Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Let them think they’re leading. It’s adorable.
-Humaning for Beginners: A Dragon’s Tale of Human Management
The possessive claim of Taron’s mouth swept me into a whirlwind.
I poured myself into him. My every curve molded to the carved granite of his body, as if I were made to fit into those spaces.
As our tongues danced, the kiss merged into a breaking.
A binding. A ruinous tether spun from breath and need.
He tasted of honeyed venom, and the sugared sweetness proved lethal to my strongest defenses. But oh, I drank deep. A thousand sips wouldn’t be enough. Clinging to him wasn’t a choice but survival, the world sure to end the second we stopped.
“More,” I breathed. More, more, morrrrrre.
Our lips tangled in a rhythm too rough to be innocent, too honest to be anything but real. It was too much, too soon, yet not enough, and I would both regret and savor this for the rest of my existence.
I might play hostess to a dragon, but it was Taron who made me burn. Soft, keening whimpers escaped, sounds torn from the young woman I’d once been, before my heart was shredded. Each acted as an echoing confession and eternal plea.
He drove me back until hot stone pressed against a hotter spine, and I arched into him, needing grounding. Wanting him closer. Eager to take everything he had to give.
But.
An icy sting registered in my calves. And there it was again, stronger. I gripped Taron and looked at the ground over my shoulder. Confusion set in, and I frowned. In the darkness I saw nothing. Nein, an ember flickered. I breathed upon it, fanning it, and new flames crackled, revealing…
How odd. The stone had grown spikes, the tips now pricking my legs.
“Lyssa,” Taron rasped, cupping my cheeks to return my mouth to his.
Lyssa, Lyssa, Lysssssssa.
Mmm. Stone forgotten, I nipped at his bottom lip.
He lowered his grip to the sides of my neck and lifted his head the slightest bit. He was panting, each breath hard yet broken. “Good?”
“So good.” I glided my palms up his muscular chest, toyed with the ends of his hair. “More.” Kiss.
Another icy sting. My frown returned.
As if he noticed my upset—and cared—Taron spun me, putting his back to the stone. “More,” he whispered in agreement. Then he kissed me, slow and lazy, savoring.
The change of tempo cracked my calm, freeing a thought. Something is wrong.
I broke from the kiss and blinked. Shook my head to shoo away a thick mental fog. Our surroundings cleared, but hmm. The wall. Its spikes. In the languid firelight, I could see they pricked Taron from shoulder to heel.
He alternated between kissing my jawline and flinching with pain.
He hurts.
Anger flickered, an ember, then a flame, then a blaze. The cavern caused his pain. The cavern must pay.
I unfurled my wings and snapped them forward and back, once, only once, but I created a wind so powerful, the spikes cracked.
Not good enough. I rammed my fist into the stone.
Punch, punch, punch. My skin split, and my knuckles splintered, but the wall cracks widened.
Whenever a crack breached one of those glowing gold veins, a cluster of crystals grew, translucent on the outside, with that molten gold glittering on the inside.
The Sunsong Crystal.
Little pops of energy flickered around it. I traced my fingertips along the vibrating surface. Zing! The tingling pulse of power wrenched a startled laugh from me. The crystal blazed brighter, but no echo sounded.
Realizations hit like punches.
We were here on a mission. Uppercut!
Taron didn’t want me, didn’t even want me breathing. Body blow!
We’d fallen prey to the cavern’s spell and kissed, anyway. Knockout!
Dismay hit next, reverberating in my bones. Now, there was no undoing what we’d done.
I witnessed the exact moment the light of reality dawned in Taron’s irises. He released me as if I’d started leaking toxic waste. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, and I withered.
“The crystal must have dulled the mesmerizing effect,” he said, harsh and obviously of regret. He focused on a spot behind my head, as if trying to erase what had happened from his mind.
“Glad it worked,” I replied, and I meant it. No telling what I would have done if it hadn’t.
“Time to get what we came for.” He dug inside his pack and removed a hammer and a chisel. With quick efficiency and single-minded concentration, he worked to free our prize. With a brittle crack followed by a whispering scrape, he succeeded.
I withdrew the cashmere scarf I’d brought, ignoring the slight pangs in my hands, and wound the material around the delicate cluster, then stored the cargo in a zippered, cushioned pouch.
“I wondered why you brought that,” he muttered with a touch of admiration. “Let’s find th—”
Lettssssfinddddth—
The echo returned in a rush, the cavern overcoming whatever had silenced it. We both went still and quiet.
