Chapter Fifty-One
I’D NEVER SLEPT SO DEEPLY OR SO WELL.
No pain. No burning. No captivity.
I’d dreamed of taking her again. Of being free and far, far away from Cinderkeep—
Rook mumbled in her sleep, pulling me from my drowsy thoughts.
I just gathered her closer and drifted back into a doze.
With a contented yawn, she relaxed into my embrace, her hair strewn all over me and my arm thrown over her waist, exactly how I’d held her when we first went to sleep.
My skin was deliciously cold where I embraced her but my back...that was burning.
Not because I would always be naturally hotter than everyone else, but because of a sulking predator who’d decided we were hosting a slumber party and missed his invitation.
His purr-snoring vibrated through my spine, reminding me of all the nights we’d shared together. Most of them spent with me hugging him instead of Rook, begging him to take away my pain.
The giant housecat kneaded my back in his dreams, making me wince thanks to his sharp claws.
“Quit it,” I hissed.
He stretched, pushing me against Rook.
Not that I minded.
I grew hard.
I wanted her again.
Would the urge ever fade?
It was all I could think about.
All I needed.
As long as I had her, I could stay human.
She mumbled something and rolled onto her back. I let her go, opening my eyes to—
Moonlight.
Wait. Hadn’t it been daylight when we’d climbed into bed?
We’d woken late in the afternoon to eat the tray of food Auntie Mei had left by the door but the exhaustion from escaping, travelling, and conjuring powers that allowed us to cheat death meant we’d fallen back asleep almost instantly.
Fuck, what time is it?
Rook mumbled again, making adorable little noises that would’ve driven me to murder if it was anyone else.
Arching my back against Whisper, I ordered, “Get off the bed. Three’s a crowd with what I plan on doing.”
The damn creature flatly ignored me, rolling onto his other side and promptly going back to sleep.
Fine.
He could watch. See if I cared.
I kissed her shoulder, her collarbone, slowly easing my way up her neck until she shivered with a soft gasp. “Is that a sword you’re stabbing me with, Prince Charming, or are you just happy to see me?”
“Ha ha.” Nuzzling my way along her jaw, I murmured, “Good evening.”
“Good evening?” Her eyes whipped open. “Oh my God, did we sleep all day?”
“Looks that way.”
She blushed and ducked her head. “What on earth will your aunt and uncle think of us? We’ve been here two days, and they think we’ve spent all of them in bed.”
“You’re welcome to tell them that I have a pretty big problem”—I pressed my throbbing erection against her hip like an idiotic teenager— “where you’re concerned and if I don’t have you regularly, I have a habit of setting the mountain on fire.”
“You’re incorrigible.”
“Why thank you.” I went to kiss her, but she slapped her hand over my mouth.
“Wait.” She pressed her lips together, mumbling like a ventriloquist. “I haven’t cleaned my teeth.”
“So?” I asked behind her hand, sucking in her glorious scent. Sweet and velvety, instead of sharp and icy, almost as if sleep had softened her.
“So?” Her eyebrows shot up. “Do you really need me to spell it out? I know you’re not used to being a boyfriend but—”
“A what?” Tearing her hand off my lips, I rolled on top of her and pinned her wrists on either side of her head. “Boyfriend?”
She turned her head as if to avoid the morning breath she seemed so afraid of.
..only to pause. Arching up, she ran her nose along my jaw and shivered.
“Okay...what the hell is going on with you smelling so good? Last night you smelled of cedar and caramel and now you smell like the most delicious cinnamon chocolate cake.”
“Same with you.” I pressed a kiss to her mouth. “You smell like sweet summer snow...and yes, I’m aware that’s not logically possible.”
“Then what...?”
“Maybe it’s just fate.”
“Yeah, okay.” She rolled her eyes. “Next thing I know, you’ll be calling me your mate.”
“It’s better than boyfriend.”
“You have a vendetta against that word?” She frowned. “I mean...you do need a label. I can’t keep calling you my kidnapper.”
“Technically, I did kidnap you.” Arching my chin at the round window across the room where the moon was framed by stars, I smirked. “Can you escape without my help? Do you have any idea how to get out of these mountains?”
“Well, no, but—”
“Exactly.” Shifting my hands higher up her wrists until our palms connected, I weaved our fingers together. Settling deeper between her legs, I lowered my head to kiss her again. “Calling me your boyfriend makes me feel like I’m ten years old. So don’t.”
“What should I call you then?” she asked breathlessly, her chin tipping up to accept my kiss.
The world dropped away as our lips brushed and my heart squeezed so tightly it felt as if she’d reached inside me and stamped her ownership all over it. “Call me what I am.”
“And what’s that?” She sounded drunk again.
“The other half of you.” I collapsed over her, giving her all my weight.
