Daughters of Lyra: Heart of a Commander Read Free Page B

the better of her. Her father would scold her for being so
weak. He had raised her to be strong like him. She normally was.
For some reason, Van made her edgy, and it wasn’t because she was
frightened.

    In fact, it was something
other than fear or concern. She trembled for another
reason.

    When he looked at her like
that, as though he wanted to devour her, as though she made him
lose control, she found herself wanting him to.

    She found herself wanting
him.

    All that hunger and desire
directed at her made her blood burn.

    Van paused at the door and
turned to face her. When he smiled, she saw his teeth, saw his
pointed canines gleam in the dim light. The sight of them sent a
shiver of anticipation through her followed by a flash of a
fantasy. She had dreamt about those teeth.

    She had dreamt about being
with him, their naked bodies entwined, and his fangs in her
throat.

    Heat suffused her body and
she tingled with the prickly warmth of desire. It swept over her
skin, making her clothes feel too tight and restrictive. She
swallowed to clear her dry throat and tugged at her clothes to
relieve herself of their irritation.

    “ Is something
the matter?” Van said as he stepped up to her, looking down into
her eyes, close enough that she longed to reach out and place her
hand against his broad chest.

    She ached to step into his
arms, wrap hers around his neck, and bring his mouth down for a
kiss that would be the undoing of them both.

    She coughed and shook her
head.

    “ Maybe I’m
coming down with something,” Amerii muttered, thinking it was a
reasonable excuse for her fluctuating heartbeat, blazing cheeks and
trembling.

    Van moved closer, his
eyebrows knit tight, dark lines against his moon-white
skin.

    “ Then I will
have quarters arranged so you may rest once the declaration is
signed.”

    Amerii shook her head, her
eyes wide. Staying on the ship was a bad idea. Being close to Van
was a bad idea.

    “ I don’t want
to be an inconvenience, really. I can sign it and then hop back to
my ship and rest there.”

    “ I insist,” he
whispered.

    Amerii found herself dazed
and nodding in agreement as she stared at the beautiful bow of his
lips.

    He insisted after all. He
seemed to insist a lot. Could she become insistent too? Did it work
both ways? If she insisted that he kissed her, would he?

    She was royalty after all
and he seemed to place great importance on that.

    Did that mean he would do
as she had asked or refuse because she was royalty?

    By the time she had come
out of her thoughts, he had moved away and was waiting by the open
door. She went to him, her gaze skimming over the knee length black
jacket he wore. It was almost as snug as hers was. It fitted
tightly across his chest and dipped in at his waist before flaring
out into loose tails. He had been wearing something similar last
time she had seen him. His polished black knee high boots matched
her own.

    When she reached him, he
moved on, leading the way through the ship. She tried to think of
something to talk about but failed. He had already told her that
Sophia and the children were doing well.

    Younglings he had called
them. They had inherited their father’s traits, which she knew was
a delicate way of saying that they too had bloodlust, fangs and red
eyes. She wished she could see them and Sophia. She longed to hold
them before they grew. She had never held a baby before but
whenever her mother spoke about the day that she had been born, it
sounded magical. Perhaps it had to be your own child to experience
such a wonderful feeling. She glanced at Van again.

    His gaze slid to meet hers
but he said nothing. Their eyes remained locked as they walked and
she wondered if he felt the same as she did. Did a jolt run through
him whenever their eyes met? Did he think about her? Did he dream
of her?

    Amerii couldn’t stop
dreaming of him—fantasies so wild that she woke in a sweat with her
heart thundering. Several times the brainwave