Nein! I pointed to the path we’d trekked, and he nodded. Once again, he took the lead, but not without grabbing my hand. I bit my tongue and forged ahead.
The further we traveled, the darker it got, not even embers of my newest fire able to chase away the shadows.
I fixed my attention on another sense: my hearing.
Taron’s soft wisp of breath. I stayed close on his heels and tried not to think of our kiss.
Ja, I absolutely tried. But he’d tasted so good.
Felt so good. So right. Mmm. So decadent.
A fine wine I longed to guzzle again and again and again and again.
I needed to learn another awful thing about him pronto.
Oh! A light at the end of the tunnel. Almost teacup time!
Taron picked up the pace, only to halt at the threshold. I smashed into him and bounced rearward as he dug inside the backpack. What—
The reason for his abrupt stop made itself known with a low, rumbling growl.
Frostwargs. A whole pack of them loomed before us.
My stomach dropped. They’d waited for us.
They formed a line between the forest and the cavern, moonlight glinting from their crouched silhouettes.
Needle-tipped ebony fur glazed with azure ice spiked along the back of each beast. The wolflike creatures stared at us, locked in, their pupils aglow with an eerie, opalescent white and their long, translucent fangs bared.
“I’ve got this,” I rasped, already reaching to unsheathe my swords. Familiar anger kicked up, breathing with new life.
Careful. I was too close to Taron, my breakable human, to rage out. And since he definitely wasn’t my firebrand, and we couldn’t be sure our unstable bond would hold, we shouldn’t take chances.
“No, Olyssa. I’ve got this.” Taron wrapped his arm around my waist and threw a grenade at the frostwargs. As the ticking bomb flew across the distance, he tucked my body against his, and I let him, my restraint buying him safety.
I barely had time to react. The explosion sent members of the pack flying—in pieces. The ground shook, knocking us down. Metal shards flew in every direction, even ours, but Taron’s body acted as a shield for mine. He grunted as a few missiles sliced his back.
“I’m immortal, you fool,” I gasped out, attempting to twist and shield him.
He held me steady. “Blame the bond. The thought of you hurt…” The sentence trailed off.
He was already on his feet, daggers in his grip, sprinting toward the surviving frostwargs as they regained their bearings.
His weapons whooshed through the smoky air, slicing through one beast after another.
“Give me five minutes,” he called, “then come find me.”
The words ignited confusion and concern. He never stopped, didn’t slow, and disappeared into the trees. But did I detect a smile on his face, despite the bleeding cuts on his limbs?
The creatures gave chase, leaving me forgotten and alone. What. Just. Happened?
I unfurled my wings, whisking to my feet and shooting forward, only to stop, pant and remember his command.
Scorch my tail! Taron had asked me to wait five minutes before following.
He was strong, smart and capable, and he knew what he was doing.
I shouldn’t interrupt his battle plan. But…
I hated waiting. Every fiber of my being screamed to hunt him now.
Not to burn him. Not to kiss. But to protect.
And if I was a hindrance to him? No telling what other weapons he wielded. One or two he might not be able to use in my presence without causing harm. In this, it was best to trust him.
Trust the enemy? Give up doing everything myself? I sputtered. What was this man doing to me?
Though it was the most difficult thing I’d ever done, I waited. An eternity, every second longer than the last. Desperation to see him spread, sharpened and cut deep. Deeper still. My dragon dragged its hooves across my mind, pain shooting through my temples.
The moment the five-minute countdown zeroed out, I rocketed past the line of snow-dusted trees.
Moonlit ledges and the sweep of the valley whizzed at my sides.
I tracked his boot steps…and came upon a frostwarg.
It sprawled on its side, motionless. As I passed it, I realized the professor had done some slaying, and he’d been merciless. I spotted beast after beast, shredded.
Taron!
He lay slumped at the base of a tree, blood pouring from both shoulders, head bowed. His short swords on the ground, his arms limp. The pack behind him. My desperation didn’t falter; it sharpened.
Two dead frostwargs sprawled beside his legs. Bile rose in my throat. The mortal had thought he was saving me, and he’d gotten mauled for it.
I flung the last beast aside and dropped to my knees beside him, cupping his face. His skin was too pale. Too cold. “Be alive,” I whispered. “Just be alive.”
His gaze met mine, glassed over, unfocused. “Make me hate you again,” he pleaded, teeth chattering.
Relief bloomed, swift and aching. He wasn’t dead. And he wanted me more than he liked.