Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Both Draven and Isera start in surprise when Orion stands up from the table and holds out his hand to me.
Without looking in their direction, I take his hand and let him lead me to the makeshift dance floor.
The dragon shifters who are already dancing there flick a glance at us but thankfully don’t make an issue of it.
“Just a heads-up,” I begin as we position ourselves on the floor. “I don’t actually know how to dance.”
Orion gives me a look that is somewhere between incredulity and exasperation. Heaving a sigh, he rolls his eyes. “Of course you don’t. Malachi’s balls, you really are uncultured, aren’t you?”
Without waiting for a reply, he simply places one hand on my waist, moves mine up to his shoulder, and then takes my other one in his.
I suck in a sharp breath between my teeth as he suddenly pulls my body incredibly close to his.
Then he starts moving us in the same dramatic and passionate way in which the other people are dancing as well.
He is an incredibly skilled dancer. Which, I suppose, shouldn’t surprise me since he is the king.
I don’t know if this style of dance is common outside the Purple Clan or if Orion is simply excellent at adapting the way he moves so that it is in tune with the current music, but we spin and twist across the floor as if he has performed this dance thousands of times before.
And all the while, his body remains close to mine. His hand even slides a little lower down my back. It makes my skin crawl, but I block out the emotion because I know that it serves a purpose.
“Just so we’re clear,” Orion begins, leveling a haughty stare on me. “I’m quite repulsed by this.”
“Oh trust me, the feeling is entirely mutual,” I reply, shooting him a pointed look back. “But let’s make it look good anyway so that we can make the people we actually care about jealous.”
He clicks his tongue. “Fine.” Then alarm suddenly flashes across his face, and he practically blurts out, “I mean, I don’t care about Isera.”
“Sure.” The word practically drips with sarcasm.
“I don’t.”
“You know, I never specified Isera. That was all you.”
Clenching his jaw, he tightens his grip on my hand while frustration flickers in his eyes. “She is the most infuriating, stubborn, arrogant, unbending woman I have ever had the misfortune of meeting. I most certainly don’t care about her.”
“Really? Then I suppose you don’t care that she is currently glaring at me through narrowed eyes?”
Orion misses a step.
I grin. “Thought so.”
Quickly recovering his step, he clears his throat and tries to appear unaffected.
We have deliberately refrained from looking in their direction since this dance began, but his gaze now darts towards Isera for a second.
When he turns his head back to me, he is smirking like a satisfied cat after seeing that Isera is indeed watching us through slightly narrowed eyes.
Keeping my gaze on Orion, I ask, “And my target?”
He flicks a glance at Draven. A knowing smile plays over Orion’s lips when he shifts his attention back to me and replies, “Currently deforming this establishment’s cutlery.”
I risk a quick look in Draven’s direction while Orion spins us around again. Just like the Unseelie King said, my mate is currently gripping the fork in his hand so hard that it has started to bend in half. Pressing my lips together, I suppress a wicked smile.
“Excellent,” I say.
Orion’s gaze slides back to mine. “Let’s finish this off with a bang then, shall we?”
Before I even have time to reply, he spins us around and then bends me over his arm while leaning down so that his face is right above mine.
His long dark blue hair falls down around us like a curtain.
Since no one can see our facial expressions at the moment, we just look back at each other in mutual disgust.
Then Orion is abruptly ripped away from me.
It happens so fast and so violently that I don’t even have time to straighten. His arm just disappears from behind my back, making me topple backwards towards the floor.
However, before I can fall too far, a strong hand grips my arm and yanks me back up. Blinking, I toss my hair out of my face and whirl towards the person responsible for the sudden interruption.
Draven releases my arm and instead buries his fist in Orion’s collar.
The Unseelie King, who looks like he was just about to straighten after being thrown aside, doesn’t have time to react before Draven has yanked him back up by his collar and locked furious eyes on him.
“If you ever touch her like that again, I will cut off your fucking hands,” Draven growls in his face.
A truly villainous smile spreads across Orion’s mouth. But before he can say anything, Draven shoves him back and instead whirls towards me. My breath gets stuck in my lungs as his blazing eyes lock on me.
“You,” he grinds out. “With me. Now.”
Not waiting for me to reply, he simply takes my arm in an iron grip and hauls me with him out the door. Still standing in the middle of the dance floor, Orion flashes me a satisfied smirk and winks.
Warm air smelling of rich soil and sweet flowers fills my lungs as we exit the building and step out into the forest outside.
Since the sun has almost set now, and the thick canopy above blocks out most of the light, the shifters from the Purple Clan have lit torches all across the forest. Secured to poles that have been sunk into the ground, they fill the woods with warm orange light at regular intervals.
