“You’ve been wanting to do that since day one.”

Valentin gave her his patented innocent expression.

Silver didn’t speak, just took a sudden, jagged step back. He held on, not understanding she was trying to sever their physical connection—not until her eyes lost all color, turning a fathomless black. He broke contact on the chilling realization that she was overloading. “Tell me what to do.”

Silver lifted her head, her eyes obsidian and her breathing erratic. “Don’t go.”

Valentin’s heart pulsed, held inside her slender hand. “You couldn’t make me leave if you had a forklift and a pack of feral wolves to drive it.” He looked deep into her obsidian eyes, saw his Starlight staring back at him. “You look like a magical warrior princess with those eyes. All wild and deadly.”

“I attempt to look deadly every day.”

“Yes, moyo solnyshko, but usually, it’s lethal ice princess.”

• • •

SILVER heard Valentin’s words, but she couldn’t concentrate on them; data cascaded through her brain, threatening to short-circuit her ability to think. Something had fractured. Not her PsyNet shields, or Arwen would’ve been there, protecting her against exposure to the millions of minds in the psychic network.

Internal shields.

She tracked the breach, saw immediately what had triggered the cascade: Too much sensation.

She’d seen the raw anguish in the rigid tension of Valentin’s body, had reacted instinctively to give him what he needed. Knowing he’d come to her when he needed an anchor, this big alpha bear, it had fundamentally altered the balance of emotion inside her.

It wasn’t just the physical contact that had pushed her over—it was the torrent of feeling that had smashed through her defenses. She felt a compulsion to reach out to him, even knowing it would undo all the work she’d just done to get her mind in order. “Emotion makes me stupid.” Silver’s intelligence had always been her biggest weapon.

Valentin folded his arms, his eyebrows drawing together over his eyes. “We’re all a little stupid when it comes to the people who matter.”

“I’m not.”

“Would you stand in the way of a bullet aimed at your grandmother?”

“She’s my alpha. Of course I would.”

“She’s older, while you’re young, ready to take over. You should let her die.”

Silver stared at the hard angles of his face, a face that wasn’t beautiful by any typical measure and yet that was her standard of masculine beauty. Harsh and rough and unashamedly male. “Stop making sense. Go back to being unbearable.”

His eyes went amber, his arms uncrossed, and then he began to laugh, the sound filling the room, filling her. When he looked like he wanted to grab her and tumble her to the bed in that wild bear way, she didn’t tell him not to do it. That he didn’t caused her awakening emotions to twist into a knot—this powerful alpha was fighting his instincts for her . . . as she was fighting hers for him.

“I’ll be beary good,” he promised, his face lit from within.

She had the sense of playing with a wild thing. “Now you’re just beyond bearing.”

He laughed so hard he fell onto his back on the floor like one of the cubs. It took her only a small movement to lie on the floor beside him. Bracing herself on her forearms, she said, “This is a ridiculous conversation.”

“But fun.” He tugged on a strand of her hair, seemed to get fascinated with the cool gold fall, bunching it in his hands, running it through his fingers, taking a lock to rub it against his cheek.

Silver’s heart felt too big inside her.

Careful of her newly rebuilt shields but unwilling to turn back at the first hurdle, she put one hand on the massive width of Valentin’s chest. “If I was yours,” she said, “how would you treat me?”

“Like a fucking queen.” A slight pull on her hair, Valentin tugging her closer with his fisted grip. “I’d also probably drive you a little insane,” he said with a shrug. “Bears can be a bit hardheaded—that’s not just rumor. But I think your head can be just as hard, so we’ll be fine. I’d also touch you. A lot.”

The scowl returned, as did the grumbling rumble in his chest. “But only if it wouldn’t hurt you. So long as it didn’t, I’d probably throw you on a bed, or against a wall every single spare second and tease you, kiss you, pet you until you hauled me down and demanded naked skin privileges.”

That primal mental image spoke to the long-dormant wildness in her, the girl who’d once run through a country lane screaming because Silence was a cage and she wanted to be free. That country lane was on a Mercant estate where their children were trained—and where Silver had accepted the cage as a necessity.

The rules, however, had changed. “I want to kiss you again.” Wanted to feel his stubble against her cheek, taste the blatant masculinity of him with her tongue.

A harsh exhale. “Come here then.” He placed his hand on her lower back, nudging her up and onto him. She didn’t resist, soon found herself on a warm wall of muscle, his scent overlaid with a hint of sweat that only made his scent deeper, earthier.

“Is my weight bearable?”

His cheek-creasing smile made her stomach flip, the sensation startling. “Starlichka, you can use me as a mattress anytime and for as long as you please.” He moved his hand to her lower curves, squeezed with a blunt appreciation that had her fingers digging into his pectoral muscles.

“You, Ms. Mercant, are the sexiest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on.” This time when his chest vibrated, it was against the hard points of her nipples. “I’ve been wanting to peel you out of your suits since the first day I saw you.”

Shifting higher up his body as a hot pulse coalesced between her legs, Silver traced the shape of his lips with a fingertip. He groaned, tried to bite her finger. “Stop teasing me.” The next bite was on her throat.

She felt it through her entire body.

Putting one hand on his shoulder, she pushed down. It was like trying to budge a brick wall. A warm, muscled wall determined to stay exactly where he was. “I’m doing the kissing.” She made her tone icy.

Of course it had little effect on the bear below her. He squeezed her buttocks again, cupping the cheeks with smug possessiveness. “Do it then.”

“My way.”

Thunderclouds darkened his expression. “You’re not a kissing expert.”

“I’m a fast learner.” She shut him up by pressing her lips to his.

He groaned and licked his tongue over her lips.

She broke contact. “Valentin.”

Dropping his head to the floor, he patted the flesh he’d been fondling. “Sorry. Gentleman bear. Promise.”

This time when she pressed her lips to his, he let her lead. The contact was intensely intimate, the feel of his jaw under her palm rough, while his lips were firm but mobile. Taking her lead from him, she licked her tongue over the seam of his lips. Shuddering below her, Valentin moved his free hand to gently cup the back of her head. His conscious tenderness made things deep inside her tug, melt.

As if he were caressing her heart.

Valentin parted his lips. It was an invitation. It was also a dare.

Silver took it. And he brushed his tongue against hers.

Shivering, she broke contact, feeling drunk on him.