Enthralled (The Spider's Mate, #2)

by Tiffany Roberts

“It is time for you to close your lips and be silent,” Ketahn said in a measured but warning tone. “You will see what is outside this place soon. The jungle does not care about your big words. It does not care how far you traveled. It does not care that you come from the stars. All of you are small, and soft, and weak. Alone, you will not live.”

“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.”

“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.

“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.”

Ivy tipped her forehead against Ahnset’s headcrest. “Thank you, sister.” Ahnset’s mandibles twitched as though with uncertainty, and then fell. A soft trill sounded in her chest. She closed her eyes and released a long, shallow breath. “It…has been too long since I have had a sister. I am glad to call you one now, Ay-vee.”

Ketahn leaned down slowly, placing his head just above Cole’s, with his mandible fangs almost close enough to touch the man’s cheeks. “Ivy is mine,” he said in English, his accent thicker than normal. “Do not touch. Do not look with want. Do not even think. Understand?” When Cole just continued to stare, another of Ketahn’s hands rose, this one wrapping around Cole’s throat and shoving him back against the already damaged cabinet door. Ketahn growled, “Touch again, and it is done. You are done.”

Ivy lifted her chin. “Those don’t seem like qualities you would like in a mate. Don’t the vrix prefer their females big and strong?” Ketahn trilled. “I like my female clever, kind, and determined. Small and soft of skin but with a heart that is as tender as it is strong. I like my female to laugh and smile.”