Draven pulls me with him as he stalks around the back of the building to a place with no windows and no other people around. Then he practically throws me up against the wall and gets right in my face. Both of his hands are braced against the dark wooden wall on either side of me, caging me in.
“What the fuck was that?” he growls, his golden eyes burning with anger and hatred and… something else.
I let a mask of innocence descend on my features. “What was what?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Me dancing with Orion.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“And what?”
A note of challenge creeps into my voice, and I tilt my chin up in an arrogant expression as I hold his stare. “And why is that a problem?”
“Because…” he grinds out, but then trails off. Opening his mouth, he tries again. But only a frustrated growl escapes his lips.
“Because it made you jealous,” I finish for him.
“No,” he snaps. “I did not feel jealous.”
“Possessive, then?” Arching an eyebrow, I lift a hand and draw teasing fingers along his jaw. “I’m yours, aren’t I?”
With his hands still planted on the wall on either side of me, he clenches his jaw and curls his fingers into fists as if he has to physically stop himself from touching me. “No. You’re a menace. That’s what you are.”
“Oh, I know. It’s part of why you love me.”
His eyes flash. “I don’t love you.”
“Yes, you do.”
“You need to stop spewing delusional nonsense and start obeying my fucking orders.”
An unapologetic smirk spreads across my lips. “Is that right?”
“Yes.” He draws in a frustrated breath through his nose. “I very specifically told you not to use your magic during the fight. But you did it anyway.”
“Because they tried to hurt you. Anyone who hurts you dies.” That final word rips from my lungs like a snarl.
Draven draws back a little in surprise.
And the mate bond vibrates in my chest again. It’s only for a fraction of a second. But it’s there.
Panic pulses across Draven’s handsome face.
Yanking one hand away from the wall, he instead places it across my collarbones and shoves me all the way back up against the wall again, as if he needs to physically keep me away from him. But he doesn’t remove his hand. It remains there over my collarbones, pinning me to the wall.
“Stop messing with my fucking head,” Draven growls at me, his eyes wild.
“Admit it,” I retort, holding his stare with eyes full of steel. “You want me. Badly.”
He drags in a highly controlled breath.
I show him no mercy. Grabbing his collar, I yank his face closer to mine. That desperate hunger fights with the burning hatred in his eyes as I pull him so close that I can feel his erratic breaths dance over my lips.
“You want me,” I repeat, my voice pulsing with command. “You want to crush your lips against mine and rip my clothes off and fuck me hard against this wall, because deep down, you know that what I’m saying is true. I am yours. And you are mine.”
The muscles in his arm shift as he flexes the hand he still has braced on the wall next to me.
“You know that the hatred you feel isn’t natural,” I press. “You know—”
“Did you kiss him?” he interrupts, his voice cutting the air like a blade. “Orion. Did you kiss him there at the end of the dance?”
“Why does it matter?”
“It matters.”
“I thought you didn’t care.”
“Just answer the fucking question, Selena.” His hand on my collarbones grows firmer. “Did you kiss him?”
I hold his fiery gaze with serious eyes for a few seconds before at last replying, “No, I didn’t kiss him.”
He forces out a jagged breath and unclenches the hand he still has planted on the wall. I tighten my grip on his collar and pull his face even closer to mine. Our lips are so close now that I swear I can feel tiny bolts of lightning crackle between them.
Another unsteady breath is forced out of his lungs.
Dropping his hand from the wall, he takes my waist in a firm grip instead while his other hand slides up from my collarbones and towards my jaw.
A ripple of pleasure rolls through my spine when his commanding hand caresses my throat before he places it along my jaw.
With a firm push, he tilts my head back. His chest heaves.
My heart beats erratically as he curls his fingers around the side of my waist, tightening his grip on me possessively. His breath dances over my lips with every jagged exhale as he slants his lips over mine. I draw in an unsteady breath.
Something like a moan escapes from deep within his chest when his lips almost brush against mine. He flexes his hand on my waist. I tilt my head back a little more to close that final distance between us.
But right before our lips can touch, he tears himself away and stumbles back across the ground. A frantic mix of panic and hatred and desperation and a terrible, world-ending hunger burns on his entire face as he stares at me with wide eyes. His chest rises and falls with rapid breaths.
I open my mouth to speak, but before any words can make it out, he suddenly whirls around and strides away.
Slumping back against the wall, I stare after him as he disappears around the corner.
My chest heaves and I feel completely breathless after the almost kiss. Lifting my hands, I rake them through my hair and then tilt my head back. It hits the wall behind me with a soft thud. I heave a deep sigh.
Well, fuck.