The Sleeper's Harp (The Arcane Artifacts, #1)

Chapter 28 - The Mayor

I stared at Bastian, my chest expanding, welling with smug satisfaction. He looked at me with wide eyes, his breaths coming in rapid bursts. I'd never felt so stripped bare, so...worshiped with that gaze. No one had ever looked at me like this.

"Well," I managed, running a finger around the edges of my lips, like I was fixing lipstick, when really, I was making sure I hadn't been messy, "so much for your unparalleled control."

A low, warning growl rose around me, setting my hairs on end, sending shivers of delight down my spine. I backed up a smidge, not afraid, when I probably should have been. He tracked the motion, sitting up. I backed up a little further. He seemed to lean towards me, like a predator tracking prey, like he knew what I intended and was anticipating my movements.

He hadn't lied. He'd fucked me—thoroughly. My jaw would be sore for days. But none of that mattered. I ached for him, even wetter than when he'd touched me. The orgasm he'd given me, while immensely satisfying, had done little to temper the fire. But I didn't give in to my renewed arousal—something in me, some sort of teasing side of me—kicked into gear.

In a graceful sweep of motion, I slid off the bed and stood. His movements were inhumanly swift as he followed after me.

"Eleanor," he warned, speaking through clenched teeth. "Where you going, baby girl?"

My core clenched, dripping with heat and desire. The question, the way he said it, the animalistic wickedness that simmered beneath the surface of his words unnerved me. This was Bastian at his basest level. If I ran from the room, he'd chase after me, tackle me on the stairs, claim me entirely.

Anticipation, fear, and deep longing rose up inside me, all warring together into a potent—

A shrill chime fractured the silence. We both froze, staring at each other, panting, eyes locked. His naked body was a beautiful specimen of male, goblin or no. I was still covered in my PJs. The sound came again, his phone ringing.

I lifted my eyebrows, a question.

"You think I'd let you get away so easily, little female?"

Little female.

Shivers raced over my skin. My eyes darted over the creature in front of me. How much was Bastian right now, in this very moment, and how much of him was goblin? He'd never called me that before. But he said it with a sensual tenderness I'd never heard in his voice, even when he called me sugar.

I swallowed, wetted my lips. His eyes darted to my mouth. The phone rang again. He growled, annoyed, and glanced over his shoulder towards the nightstand. I used the brief distraction to dart away and slip through the door, closing it behind me, then I raced down the stairs, slipped into my room, and locked the door.

I leaned against it, nearly gasping for breath.

It wasn't that I wanted to stay away from, to keep him from me, to postpone the inevitable. I wanted him to claim me, the way he'd claimed my mouth. I was ready for it, had been ready for it since last night, since seeing him race out of the bedroom with a massive sword in hand. But I was also overwhelmed. The way he looked at me after his orgasm, like I was the only woman on the planet for him, like no one had ever given him what I had, left my heart swelling, nearly bursting. That expression had dissolved any bit of restraint I might have had.

So, why then had I run?

You want him to chase you, said the voice in the back of my mind. You like the way he looks at you. You want him unbound. You ran, because you knew it would rile him. Predators relish the chase, and you want to give him that.