EMBER’S POV

I pant down at him, triumphant. “Ha.”

“I let you do that.”

“Sure you did.”

His grin is slow and wicked. “Want to know why I let you do that?”

“Because you’re a gentleman?”

“Because I like this view.” His eyes drag down my body—the shirt riding up my thighs, my chest heaving, my hair a disaster around my face. “Definitely worth losing on purpose for.”

“You’re such a liar.” But I’m grinning too, and my heart is racing, and everything feels bright and alive in a way I’ve never experienced before. “Admit it. I bested you.”

“You bested me,” he agrees solemnly. “The Lycan King, defeated by...