressed against her panther’s body, unable to escape him. Reaching through her cringe, he grabbed her jaw hard enough that it might leave bruises and jerked her towards his groin.

“Open wide, darling,” he chuckled darkly. Putting even more pressure against her joint to force her mouth open, he tipped the bottle and let the pinpoint float back to where it belonged.

With a harsh gasp, she coughed dryly, her throat burning more as the magic released and spread through her neck. Surprisingly, Roan had a waterskin and tipped it for her to take several gulps until she sputtered and had to pant for air, coughing again.

Turning away from her, he returned to his spot and stared hard at her from across the fire. The cold hate in her shimmering slits almost made him shiver. Instead, he smirked.

“Dick,” she croaked with a sneer.

Grinning dangerously, he ticked a finger back and forth. “Another harsh word, my dear, and I’ll make you suck mine,” he warned with honey.

Though her face scrunched up in fury and disgust, she let her gaze drop in submission. Looking down at herself, she squirmed to make her tunic cover as much of her thighs as she could. “Can I at least get dressed?”

The salacious curl of his mouth made her stomach churn. “I’m not untying you.” Reaching into the pack beside him, he pulled out her pants. When he stood to approach her again, she gulped, but did not resist when he jerked her up to her feet, facing away from him.

“This’ll be new,” he chuckled. “I’m usually undressing the ladies.”

Her jaw clenched to hold her tongue, and it only made him more amused. Pulling her pants up those long, smooth legs, he felt his blood burning again. Standing up straight, he took a loud sniff of her.

“Pervert,” she hissed.

It became a sharp inhale when he jerked her pants up hard, digging the seams into the folds between her legs. Another, softer gasp escaped her when his powerful arms encircled her, jerking her tight against his warm, hard body.

“Feisty,” he rumbled behind her, hot against her ear. Slipping his chin over her shoulder so she could feel every bit of him pressed to her back, he trapped her hips against his as his hands slowly tightened and tied the pants for her, drawing out the time he got to have her in his grasp. “You were the one flirting with me, ‘dovlin.’ Now that you have my attention, you’re going to play coy?”

Her breathing was labored, trembling with her tension, staring straight ahead. He saw the muscle bulge in her jaw when she clenched her teeth hard again, swallowing the words that likely would have been venom. It made him chuckle.

Finished with his task, he let his hands course up her body beneath her tunic. He had only a second to marvel at the warm, smooth flesh under his coarse fingertips before she stiffened and jerked away with another of those feral growls only an elf could make.

“Don’t touch me– eek!”

Her foot hit her panther, and she tumbled right over the snoring cat, hitting the ground hard.

Great, and now that asshole was laughing at her.

Groaning, she squirmed, trying to sit up, when Roan stepped into view. Grinning down at her, he swiped his head side to side with a clicking of his tongue. “I would have stopped you, but you did tell me not to touch you.”

“Grusik!”

Hands on his hips, he pressed his lips to a thin line with a big breath and shook his head again in disappointment. “Now, what did I say about those harsh words?”

Growling at him, she squirmed more to get up, but he grabbed her ankle and kept her in the awkward position. “Since your feet are up, I guess I could get your boots on. Would make the trip back that much easier, and I’d like to get going.”