Fae's Captive

The wily changeling has gotten so deep under my skin that I can't breathe without feeling her. Her smart mouth is a constant temptation, our salty banter like rough kisses in a darkened room. My thoughts are broken, and I can admit that I'm obsessed. That's why I've been keeping Beth at a distance. I don't trust myself around her. Not when I can see her wounded soul in her eyes even when she's laughing. Her flippant words hide a pain that goes so deep I doubt I'll ever find its bottom. She has lived her life in chains. How can I begin to understand what she's been through? I want to so badly that it consumes me. I want to hold her, to promise her she is safe in the winter realm with me. But I shouldn't. I could get so lost in her that I would forsake my fated mate, one I've been waiting on for centuries. So, I create a set of rules and stick by them. I avoid her and bury myself in preparations for the winter realm's new queen. It's working. . . At least it was until I felt the mate bond snap into place. All my rules splinter when I realize Beth is mine. And when she's taken from me? I will crush the pillars of Arin to get her back.