MARIA “You need to rest.”“No.”“Would it kill you to listen to me?”“Yes.”Maria was going to kill him. She was most definitely going to kill him.After she’d miraculously managed to push the rock off him—honestly, she still didn’t know how she’d been able to do that—they’d discovered that his leg bone had fractured. He was going to be okay, but he needed to rest in order for that to happen.And the man had absolutely no intention of resting.The moment she’d pushed the rock off him—after he’d stared into her eyes for long as though he didn’t know the kind of creature that she was—, he’d staggered to his feet, wrestled his sword out from under a rock, and after searching for the second one without progress, he’d given up and limped out of the remains of the cave with her following behind him, wincing with every step he took.It was crazy. He was the one in pain and although he grimaced as he walked, she was the one actually forcing him to rest and give his leg time to heal.“We’re n
MARIA They set back on course, her captor—since he still wouldn’t tell her his name—cutting at twigs for them pass. She noticed one time that even when the space had been enough for him to fit through, he’d still cleared it a bit before passing.She suspected he did it for her.“Shit.” He cursed all of a sudden, shoving the tip of his sword into the ground and resting on it.“You’re tired.” She observed.He didn’t answer her. He didn’t need to. It was glaringly obvious.“You need to rest.”“I don’t.” He forced out through gritted teeth. His breaths wheezed in and out through his teeth and his beautiful face was scrunched up in pain.When she looked down, she saw that the blood stain on his trousers had spread wider. He was bleeding more, and if she had to guess, it was because he was stressing the leg. He was supposed to keep the leg resting horizontally for as long as it took for an immortal’s bones to mend. For one as old as him, it would happen quicker, and that was what she’d bee
BRAN Bran jerked up to a sitting position when something brushed his leg. He looked around, but found nothing. Thinking that his eyes were still hazy from sleep, he rubbed them with his fingers and looked again, his eyes darting around. But there was nothing there. It was probably a rat. He should be thankful that it wasn’t a wild one and had not tried to eat his toe. It wouldn’t be the first time. He groaned, observing his injury and he almost smiled when he saw that it had almost completely healed. They were going to be walking a very long distance today and he didn’t need to be worrying about reopening the wood anytime twigs brushed his legs. Yesterday, he had been so close to gagging Maria when she wouldn’t stop talking about how he needed to rest. He knew that she had a point, but— Maria! Where was she? His now frantic eyes searched the cave, looking for any traces of her, but there were none. The wood from the fire had burned completely and whee there was once fire, ther
BRAN “What are you doing?” Even to Bran’s ears, he could hear how panicked he sounded, and he had every right to be.She’d shoved her fingers into the bands of her shorts and the only reason she would do something like that, was if she wanted to take it off. She’d said she wanted to have a bath, but she had to be joking, right?Her eyes flew to his, confused. “A bath. I just…” She trailed off mid-sentence and he could see the moment when it hit her. “Oh.”Yeah. Oh.He couldn’t help himself as his thoughts drifted. What had she been about to do?She’d told him that she was going to take a bath at the same time she’d attempted to take off her shorts, so there had been no time for him to process what was happening. Now that he was, he wondered if he should have let her take her shorts off if not for anything, for him to feed his eyes.It was not news that Maria had a body that could bring a man to his knees and every time he stared at her, he was reminded of that anew. She was a curvy li
MARIA Her head was spinning.Her heart was beating a fast rhythm and her body was burning up. She felt so hot, she wondered how the water running down her body wasn’t producing steam on contact.And, gods, she was so horny she couldn’t think straight. She felt like she was going out of her mind with lust and the longer Bran watched her with those hot green eyes filled with the promise of every filthy thing he wanted to do to her, the hotter she burned.She felt like she was going to combust from how horny she was. And if her captor was not going to do anything about it—if he was just going to sit over there and watch her—then she was going to get herself off and if he wanted front row seats to the show, then he was free to get them.Who was she to say no anyway?Especially when it was so obvious that he wanted it even though he would probably cut his arm off than admit that he wanted to watch her touch herself.The water sliding down her body, Maria followed the path of the water wit
MARIA “Wait here.”That was what Maria’s captor had told her almost ten minutes ago before he’d walked into the dark aclove off to the right of where she stood.After a long day of walking, they’d finally reached the demon realm. Before today, she hadn’t known that it was possible to cross between realms on foot, but it was actually possible. She’d simply thought that they were merely travelling to a friend’s home that was in the next town, but then after reaching the ends of the forest, they’d come to a wall. The end of the forest.At least that was what Maria had thought. Until her captor had stepped through stand he’d. Scared and a bit excited, Maria had stepped though it too and she’d appeared next to her captor.The other side of the wall was a town. The streets were not that busy—probably because it was dark—but she could see a few people milling around, their horns telling her that they were demons. She also saw a few that didn’t have horns and she briefly wondered what they w
MARIAMaria took note of Bran’s eyes as they followed the woman as she came closer to them. They were still just as black as ever, but she caught the slightest bit of warmth and recognition from them.She was right.This woman was his lover. Although she didn’t have horns. So what was she?The woman stopped directly in front of her captor, seeming to lean slightly into him as if she couldn’t stand on her own.Terrific. Hadn’t she just walked towards them? She could very well stand on her own, just like she’d been standing before she saw them. So why was she suddenly acting like she couldn’t stand up without his support?“It’s been so long, Your Majesty,” The woman said with that infuriatingly seductive smile on her lips. “Why, I almost thought you’d forgotten us.”“I’ve just been very busy, Elizabeth.” The words were clipped and precise, just like he normally spoke. The only difference was that he didn’t pull his eyes from the woman.So this beautiful woman’s name was Elizabeth.Maria
BRAN The door slammed shut behind him as he stepped out of the room, leaving Maria behind.Christ, she was just so infuriating. And so fucking fearless. Bran had never met a woman like her in his entire life. The women he knew were soft and submissive, retreating at the slightest sight of his anger and hurrying to do his bidding whenever he demanded it. They did everything in their power to make sure that they didn’t anger him—Maria did everything in her power to make sure that she pissed him off.And she succeeded every time, damn her.But, Christ, he found it so sexy. Down in the bar, he’d just been about to maul her when Elizabeth had cleared her throat, pulling him back to the present. Had she not detracted him, he would have kissed her right there, damn it. Seeing the flush on her cheeks and neck from anger had the blood rushing to his cock so fast, it made him dizzy.He needed to do something about his perpetual boner for her. He hadn’t gotten laid in a long time because of his