Chapter 99 The ck g

SERAPHINA

I couldn’t move

Not because I bwas /bfrozen with fear, but due to the fact that there were trees stacked above me. Heavy. Pressing. Sealing the world into a narrow, airless coffin.

But bwhat /bstole the air from my lungs wasn’t the weightb. /bA pair of dark blue wolf eyes stared down at me unblinking, unbothered, locked to mine blike /bchains I couldn’t break.

Ryker

It was him.

He was inches above me, the sharp line of his jaw bleeding onto my skin bfrom /ba wound somewhere near his temple. His barms /bbwere /bnted on either side of my head, bmuscles /btensed into rigid cords as he held up the weight of what should have crushed. us both.

Not one branch had touched me.

Because he had taken the weight of it all

While I was beneath them.

Shouldering all of it on his back like a beast. Like a demon. Like something that wasn’t.normal.

I swallowed. My lips parted in disbelief. “Why did byou /bsave me?”

A dead silence fell between us increasing the tension in the darkness as I met his gaze with bmy /bwolf’s eyes.

His voice was a velvet bde /bdark, rich, and cutting. “Why? Only Ronan gets to y the hero?“/

I held my breath at the mention of Ronan. He just called the Ronan hero.

My muscles jerked. I wore a man’s disguise at the moment. So, him bcalling /bRonan my hero was as dangerous as it soundedb. /b

i steadied my breathing, forcing the tremor from my voice. “I don’t know about him being a hero,” I said coldly, “but you definitely aren’t one.”

A soft bchuckle /bescaped his lips. Low andzy, like he enjoyed every second of this.

–

Then what bam /bI?” he asked, one brow arching. “A viin?” in the darkness his handsomeness was even more breathtaking when he ached bthat /bbrow like that.

I bdidn’t /bhesitate “Probably I met his bgaze /bhead–on. “bMore /blike ck g.” I murmured, pulse hammering in bmy /bbears/b. They said that women had a great sense bwhen /bit came to men and bsince /bthe day I had seen Ryker, I could tell that this man was bnot /bbeven /bclose to a red bbut /bapletely ck bg/b.

His smule faded, reced by bsomething /bquieter. Something darker. He leaned in slightly, the trees on his back bshitung /bwith the movement. My heartbeat secretly quickened in my chest thinking ove, bhis /breaction to the ck gment.

“bYou /bgot me,” he whispered, bvoice /bso close I felt bit /bbon /bmy blips /bmore than I bheard /bit

I felt paralyzed. A tremor slid down bmy /bspine.

He admitted it

He admitted it

My

lists i lenched at my sides as I bmet /bhis gaze without blinking

“What are you?” I whispered. “Who are you breally/bb!/b”

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Chapter 99 The ck g

“Hmm! What’s with your question? By now I believe everyone knows. I am Ryker Wraithe.” he said, deadpan. “Not your name. I asked bwho /byou are.”

Another bslow /bchuckle vibrated from his chest, through the bthick /bsilence.

“What’s with the fear in your eyes?” he asked, voice dropping lower. “Did you do something wrong to me? Something that would make someone like bme /be after you?”

My heart skipped. Then raced.

It meant my suspicion was correct.

He wasn’t just here by chance. He bwasn’t /bjust curious.

He was after me.

-What do you want from me?” I finally asked, the question I’d been burying for days. The one that haunted me every time he looked at me like he could see straight through the disguise. Through my skin. Into my soul.

He leaned in further. Our noses nearly touched now. “If I told you,” he murmured. “would you give it to me?”

I flinched, head snapping baway/b, eyes darting to the tiny sliver of dim light between two broken branches. My pulse thunderedb. /bMy skin burned.

His presence soaked into me, raw and suffocating. It wasn’t just how close he was. It was that…he could crush me at any second, physically, emotionally, dangerously. And yet, he hadn’t.

Heughed, slow band /bamused. “Why ask,” he whispered, “when you don’t dare!”

I snapped my gaze back to bhim/bb. /b“Why would I dare anything unknown…for someone like you?”

“Someone like me?” he e

echoed, tilting his head. “You mean…

crazy?”

He shifted again.

The trees groaned, the entire pile straining above us. His weight bore down harder,his body lowering. My breath hitched. “What the hell are you doing?!”

His lips brushed near my jawline, close enough to taste my panic. I feel an itch on innocentlyb, /b“Can’t help it.”

my

back,” he m

murmured, almost

A drop of blood slid from bhis /bcheek onto mine. Warm. Fresh.

My eyes widened.

He was hurt. The more he moved, the more he pressed into me, his body heavy band /bblean/b, muscles tightening.

What bwas /bworse, bhis /blower half grazed me.

My eyes flew wide

Oh no. No

Ir

e couldn’t press there. He couldn’t

Because led feel it.

Theck of what should’ve been there. The manhood

bPane /broared through ine

*Don’t movel” I lussed. “We’ll both be crushed!

ked, resting his forehead against mine “Then scratch my back.”

11:56 bAM /bPP.

Chapter 99 The ck g

“What?” I bstared /bat him dumbfounded.

“Scratch it. Or I keep moving, he smirked.

I clenched my jaw, ring at him. Was he not taking advantage of the situation?!

I wanted to p him.

+8 Pearls

Instead, I stared at bhis /bsharp, brutal face, and then at the splintering weight above us. My breathing was shaky. His body heat sank into mine. The air was damp, suffocating, heavy with sweat, blood, band /bsomething bdarker /bthat I couldn’t name.

He was bstaring /bright bat /bme.

I looked away quickly, cursing under my breath. This wasn’t about pride. Or anger. This was survival.

After a long moment of cursing every deity that ever created bhim- /b

My hand lifted–hesitantly, trembling like I was reaching toward a live wire. My fingers hovered over his bbare /bskin, just babove /bhis spine.

Don’t think. Just do it. I said to myself.

My fingertips touched his back

His muscles jumped beneath my palm. Hard. Warm. Unreasonably solid.

The moment I made contact, heat flooded my face. Not the kind that stirred desire but the kind that came from rage and shame and unwanted awareness.

I kept my eyes on the shadows above, on the crushing weight bnced just inches from my skull.

Then slowly, mechanically, I began bto /bscratchb. /b

His

eyes burned into me the entire time. I bcould /bfeel it. Watching. bReading /b

But I refused to meet his gaze.

My hand scratched upward, avoiding the bloodied ces, brushing over raw skin. My face flushed, not just fromck of air. but the sheer intimacy of the moment. We were pinned beneath the bworld/bb, /band he bwas /bmaking this a joke.

But his body didn’tugh.

His breaths were bshallow/b. Controlled. Yet every one of them dragged across my skin like heat waves.

“Aith bnow /bit’s bitchy /bsomewhere else too,” he whispered.

My hand froze as I mei his eyes. “Where?”

I instantly regretted asking because the next second, he brushed his manhood on my lower belly and whispered in my ears, “Here”

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