Enthralled (The Spider's Mate, #2)

by Tiffany Roberts

“And she will never have you,” he rasped against her throat. “No one is taking me away.” Ivy closed her eyes. “I’m yours, Ketahn. No one has me but you.”

I will keep you safe, my heartsthread, from the queen and everything else.”

He’d known it even before he’d thought about any of it, had known she would always be his first choice. He cared immensely for his sister and friends, but Ivy—sweet, fragile, compassionate Ivy—was his mate. She was his everything. She came before all else.

“You are welcome to spin fresh strands to repair it, my nyleea.” “Sorry. Humans don’t spit webs out of our butts.” “A flaw I will overlook considering how good a handhold your butt makes,” Ketahn said, dropping a hand to her backside and squeezing the plump, rounded flesh.

“There is no part of you I do not like, Ivy.”

“I do not want to scare,” he said with gentleness in his deep voice, “only to protect. Ivy is my mate. You are her kind. So you are my kind, too.”

You will always be enough.

“You’re jealous,” Ivy said. “I do not know that word.” “You do not like other males touching me, or even the thought of it.” “Why would I like that?”

“She is my mate. My heartsthread. Her safety is all that matters to me.” There was a rawness in Ketahn’s voice that Ivy had rarely heard—one part possessive, one part protective, one part aggressive. But there was vulnerability in it too.

Need you. Need that scent. Your scent. I am for you. You. No other, never another. Never her. There is only you. My Ivy.

“Our heartsthreads, our spirits, are all that matter, and they are bound. Fate brought me to you, my heartsthread, and even if it tried to turn me away, I would defy it. Nothing will come between us. So long as the sun, moons, and stars make their treks across the sky, you will be mine, Ivy.”

“My mate has a spirit, the strongest I have known. She learns and speaks, she overcomes problems, she is free with her humor, and she sees wonder in this jungle to which I had almost blinded myself. More than all that, her heart swells with compassion.”

Our souls see what our eyes can’t, and they connect no matter what’s on the outside. Our bodies…they’re just shells.”

“You make it sound like we’re soulmates,” Ivy said. “Maybe you are. How else could you have found each other?”

“I am with Ketahn because I choose to be. He is who I want. He is my choice. And I’d never betray him in any way.” Her skin still crawled from Cole’s touch. “It doesn’t matter what he looks like, or what you think of my relationship with him, it’s what I feel here”—she struck her fist against her chest—“that matters.

She had no idea if soulmates were real, if fate existed, if everyone in the universe had one person they were meant to be with. But she knew with all her heart that she had chosen Ketahn to be her forever—and he would be imprinted upon her soul for all eternity. Ivy softly smiled and caressed Ketahn’s jaw. “My heartsthread.” With a gentle trill, Ketahn tipped his headcrest against her forehead. “My Ivy.”

“I cannot live without you, Ivy.”