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“I’m going to get back to work on figuring out what you need to go home. ”
He hated not being close to her, but was consoled by being able to watch the way her body glowed in the firelight as she gathered her clothes.
“I thank you for that. ”
She lifted one beautifully naked shoulder. “Sure. I’m going to grab a quick shower. Be out in a few minutes. ”
Adreeahbenwah disappeared through a doorway and closed it behind her.
There was little he could do until she found what he needed to build the amplification device. He was going to need all the help he could get if he was going to have any hope of going back home to…
What? He couldn’t remember. He knew it was important. The rage and fury associated with the memory was still there, but the source of it was simply gone.
His memory was fading too fast. Obliterra was already affecting him, and he hadn’t even been here a full day.
The sound of water running in the next room drew his attention back to his savior. If the information he put inside her mind did not unfurl soon, he was going to lose himself. His family would suffer and grieve for him. Losing Elina was more pain than they deserved.
Toren had to get home, even if that meant pushing more magic into Adreeahbenwah’s mind. He wasn’t sure what the long-term effects would be, but he’d do whatever it took to protect his family. He only hoped that it didn’t mean sacrificing this sweet human woman to do so.
* * *
Adria spent the entire night and the next day driven by a compulsion she couldn’t resist. Whatever Toren had done to her had started working with a vengeance, because she’d torn the entire cabin apart, accumulating aluminum foil, glass jars, silverware, tooth picks, and a variety of other things that lit her brain on fire when she saw them.
After twenty hours, she could feel that there were still more things he needed, but her body would simply go no longer without rest.
“I’m sorry,” she told him as she slumped into a chair. “That’s all I can do. ”
He crouched in front of her, and stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. “It is enough for now. I will begin construction while you sleep. ”
“Don’t you need to sleep?”
“My days are longer than yours. I am still able to work, and there is not much time. ”
A twinge of regret pinched her stomach. She’d really wanted to sleep beside him—to feel his warm strength curled up against her. That was something else she’d been deprived of since William’s death. It wasn’t until she’d had it in her grasp that she’d realized just how much she missed sleeping next to a man.
Maybe it was best that she wasn’t going to have it. Spending one night cuddled up with someone was likely only going to make going back to her empty bed that much worse.
“Good night, then. I’ll go into town in the morning and get you some clothes. Maybe I’ll see something else there you need, too. ”
It seemed like she’d been in bed for less than an hour when dawn lit her room, waking her. Toren was sitting at the end of the bed, simply watching her.
The early morning light looked good on him. It draped his bare chest in shadows that accentuated all those delicious muscles. His skin seemed less pale today. Maybe it was a trick of the warm, golden sunrise, but the bluish tint that had been there before had faded.
His hair swirled over his wide shoulders, lazily caressing them. Sunlight gleamed off its shining depths, accentuating the deep purple tones hidden in the inky locks.
She self-consciously straightened her own hair, sure it was a wreck from sleep. “What are you doing?”
“Watching you sleep. Did you know that you talk when resting?”
She had ever since she was a little girl, but she hadn’t really expected anyone to hear her. “What did I say?”
“Nothing I truly understood. Except for my name. ”
She’d dreamed about him—vivid, erotic dreams that left her body humming with latent need. “Sorry,” she said as she tossed back the covers. “Next time you shouldn’t eavesdrop. ”
He tilted his head as if trying to understand.
“You shouldn’t listen,” she clarified. “It’s rude. Besides, aren’t you supposed to be working?”
“On what?”
The way he said it gave her pause. There was no sense of recognition in his eyes, no trace of urgency in his tone. “That thing that’s going to get you home. You know. Your magic… thing. ”
He frowned and looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. “This isn’t my home,” he said, as though he just now realized that.
“No. It’s not even your world. Remember Sorsca?”
“My world…” His eyes widened, and the pale blue ring expanded as his pupil contracted with fear. “Obliterra. It’s sucking away my thoughts. I’m already losing myself. ”
He looked so scared, so uncertain, her heart squeezed out a rush of sympathy. She went to him and hugged him close. “You just need to focus, okay?”
“Focus?”
“Concentrate on your task. Do you remember what you said you had to build?”
His grip on her tightened, but she felt him nod. “Yes. ”
“Good. Just remember that. Concentrate on building your ride home. I’ll be back in a couple of hours with more supplies so you can finish, okay?”
Again he nodded, but when she pulled back, she could see fear hovering in his expression. “I will do as you ask. But you must hurry. ”
“I will. ” Adria dressed fast and rushed out the door. She only hoped that when she got back, she’d find Toren here, working, and not wandering in the woods, lost and alone with no memory of who he was.
