Gena Showalter - Burning Dawn

“Just the way I like it,” she taunted, glancing back at him to smirk.

He turned his head to the side, and Elin could see the humiliation and disgust contorting his features.

A conflicting blast of emotions raced through her. Pity that he was being driven to this. Anger that he was being treated this way. And raw determination. He was a slave, like her, and needed a savior.

Screw survival instinct.

Elin raced inside the tent. “Stop. Please, Thane. Stop.”

He grabbed the base of his shaft and positioned himself for entrance.

“Thane!” she shouted, trying again. Fight Kendra’s allure. Don’t give her what she wants.

He halted just before the damage was done, his entire body vibrating as he resisted the urges thundering inside him.

“Please,” she repeated, and cupped his shoulder. “You don’t have to do this.”

His nostrils flared as he drew in a sharp breath. Then he licked his lips, as if he’d just scented a tastier meal.

Me? she almost squeaked.

“How dare you speak to my slave, human.” Kendra swiped out a claw, intending to rake Elin’s thigh. Only, Thane grabbed the princess by the wrist, saving Elin from a severed artery. “Ow! Let go.”

“No...hurt,” he gritted.

The Phoenix guards snapped to attention, realizing they needed to protect their princess, and attacked Thane in unison, wrenching Elin from his side.

Stomach rolling from the sight of the attack, dizziness swimming in her head, she scrambled from the battle and waded shakily into the pond. She ducked under the surface, submerging herself, and vowed to stay under water as long as her lungs would allow.

Coward!

Yes. Yes, she was. But there was nothing she could do about it. Violence was her kryptonite, and if she didn’t hide, if she saw it happening, she would splinter apart.

Aren’t you already?

At least Thane’s life would be spared. Upon his arrival at camp, he had been clear enough to realize he was in the middle of a crap storm, and had killed Krull, who would not be coming back. Ever.

Kendra had been due a punishment for what she’d done to Ricker, and, to avoid it, she’d reverted to her old ways and eaten the old king’s heart. Ardeo had then taken the throne and as thanks for Thane’s part in the whole deal, granted him life eternal among the Phoenix. As a slave, yes, but life was life.

Lungs...burning...

Elin came up for air, gasping, relieved to see Thane and the warriors were gone. She wiped the water droplets from her lashes and trudged to the shore.

“Human!” Kendra screamed. “We have business.”

Uh-oh. Time for my newest beating.

Her mind whirled with a new plan. Bear whatever happens next, recover and steal the cubes out of the locket. Kendra has to sleep sometime.

Thane would come to his senses and fight his way out. Grateful for her service, he would take Elin with him. Finally, she could start her new life.

NEW BONDS. SAME PROBLEM.

Same solution.

My Slave yanked his way to freedom, ignoring the pain sweeping through his body. He stomped toward the exit of the tent. He wanted his woman with a desperation that—

He stumbled back a few steps, momentarily distracted. He frowned. Something small, square and cold had just been shoved into his mouth; it was sweet. He liked it. Also, there was a strange weight pulling at his shoulders. Why?

He took stock. A female had her arms locked around him, her small body pressed against him, her legs dangling above the ground.

New problem.

New solution. He grabbed her by the waist with every intention of pitching her over his shoulder. But the sweetness of her curves registered, and he quickly changed his mind. She was delicate, like an exquisite piece of china in need of protection.

He didn’t think he’d ever held anything so fine.

Careful, so careful, he wrapped his arms around her and held her against him, using his body as a shield against the world. He would protect.

She sucked in a breath, as if the embrace surprised her. “Your name is Thane. Remember. Please.”

Her voice—he recognized it. It was unnaturally raspy, as if she’d just had the most intense orgasm of her life and would die without another. And it was an intonation that had invaded his dreams for the past six nights, sparking something inside him to life...something almost tender...driving him, arousing him.

An arousal he didn’t understand. She wasn’t his woman.

“Thane,” she said on a trembling breath. “Your name is Thane. Kendra tripled your dose of poison, so I need you to concentrate on the cold now spilling through you. Do you feel it? Do you feel the cold?”

The cold—yes. A thin layer of ice coated his insides. “Yes.”

“Good. Now concentrate on me,” she said, and he was helpless to do otherwise. “Hear what I say. You are a Sent One. You aren’t here of your own volition. You were drugged. You’re still drugged. The woman you desire has made you a prisoner of the Phoenix. Clan Firebird.”

In some forgotten corner of his mind, the words held his interest. Sent One. Drugged. Prisoner. Phoenix.

The words were accompanied by emotions.

Sent One—longing.

Drugged—confusion.

Prisoner—rage.

Phoenix—hatred.

“—still listening? You can free yourself, Thane. There is a way.”

The cold intensified, until a winter storm raged through every inch of him. All the while the female continued to speak—that voice, so carnally perfect—and he began to feel as if he were floating higher and higher, his head finally peeking above a sheet of dark clouds.

His name was Thane. He was a Sent One.

He was here for a woman. No, he thought a second later. He was here because of one.

Kendra. Yes. That was her name.

He despised Kendra. Didn’t he?

No. He wanted her. Only her.

But...if that were true, why was he clinging to the female in his arms?

The, oh, so tempting female in my arms. He ran his nose along the line of her neck, inhaling deeply.

“Wh-what are you doing?” she asked on a wispy catch of breath. “Smelling me? I’ve bathed. I swear I have.”

No hint of smoke or flowers, only soap and cherries. She didn’t smell like Kendra, and he was glad.

He rubbed his stubble-covered cheek against her skin. Soft, mildly warm rather than searing hot. She didn’t feel like Kendra. But...better?

Yes, oh, yes.

He flicked his tongue across her fluttering pulse. Melted honey, summer fruit. She didn’t taste like Kendra. So much better.

“Stop.” She moaned, and he liked that, too. Wanted to hear it again...and again. “That’s not going to happen between us, warrior. We’re going to save each other, nothing else.”

What he heard: going to happen between us.

He agreed.

He carried her to the bed and eased her onto the mattress . “Have you,” he said.

“No, Thane,” she replied, wary—and even more breathless.

Floating higher and higher...

Peering down at her, he felt as if he were seeing her for the first time. Maybe he was. Or, maybe his focus was sharper with every second that passed, new portions of his mind clearing, cobwebs falling away.

His friends would have called her “plain,” he thought, but to Thane she was utterly breathtaking.

Long, dark hair spread around her like a midnight curtain. She was human. Petite. Delicately honed, like a cameo. Her pale skin had been burned by the harsh rays of the desert sun and had freckled. He could trace those freckles with his tongue. She was young, perhaps twenty, with big gray eyes that reminded him of smoked-glass mirrors. He could see himself in those eyes...all the way to his battered soul.