Iloria Read Free

true?”
    Because he’d never allowed anyone too close. “It is.”
    “Farran.” She closed the distance between them and touched his elbow. “I’m sorry. It must be terrifying for you.”
    He’d expected many things, but not sympathy. “This has always been my life. I should have given you a choice as to whether you wanted it to be yours.”
    “Yes,” she agreed, “you should have. But what’s done is done, and now we are joined. All we can do is move forward.”
    Ruthless practicality, so stubborn she might just be the woman to handle him. It made him smile. “And we shall, if you are willing to let me set boundaries to ensure your safety.”
    Iloria backed away until her knees hit the side of her bed. She sat. “Tell me what I should and should not do.”
    No reason not to give her the truth. “We will have to do things differently from how you’ve been taught. There are ways I can touch you—ways I can show you pleasure without risking madness—but I cannot take you. Not until you are ready to be mated.”
    “I understand. You must maintain control.” She tilted her head, her dark hair falling over her shoulder. “But what of you ? Your pleasure?”
    The goddess was truly cruel. He tried not to make his voice too gruff. “I’m not a selfless man. The things I do to you will please me.”
    Iloria nodded and lifted her hands again to the clasp at her throat. “Shall I?”
    “No.” An order, and it snapped from him with the same harshness he would have used on a battlefield. Cursing his self-control, he softened the word with a smile. “Give me your permission to remove it when I’m ready.”
    Her brow furrowed, but she inclined her head again. “Of course, you must do as you will. As you desire.”
    A thousand battles won, but tonight would be the truest test of his mettle. “I desire to please you. Trust me, wife.”
    Her hands dropped once more to her lap, and there was no hesitation in her dark gaze as she watched him. “I trust you.”

    Iloria sat, waiting for Farran’s attentions, and tried to calm the butterflies in the pit of her stomach. If he were beastly, surely he’d have less anxiety. He would take her, and damn her pain and discomfort. Maybe even her terror.
    Instead, he seemed determined to move slowly, to ensure her enjoyment, and that made her think she hadn’t gone mad after all. That it would be all right.
    She fidgeted with the layers of thin silk that covered her thighs and watched him. He watched her in turn, his gaze hot but restrained.
    The moments slipped by, and the tension in his face tightened until he broke with a groan and hit his knees in front of her, his hands on her knees. “You’re beautiful, Iloria.”
    She touched him without thought, because running her fingers through his hair felt right . “Thank you.”
    He didn’t stop her, though his fingertips dug into her legs for the briefest moment. “What have you been told about what happens between a wolf and his mate?”
    “Only that the two are bound together.” It had seemed innocuous enough during her lessons, but now, staring down at the strong lines of Farran’s face... Her body heated. “I should like for you to explain it to me.”
    He chuckled hoarsely. “How a man comes into a woman? I should explain this?”
    “Mating.” She could barely breathe. “I know the rest. My tutor was once a lauded courtesan who served the High Lord. She taught me much about the ways in which women give and receive pleasure.”
    “Did she?” Farran began to gather the fabric of her gown, easing it up a handspan at a time, until he held the bulk of her skirts in his large fists. “Did it intrigue you?”
    “How could it not?” Her skin was on fire, and a foreign hunger twisted in her belly. “She spoke of ecstasy, an entire world I’ve never touched.”
    “Did she speak of what a man might do with his hands and mouth?”
    If he hadn’t been kneeling in front of her, she might have slid off the bed.