Plunging my tongue into her mouth, I let one of her hands go to grab her thigh, hook her leg over my hip, and slid inside her in one hot, wet glide.
She cried out, arching beneath me.
Fuck, I would never get enough of this. Never stop thanking her for finding me, saving me, being the key I—
“Eh, Xiao Lu?” A knock rapped on the door.
Rook froze beneath me, her inner muscles clenching so tight, I hissed with lust. “Do that again, and I’ll come without even moving.”
Her hand once again planted over my mouth, eyeing the door. “Have you no shame?”
I just shook my head and licked her palm.
She squirmed and let me go.
“Luxin?” Uncle Wen’s gruff voice came again. “I’m so sorry to disturb you but—”
“I’ll join you for dinner soon, Uncle Wen,” I cut him off, withdrawing from Rook before pushing back in.
“Dinner? It’s way past dinner, I’m afraid.”
Rook shuddered with pleasure even while glowering at me. “You’re going to hell.”
“Pretty sure hell lives in my blood,” I purred, thrusting deep. “Does that make me the devil?”
Another knock.
Whisper muttered something in panther speak and leapt to the floor. Prowling across the room, he took up guard position just in case Uncle Wen was stupid enough to break in.
He knocked again. Loudly.
Whisper growled.
I rocked into Rook, slow and silent, just daring her to stop me.
She shivered as her eyes fluttered to half-mast, surrendering to me completely.
“Luxin...I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t urgent.”
“Fuck, he’s not going to go away is he?” I fought my body’s urge to keep going. Raising my voice so he could hear me, I asked, “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“Someone is here to see you.”
I froze.
The air temperature shot up twenty degrees.
“What do you mean someone is here to see me?”
Was it Marcus?
Would he dare come to Ashfall Cliff so soon? It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out where I’d fled to and...why the hell wouldn’t he come? In his mind, I was on death’s door and the sooner he recaptured me, the sooner I could be put back in chains.
Planting my hands against the mattress, I went to push off Rook—
“Actually, I misspoke,” Uncle Wen shouted quickly as if he wanted to get it over with. “He’s not here to see you but to see Miss Rook.”
“What?!”
Rook gasped as I withdrew—making both of us wince.
He?
Who the fuck was he?
“Oh no...” Rook gasped. “He wouldn’t...would he?”
“Who wouldn’t?” Ugly jealousy tore through me. If there were bonsai in here, they would be ashes.
“He’s waiting in the Dragon Courtyard,” Uncle Wen said. “He refused to leave, even though it’s almost one in the morning. Mei wanted to throw him off the cliff but...he kept saying he’d shoot anyone who tried to send him away. I’m afraid he does mean business, Master Luxin.”
Without a word, Rook slid off the bed. Darkness wrapped around her bare skin as she headed toward the wardrobe where Auntie Mei had ensured my mother’s old dresses hung next to my father’s old things—giving us both something to wear.
Whisper grumbled as I stalked after Rook. “You know who it is. Don’t you.” It wasn’t a question.
She shot me a wary look before snatching the closest dress off a hanger—a pretty pink thing with stitched peonies. “I do. And I’ve got to go.”
Gritting my teeth, so I didn’t take my rage out on her, I yanked on a pair of black trousers and a shirt, then marched to the door. Wrenching it open, Uncle Wen staggered back a little as Whisper welcomed him with a flash of fangs.
“Tell him to leave. She’s not going.”
“I’m going.” Rook tried to push past me, already dressed in the traditional gown with its sweeping sleeves and embroidered hem. “He won’t stop if he knows I’m here.”
My entire body ached with fire.
I’d lived my entire life having no one and now that I had her?
I wouldn’t share.
With anyone.
The old man flinched before glancing at Rook. “He’s very adamant about seeing you, Miss Rook. If you follow me, I’ll—”
“I said, she’s not going.” I planted my hand across the doorway, blocking her. Whisper stepped in front of her too—just as jealous as I was at the thought of another male going anywhere near her.
She was ours.
Pure inhuman fury roared out of me.
Smoke escaped, fire surged, and—
A cooling hand landed on my shoulder as Rook shook her head, snuffed out my fire, and kept me calm enough not to set poor Uncle Wen alight.
“Lucien...listen to me. I told you. He’s like a brother to me. He won’t—”
“What’s his name?” I asked Uncle Wen, needing to know exactly who was after her before I lost complete control.
Uncle Wen side-eyed me as if afraid I’d fly into a jealous fit of rage. “Eh...he said his name is Dillon. Dillon Brooks.”
Uncle Wen was right to be worried.
Turned out, I would fly into a jealous fit of rage.
Because hearing another man’s name associated in any capacity with my Rook?
He’s a dead man.