Excerpt of Darkness Bred by Stella Cameron

Without a sound, they touched. Sean shuddered and closed his eyes. She could do that, arrive silently and set him afire with nothing more than a fleeting caress with her fingertips. Sometimes all he had to do to feel her was to think about them being together.

Then he heard her.

Elin cried softly and he reached for her dark shape in the gloom. She evaded his hands and slipped from his sight. She slipped away only to layer herself against his back, her floating silk gown no barrier between his naked skin and her soft breasts.

He could not move. Since they met, their meetings had been stolen moments to talk, haltingly in whispers, while something deep wound them more and more tightly together until this time for decisions came.

No commitment had been made. There was so much they didn't know about each other yet, but the fusion of their hearts had become a thing of beauty and pain, and a point where Sean feared that to break away forever would be like death.

Her body, from her cheek, to the pressure of her hips, her slender thighs, and her toes against his heels, inflamed him until he was so tense he gritted his teeth to remain still.

Sean found her arms and wrapped them around him, trapped them to hold her tight against him, and looked up at the sky again.

When they met alone it must be in darkness and he came in his hound form, with the excuse that he needed to make sure of his ability to shift. Before he saw Elin he always changed into a man who could not help but be aware of his size and power when he was with her diminutive form.

And as a man, he had no choice but to be naked after he shifted. Another reason to meet in the darkness and keep himself mostly hidden from her. She seemed so young to him, young and unworldly, yet more unconsciously seductive than he could have imagined in any female, no matter how experienced. And so often she spoke with a wisdom that surprised and pleased him—and puzzled him. Her mystery, the dichotomy between innocent girl and wise woman intoxicated him.

Her tears were wet on his back but she dropped kiss after kiss along his spine.

"Come here," he said, keeping his voice soft but steady. "Let me see you."

Effortlessly, he pulled her around him until he could gaze down into her face. The bag she carried pleased him. He could hope it meant that she would agree to come with him.

She looked at the ground, stepped back a little and stared at him through the shield of darkness as if she saw him clearly. He believed she did and smiled a little.

When she reached for him again, she stroked his chest, his sides, his belly, before she popped up to her toes and passed her lips fleetingly over his.

Seeking to capture her mouth and deepen the kiss, Sean reached for her. Elin evaded him and sank rapidly lower to play the satiny tips of her fingers over his pulsing flesh as lightly as a feather made of burning breeze.

While he could still think, Sean caught her hand. "Not yet," he said. "Perhaps never. The decision will be ours eventually, and it will be forever."

"But the punishment may be inevitable," Elin said. "Whatever we decide, they intend to sentence us to a living death."