Shadow Kissed 03 - Shadowman

will wander here.” As he spoke, whispers rose around them. There were watchers in the woods, but the fae would hang back from he who was darkest of all.
    She was determined in her arousal. It rolled off her in great, crashing waves, battering his reserves.
    â€œThen we’d better be quick.” Her eyebrows danced in suggestion. “You have a devil to find anyway.”
    She wrapped her arms around him and filled him with her exhilaration. The beat of her heart in his head, the pump of life was too much to bear.
    â€œLayla, please ,” he begged. Her lust for life would override him. And she thought she had no power.
    But she nipped his lip, then stepped back to peel off her shirt. “Right now. Here on the ground.”
    The ground was not good enough for Layla, especially not with the fae looking on in keen interest, hungry for that spark within her. This was no place for one with a loose hold on life. Since only excitement billowed from Layla, the terror had to be his.
    Not here. Not like this. Not where he couldn’t hide his nature and keep her safe at the same time.
    But she was Kathleen all over again, bent on seduction, but without the heart trouble to limit her headlong pursuit of disaster. Layla’s heart beat rapidly in her chest, the tempo echoing in his. The tide of her emotion was beyond exquisite. How must it be to experience it firsthand?
    He growled in frustration. “I would have visited you tonight in your sleep.”
    Please, Layla.
    â€œYeah, that was good. But I want you . And now.” She came forward again, naked from the waist up, her skin like alabaster in this light. She buried her hands in his hair. Brought a fistful of strands to her face. “You smell so good. Always so good. Faery shampoo rocks.”
    â€œDon’t ask this of me,” he said, skimming his mouth over her neck. She smelled earthy, fecund, and so blood sweet.
    She drew back, looked him in his eyes. “You said you were a beast.”
    â€œI am.” The worst of them. Even now Shadow crackled with the rise of his want.
    Passion darkened her gaze. “Well, let’s have it then.”
    He closed his eyes to hide his alarm. She had no idea what she was talking about, his reckless woman, so he simplified. “You will fear me.”
    Please don’t make me show you this.
    Layla smiled. “Promises, promises.”
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    The moment the whites of Khan’s eyes bled to black, Layla knew she was in trouble. He lifted a hand into the air and the forest around them went dead silent. A thick mist of shadows filtered through the trees, blanketing them in a soft, impenetrable pocket of stillness.
    Considering the dark flex of Khan’s expression, Layla didn’t think the quiet would last long. She crossed her arms to cover her exposed breasts.
    The darkness around her grumbled. Khan only lifted a brow. “Second thoughts?”
    She dropped her arms again. “You don’t scare me.”
    â€œI should.” He tilted his head as if straining for control and said with that same aching deliberation, “I try very hard to be gentle with you.”
    She knew that. A little less care, though, and she might learn something.
    â€œI need to know you,” she said. And since each bit of revealed information was worse than the last, this must be a doozy. It wasn’t as if she had a lifetime for him to tell her either. Tomorrow she might fall down a flight of stairs, and that would be that.
    He looked away from her, into the silent trees. “The fae prey on heedless fools like you.”
    â€œI need to know,” she said. “Do you understand?”
    He looked back at her, his gaze black and cold. “So be it.”
    The low-lying mist whipped into a frenzy, and Layla flinched, covering herself again. The wind took with it all the jewel-toned leaves and all hint of living things in a dirty, stinging tornado of terrifying brevity. Bare trunks of trees amid a soil of ash were all that was left behind of Twilight. It was utter desolation. A holocaust of imagination. The death of all things.
    Her heart clenched at the sight. What was she supposed to learn from this?
    She sought Khan, who was suddenly behind her. He put a hand roughly to her cheek, to keep her sight fixed on the ruined tableau before her. What was he trying to tell her?
    â€œKhan?” She trembled, fearing what was to come.
    â€œPlease tell me you want to turn