Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1)

by Keri Lake

“I wouldn’t call it misfortune, but rather, a means of weeding out weaker prospects. There are those who fear flirting with death, while some of us find it utterly enthralling.”

“The whims of fate are an irksome intrusion, and yet …” He canted toward me, as if to kiss me, his lips mere inches from mine. “Who could’ve predicted that one touch of your pounding pulse would be so disarming.” Warm breath scattered across my skin, and my heart stuttered with anticipation as he thumbed the curve of my neck. “What wicked spells you weave, little witch.”

“I curse Rykaia for bringing you here. And yet, the thought of never seeing you in this dress is a torment in itself.”

“Fuck it all, you stubborn bastard. She’s your mate, Zevander!”

After his mate.

“A thousand times I’ve fantasized this moment, and still, I failed to imagine you’d be this perfect.”

Better to have experienced that passion and watched it fade like a dying star than to have never known it at all.

“I want you. I want you so desperately that I’d kill anything with a pulse just to have you for one night. This insatiable craving I feel …” A muscle in his jaw twitched with the tension in his words and he squeezed my hand. “I can’t fucking breathe. I ache for you, Maevyth. Believe me when I say this.”

“If this is punishment, then I welcome an eternity of suffering.” The kiss that followed was gentle and teasing in the way he merely brushed his lips across mine. “You consume me entirely, little moon witch.”

“I crave every part of you with an ungodly voracity.”

“You are mine, moon witch. For all eternity and whatever lies beyond it. No soul has ever been more intricately woven into mine than yours.”

“The mystery of you never ceases to intrigue me.”