* * *
Adria came back to find an odd, artistic sculpture on the back porch. Structural ribs of aluminum foil were folded to spiral around a wooden core. At the base were small piles of pebbles that seemed to have been laid out to exacting standards. What she suspected had once been her earrings had been pounded flat, shaped and imbedded into the log, forming some kind of symbol.
What he’d built looked nothing like technology that she recognized, but she sensed within it a kind of power, much like what she’d felt when Toren had made love to her.
He was nowhere to be seen.
Panic rippled through her, shoving out all thoughts of their time together. She hurried to the bedroom, silently praying he would be there.
She found him sitting on the bed, staring out the window. The blank look on his face scared the shit out of her.
She scrambled around the bed to reach him. “Toren? Are you okay?”
He smiled at her, and a faint hint of recognition lit his eyes. “Adreeahbenwah. ”
“Yes. It’s Adria. ” She cupped his face in her hands. “How do you feel?”
His gaze scoured her face, as though he were rediscovering details he’d forgotten. “You are so beautiful. Your eyes are always dark. You make me ache with want. ”
She melted a little at his praise, but not so much that she could overlook his lack of response to her question. “None of that, now. What are you doing sitting here? Don’t you have work to do?”
“Do you have need of me?”
She needed him all right, but not in the way he was thinking. Ever since last night, she hadn’t been able to get him off her mind. Even something as mundane as finding some clothes to fit him left her shaking and needy as she imagined stripping him out of everything she saw on the racks.
Not since she was a hormonal teenager had she been so distracted by a man. Of course Toren wasn’t just any man. He was way beyond average, both in looks and his skill in bed. He’d made her feel things that she hadn’t even known were possible. Maybe with anyone else they wouldn’t be.
He stared at her mouth and gripped her hips in his big hands. “I remember the feel of you. Your skin shapes itself to me as if made for that very thing. ”
His ha
nds slid up, dipping beneath the hem of her shirt. The heat of his fingers was startling and intense, making her shiver. He left paths of glowing sensation in his wake as he pulled her down toward him.
Adria knew where this was going. His direct, hungry gaze gave away his intentions. What startled her was the answering call within her—the one that made her feel all soft and deliciously weak.
“We should stop,” she whispered, though the ache twisting at her core rebelled at the idea.
He said nothing. His hands crossed her back to cup her shoulders, and drew her down into his embrace.
She went where he led and straddled his lap, pressing her palms against his bare chest. Heat radiated up her arms, warming away the chill from her trip outside.
His mouth settled on hers, and her whole body quivered in celebration. A languid, heavy weight fell over her, pinning her in place as she kissed him back. The wild taste of him went to her head, making her dizzy. His scent made memories of the two of them naked and entwined blaze in her mind. All other thoughts evaporated, leaving her free to dive into the fiery need lighting her up.
Toren’s grip tightened. His kisses grew more urgent and demanding.
“Need more,” he said into her mouth, his tone leaving no room for question. “All of you. ”
“Yes,” was all she could manage to say. There was nothing else she could have said in the face of so much need. Whatever he would take, she wanted to give. The thrill of letting go tickled through her, heightening her senses. She could smell the earthy scent of his skin, touched with something desperate and wild. Her own rapid breaths melding with his made her more aware of the way they were spinning out of control.
Everything was moving too fast, but she delighted in the powerful tide, letting it sweep her away from the things that darkened her world.
With Toren, there was only brightness—the two of them burning hot and fast, reveling in the way the flames consumed them.
A rush of energy charged through the room. One moment she was fully clothed, and the next the threads against her skin dissipated like mist under the sun. The cool air of the cabin swirled around her, but the heat coming off Toren was more than enough to keep her warm. Her sudden lack of clothing was just one more mystery cast aside as unimportant and not worth her attention.
She kissed his neck and shoulders, digging her fingernails against his hard skin. There was no give to him anywhere, just bulging muscles shifting beneath hot flesh.
His hair stroked her face like the softest brush, lighting up nerve endings as it passed. Magic seemed to trickle from every strand, tingling through her and moving down to her abdomen to the empty ache only he could ease.
Adria didn’t want to wait anymore. She was ready for him, soft, wet and hungry. And he was ready for her, his erection thick and hot as it rubbed against her belly.
Toren dipped his head and pressed blazing, openmouthed kisses over her heart. His tongue swirled and trembled, causing a rioting, clawing need to pull the strength from her limbs.
She went limp in his arms, unable to keep her bones from melting in the face of so much pleasure. He caught her and lifted her up. She didn’t care what he did so long as he kept touching her and feeding the fires burning out of control. If he stopped, she knew she wouldn’t survive. There was no way this much need could be ignored. She had to appease it.