20 #3
As night deepens around us and the fire burns low, we stay just like that. Not talking much, not doing much other than soaking each other in and letting the questions go unanswered for now.
I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I’d stay right here forever if I could.
Right here with her, with the witch who’s settled something in me I didn’t realize was so achingly restless. With Soleil, my brilliant, beautiful mate.
Our solitude, however, doesn’t last.
A mighty roar echoes from the sky above, and the great black silhouette of wings passes over the moon.
Soleil sucks in a sharp breath. “Is that…”
“A drakon, yes.”
From way up here, we’re well out of harm’s way. Even if the beast turns its attention on us, we’re out of range of its flames and I could portal us away before it got anywhere near us.
I chose this spot for the vantage point it provides to a stretch of ground where I noticed evidence of drakons. Compacted earth from takeoffs and landing. Discarded scales. A few piles of bones from where they stopped to take a meal.
“Come,” I say, shifting from behind her and standing, reaching a hand out to help her up.
She follows me cautiously to the cliff’s edge, a few dozen yards from where we were sitting. At least fifty feet above the drakons’ meadow, it gives us a magnificent view and plenty of distance to portal away should our visitor decide to turn their fire on us.
As we peer down, a massive drakon comes into view. It’s hard to tell exactly what color it is, but its scales appear midnight black, gleaming in the moonlight. Like I expected, it pays us nearly no mind as it chomps on whatever unfortunate dinner it picked up along the way.
“They’re not evil beasts,” I say quietly, running a soothing hand up and down her back. “They’re just solitary, and protective when they feel like they might be under threat.”
Soleil chuckles softly. “That’s understandable. They probably don’t like being surprised, don’t like their space being invaded or their lives thrown off balance.”
I’m not sure we’re talking entirely about the drakons as I look down at her with an arched brow. “No, I don’t imagine they do.”
She grins at me before we both turn our attention back to the drakon. It makes quick work of its dinner then stretches its massive wings and sinuous body, arching gracefully as it gives its wings a mighty flap and takes off again, disappearing into the night.
Soleil lets out a shaky, awed exhale, then turns to face me.
“Finn, I…” She wraps her arms around my waist, lays her head against my chest. “Thank you for bringing me here. Thank you for all of this. It’s been… a while, since someone did something special for me.”
The words make my heart ache.
Soleil should always have someone to make her feel special, to care for her, to see that she’s protected and loved and cherished.
I curl my hand around her jaw, tip her face up to mine, press the pad of my thumb to her bottom lip. Eyes molten, cheeks flushed, she opens for me and draws the tip just inside, sucks on it lightly.
Then she bites.
Just a little, more a playful scrape of her teeth against my skin than anything, but it sends a wave of fire through me.
Hotter than what the drakon hit me with. Hot enough to burn any lingering reservations to ashes.
I kiss her.
Slowly, at first, a brush of my lips to hers. A taste, gentle, as I sweep my tongue out to tease her.
Soleil opens immediately.
Unable to help myself, I groan into the kiss. I plunge my tongue into her mouth, tasting her, devouring her, feeding her my rumble of approval when she pulls herself closer, grabs at my horns and demands even more from me.
Everything.
She can have everything.
For as long as she wants.
Even as the thoughts flit through my mind, so does panic.
How long will she want this? How long do we have?
Will I have to give her up tomorrow?
When we return to court, how long will she stay? How long before her duties back in her own realm draw her away?
No answers.
I’ve got no answers.
Can’t ask her to give me any.
All I have is now, this moment, and desperation grabs me by the throat.
“Stay with me tonight,” I beg between desperate kisses.
I need it as much as I need my next breath.
I don’t care if nothing else happens. I don’t care if we only spend the night kissing and holding each other, or even merely sleeping next to each other as chastely as we did the night I was injured.
I just need her with me.
“Stay with me,” I say again, with a rasp of one fang over her bottom lip and a firm squeeze to her magnificent ass that makes her gasp. “In my tent. Say you’ll stay with me and—”
“Yes.”
“What?” I ask, fully beyond comprehending speech right at the moment
She laughs out loud and pulls back a few inches.
“Yes,” she says, more emphatically this time. “I’ll stay with you tonight.”
Soleil smiles—a genuine smile, a smile every bit as bright as the moon shining down above us—and my heart nearly stops beating in my chest.
I kiss her again, soft and slow and every bit as tender as the sight of that smile makes me feel, as I open a portal and take us back to camp.