Now that I saw him, the desire to get to him and the pain of resisting finally dissolved. He straightened up with a couple of wilting leaves, taking care of some pruning. That strange weight within—my animal—surged at the sight of him before settling down again until I couldn’t feel her at all.
Only then did Nyfain turn and glance at me. Right at me, too, like he’d cataloged my approach and held off on acknowledging my presence until I was actively waiting for him. In other words, he was playing alpha dick swinger. That rat bastard.
“Finley,” Dick Swinger said as he approached, and that goddess-damned voice slid over me like an intimate massage. I hated that.
“Nyfain,” I responded casually.
That gorgeous golden gaze beat into me, and I soaked up the electric current crackling in the air between us. In the full sunlight, I could now clearly see his face. He looked to be in his mid-twenties. A straight nose cut through almost sharp cheekbones, hollowed at the cheek. Dark reddish stubble covered his defined jaw and dipped into the cleft at his chin. His unruly dark brown hair curled behind his ears and swept across his forehead. He could’ve been handsome, if a bit severe, if not for the scars slicing up his visage. One streaked through an eyebrow, and another pulled at his full lips.
His size was just shy of imposing. He was seven feet tall, at least, with huge, robust shoulders and thick slabs of muscle covering his large frame. I’d always felt big for my sex. Tall, thick. He made me feel absolutely puny. Dainty in a way I’d never thought possible. Jedrek had nothing on him. Hannon would be dwarfed, as well. Nyfain was a stack of lethal.
None of that mattered, though. What drew me in was his aura—the hard, raw intensity that slammed into me like a force all its own. It turned my stomach runny and bones fluid. Made my flesh tingle and pooled fire in my core. His obvious ruthlessness, his darkness, sent my heart racing, and I didn’t know if I wanted to run from him or cling to him in mindless desire.
One thing was eminently clear: he was not a guy to turn one’s back on.
His gaze flicked to Hadriel. “You may go.”
Hadriel offered a deep bow. “Yes, sir.”
When Hadriel had gone some distance, Nyfain turned and faced the field. “As I said last night, I had not heard that everlass could slow the sickness killing the people in the villages.” His tone suggested he still thought I was lying.
I’d been called a lot of things in my time, but there were two things people always agreed on—I was brutally honest to the point of social awkwardness, and I knew my way around plants.
This guy was questioning the very foundations of my being. That rankled in so many ways. So much so that I stood there in silence, envisioning ways to ruin his day.
“What is this elixir?” he asked after a moment. “What is in it?”
It wasn’t in me to hold back such useful knowledge, no matter how much I wanted to stick him in the ribs with something sharp. If I could help the other villages, I would. I described my process from beginning to end, explaining why I harvested when I did, how I’d come to that conclusion, and the effects it had.
When I was done, he looked at the field for a moment before he asked, “Where did you learn to work with the everlass?”
“Books. Trial and error.”
He turned to me. “Impossible. One must be taught to work with everlass. It is passed down from generation to generation. Mother to daughter. Father to son.”
“And then some smart fucker with daddy issues took his knowledge and put it in a book. Now I have it.”
His eyes sparked fire. My spine felt like it was disintegrating within that menacing stare.
When he spoke next, his voice was low and dangerous. “Are you afraid of me, princess?”
“No.” Lies.
“No? You should be.”
“Well, aren’t you knowledgeable in shit I don’t care about.”
“Keep at it with that smart mouth, and I’ll be forced to fuck it.”
His words shocked into me. My body lit up like it had been dead all this time, and he had brought it to life. Liquid fire pooled hot and spicy in my core, suddenly throbbing and desperate for hard, brutal contact. My nipples tightened and shivers coated my sensitive flesh. Within it all, the presence inside me—my animal—roared and twisted, struggling to get free so she could sink to her knees and grip his thighs. I could actually feel her desperation to suck in his big cock and choke on it. That bitch did not need a strand of pearls to clutch. She was here for it.
I struggled for breath, struggled to stay standing as my knees weakened and my body trembled. My whimper of desire was incredibly embarrassing, but I kept fighting the beast inside, my hands balled into fists and my arms shaking.