Healing Eden by Rhenna Morgan

finished her circuit and stepped down from the wide dais. “I offered myself, but you rebuked me. Only a foolish woman returns for a second bout.”
    “I admitted my error, an offering no other being on this earth has ever received.” And it still burned on his tongue. “What I offer isn’t about supplication or amends. It’s about something deeper. Something necessary for what you seek.”
    “Such as?”
    “Step forward and find out.”
    Her fingers twitched at her sides. Curious little cat.
    “It’s not weakness, Serena. A man needs to know where a woman’s trust lies. A malran needs to know the loyalty of his malress. Where is yours?”
    Anticipation hummed in his veins. Each moment ticked and tocked in slow, torturous lifetimes, and the air crackled and hummed with palpable tension.
    She stepped forward, and Maxis’ heart kicked. With each slow stride, her hips swayed, a feminine testament to power even as she acquiesced. The sweet scent of vanilla coiled around him as she stopped, close enough to touch, but not enough to kiss.
    He could live with that. She’d made her offering, now it was time for his. He lifted her hand and brushed his lips across each knuckle. “Be my mate. Stand beside me and lead those who follow us in our mission. Help me take the throne and raise our race’s power across the realms.”
    She smiled, slow and devious. “You’re not following protocol. Males always approach the father of their intended first.”
    His cock lengthened, a heavy, eager weight ready for its perfect sheath. He brushed his lips along the pulse at her wrist. “Do you really want your father’s blessing?”
    Her tremor vibrated through his touch and her voice dropped to a husky purr. “No. No I don’t.”
     
     

Chapter 8
     
    Galena shut the door to Brenna’s room, and leaned into it with an exhausted huff. The last few days had been a physical strain, but the morning’s emotional turmoil was enough to make a woman want to hide for a solid week. Lexi’s kidnapping, Ramsay’s odd behavior, and now the weight of what she’d found in Brenna’s memories . It was too much.
    And that was with her own turbulent feelings for Reese locked in a mental strong box.
    She closed her eyes, and the memory of his kiss rushed to greet her. Never had she felt so desirable. So possessed. From the bold sweeps of his tongue to his palm’s hot press at the small of her back, he’d touched a part of her she’d never imagined existed.
    A shiver rustled down her torso and her thighs tightened. Five heartbeats and she’d leapt from fatigue to painful awareness. Her conscience might insist anything between them was wrong, but the slick heat between her legs said the rest of her was very on board.
    For a dead man.
    She shoved from the door and stomped down the hall. Her senses clocked the sun at early evening and Eryx somewhere near the royal chambers.
    Unlike his usual decisiveness, Eryx had put any decisions for Reese on hold until he talked with Ramsay, Ludan, and Lexi, leaving Galena’s thoughts with way too much open range. She’d killed time with a thorough once over of the still-unconscious Brenna. Four hours later she was exhausted, but certain it was the girl’s subconscious holding her in a dreamlike state more than any physical ailment.
    Rounding the upper landing in the castle’s guest wing, Galena hurried toward Eryx’s private study off the royal chambers and tapped out a quiet knock. The double doors opened without aid of a hand and the scent of wood smoke whispered past her nose.
    “That’s twice today you’ve knocked.” Eryx sat at his desk, head down. The room was dark but for the firelight beside him, the golden-tipped shadows slanting across one side of his face.
    It was an imposing image. One she’d have walked away from if his greeting hadn’t intimated old-fashioned brotherly ribbing. “You’re mated now. The way you and Lexi go at it, I’m never sure what I’ll walk in on.” She