Free Embrace Me At Dawn by Shayla Black Page B

know.”
    His breathing was jagged as he braced himself slightly above her, on his elbows. Anka could feel him staring down at her.
    “ You won’t until I release you.” The words were like a vow, and her heart stuttered. “Why did you come home last night?”
    The question came from nowhere, blindsiding her. “It was a mistake. I’m sorry. I should have guessed that you’d have…company. I didn’t mean to ruin your evening.”
    “ I don’t give a shit about my evening or my company. I sent her away and went looking for you. You came home for a reason. Why?”
    Anka’s heart started galloping, out of control. He’d sent the surrogate away? He hadn’t taken her to their bed last night and… She squeezed her eyes shut tightly, unable to bloody think of him with the witch.
    But all night, as Shock slept beside her, she’d been unable to imagine anything else.
    “ This does nothing to help my training.”
    “ Damn it, Anka! This is the first time in months I’ve had the opportunity to get a straight answer from you. I’m not letting you up until I’ve heard the truth. Tell me why you never came home before last night. Tell me why you left me to wonder for weeks if you were even alive. Tell me why you didn’t love me enough to come back.”
    Tears threatened. He totally misunderstood. She’d loved him so much that she’d cut her heart out to spare him what Mathias had made her. She had loved him enough to leave him with the fantasy they’d shared for a century. She alone bore the crushing weight of reality now.
    “ Unless the Anarki are going to pin me to the ground and ask me pointless questions, let me up.”
    Above her, Lucan tensed. His harsh breaths fanned across her lips, and she shivered. He was close. So close that if she just lifted her head a fraction, their lips would touch… She wanted his kiss with a guilty need that thrummed heavily through her, with a crushing weight of need pressing in on her chest.
    Suddenly, he sniffed, then ripped away from her with a long string of foul curses she’d never heard fall from his mouth before. The second his body no longer covered hers, she felt a bone-deep chill that made her wonder if she’d ever feel warm again.
    “ The Anarki won’t say anything, just kill you. I’ve promised Bram that I’ll teach you everything you need to know to defend yourself and fight back. But goddamnit, you’d better take a shower before you come back for training. The stench is killing me.”
    Lucan snapped his fingers, and the lights slowly flicked on, gradually getting brighter until she saw the angry brilliance of his blue eyes, his stiff stance, the fists clenched at his sides.
    She frowned and shrank away from his contempt. “I did shower.”
    “ Not good enough,” he growled. “You smell like that horse’s arse.”
    Shock . Knowing she intended to train today, he’d covered her in his scent, blanketing her body, rubbing all over her. Fresh shame sliced her open. “Sorry.”
    Lucan’s stare outlined her body, studying her magical signature with a curse. More shame and guilt slithered through her. No doubt, he’d taken note of the change in her energy level from yesterday—and knew exactly who had provided for her.
    Suddenly, his stare zeroed in on her wrist. His eyes narrowed with question, then fury. Anka looked down. Her long sleeves had ridden up in their scuffle. Her breath caught. Oh, no !
    She tugged at the sleeve, to cover the red chafing and faint blue bruising circling her wrist, but it was too late. Lucan grabbed her arm, pushed the sleeve up, and inspected the markings. With a growl, he tore at her clothes, batting away her ineffectual hands, until she stood shivering in her bra and knickers.
    Incredulous fury rolled off of him as he walked a circle around her, taking particular note of a bruise at her hip. Then he ripped her knickers off and cursed in a long, vile streak unlike anything she’d ever heard Lucan say. Anka tensed, flinched,