Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

WREN

B y the time we reach the first rest stop marked on the map in my new book, I'm in a foul mood.

My feet hurt, the boots the brownie left for me this morning not nearly broken in enough for the type of hiking we're doing.

Sweat drips along my temple, my hair sticking to my cheek.

A fly drones around my ear, and I swat at it with extreme prejudice.

"Not exactly the morning jaunt you expected?" a cool voice asks, and I turn on my heel and glare at him.

Mr. Monstrous Unseelie fae himself looks as fresh as he did when I met him outside my shop this morning, not a hair out of place and as stunningly handsome as ever.

My stomach growls, and I frown at him as I pull out a cookie from my sack.

"Why are you looking at me like this is my fault?" he asks.

I bite into the cookie with more force than necessary, pointedly ignoring his very valid question. "Aren't you supposed to be guiding me? Wasn't that the whole terms of the binding?"

"You haven't asked me nicely," he says with a slick smile.

"Will you guide me?" I grumble, taking another bite. Really, it's a very good cookie—salty toffee bits with huge chocolate chunks, and just crisp enough to be satisfying to bite into. Yum.

"Mmm, that's still not very nice." He's grinning, like this is the most fun he's had in ages, and some of my grumpiness dissipates because how sad is that?

An early morning hike with a very non-morning witch when you've been forced into service.

"Will you please guide me?" I put a little sugar on it.

"Where would you have me guide you?" He bats his eyelashes innocently, and I decide maybe his idea of fun is perverted.

He tilts his head, waiting, and I almost choke on a laugh. I'm pretty sure I've seen a cat with that same expression a time or two.

"Would you please guide me to the dragon sapphire, oh beautiful and terrifying Unseelie?"

He positively preens, smoothing his elegant, long hands down his muscled chest. "Well, I suppose I could. If you share your cookie with me."

I sigh. This is not how the binding is supposed to work.

Ugh.

I break the cookie in what would have been half, were it still whole, and he snatches it out of my hand, gobbling it down instantly.

Okaaaay , then .

With wide eyes and the kind of calm demeanor I reserve for sticky, screaming toddlers and angry cats, I step back and finish chewing.

My skin flushes and I fan my face, suddenly hot all over.

I clear my throat, my entire body tightening up, my stomach swooping strangely. Maybe the cookie isn't sitting right.

I glance back at Caelan, my nose scrunched up, and it hits me like a sledgehammer.

He is so, so, so handsome.

That dark, glossy hair that's begging to be touched, the sharp angles of his jaw and cheekbones… and those eyes.

I sigh, studying him. The powerful, lean muscles under his shirt look positively rubbable, and before I'm even aware of what I'm doing, I've closed the gap between us.

My fingers tug up the hem of his shirt, exposing a breadth of purple skin. A moan slips out of my mouth as I run my hands over his abs, and when I glance up at him, his ice-blue eyes are dilated, his fangs extending.

"You are the most devious, darling creature I have ever set eyes upon," he says in a rasp, and then his hands are at my hips, pulling me closer to him until our bodies connect.

"Kiss me," I tell him. I don't think I've ever wanted someone like I want Caelan.

He does as I ask, and there's nothing sweet or gentle about it. His mouth presses against mine, his fangs sharp against my lower lip. I fit myself against him as best I can, hungry for more, needing all of him all over me.

My hands are pulling at his shirt, and I moan in approval as he breaks the kiss to take it off all the way.

"You're perfect," I tell him.

A snarl leaves his mouth as his arms circle my waist again. My hands travel down the expanse of his back, needing to map every surface of his beautiful body. There are rough ridges all along his skin, but I don't have time to worry about that.

I need more of him, of all of him, and I don't know what's taken me so long to realize just how much I need Caelan.