Chapter 9
Meera
The ground tilted beneath me, and the world tilted with it. Arms of steel wrapped around me and held me to his chest as the ground disappeared beneath us.
My fingers scrambled for purchase around his neck, but all I felt was stone. No, not quite stone. There was a little give, like the stone was alive beneath my fingertips. The texture was rough but warm.
I looked up.
Graham’s glamour had shattered like glass, revealing the truth beneath as his wings—yes, actual goddamn wings!
—unfurled, massive and leathery, catching the beam from the headlights.
I guessed that the juxtaposition of illusion and reality was too much, and the glamour had given up the ghost. I was able to see exactly what he was.
A tiny part of my brain knew I should be more worried about the fact that I was flying through the sky, but all I could focus on was the monster that held me. I mean, I’d already known he was a gargoyle, but nothing prepared me to actually see him.
He still had that handsome face, but different. The cheekbones were more severe, as if they were carved with a chisel. His irises were more silver and a little lighter than his green-gray skin. There was an iridescence to his skin like mica stuck in rocks. It was visible even in the moonlight.
Two massive horns curled from his temples. There were ridges on his shoulders and back, almost like armor plating.
I gasped, staring in awe.
He was primal and beautiful. So beautiful that I found it hard to breathe.
Sparing one hand, since it didn’t feel like I was falling, I reached for his face, brushing my fingertips over the angular lines, completely distracted now from all the sore muscles in my back and neck.
Graham’s eyes, which had been scanning the world below, met mine.
“Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you.”
“I know.” I licked my lips. “I’m not sure what’s more shocking. You, or the fact that we are flying.”
A low sound rumbled in his chest, amusement perhaps. “You’re taking this awfully well for someone who just saw her first gargoyle.”
I scoffed. “I’ve seen too much today. This is just another drop in the bucket. I don’t have any more fucks to give. Maybe tomorrow all this will catch up with me and I’ll have a nervous breakdown. But I’ll deal with that then. If you wanted to shock me, you should’ve waited until tomorrow.”
“Technically, it’s already tomorrow.”
He changed directions, aiming us down, and I tightened my arms around him again as the stars above us, the only points of reference I had, spun. Darkness rushed up to meet me.
“Breathe. You’re fine. Don’t you dare pass out on me.”
We landed in a small clearing surrounded by trees, or at least that’s what I could see with just the light of the moon and the stars.
The moment my feet touched the ground, he relieved me of the backpack and the egg.
Then his hands were on me, skimming over my arms, my ribs, my sides.
The touches didn’t feel sexual, but they were thorough and careful.
“What… what are you doing?”
“Checking for injuries. You haven’t yelped yet, so I don’t think anything’s broken.”
“It’s mostly just my neck. It’s a little stiff. Almost like I slept funny on it.”
“Your neck? Are you still dizzy?”
“Only when you were landing. I’m okay now.”
He grunted, clearly not fully happy with my reply. “If it gets worse, tell me.”
The wind blew through the trees, and I cursed the fact that my hoodie was still inside the SUV along with his jacket.
“You’re cold.” He tucked me into his body, and there was a movement as all light was blocked out.
Holy crap! He’d wrapped his wings around us. It worked well too, keeping the heat in. I cuddled into him, feeling small in the best way, and safe. Who would’ve thought that I’d feel safest in the arms of a monster? And he was warm too. So warm. A tiny giggle escaped my lips.
“What’s so funny?” he murmured.
“That a gargoyle made of stone is actually the warmest thing here.” I spread my palms on his chest, resisting the urge to slide under the shirt and feel him skin-to-skin.
“There it is.”
“There what is?” I asked.
“The part where you stop pretending you’re not curious.” His free hand cupped my jaw, his thumb dragging over my bottom lip.
“You mean about your horns and wings?” I purposefully left out his tail. I reached up, feeling my way up the side of his chiseled cheekbones to his temples.
He let out a low growl as my fingers locked around his horns.
“There it is,” I said, mimicking him.
“There what is?” He sounded amused.
“The part where you stop pretending I’m not your type.”
Before I could think too hard on it, I reached for him, pulling him down with my arm around his neck.
He finished the movement, his mouth crashing into mine.
The world narrowed until it was just him and me, and all I could feel was the press of his lips, the way his tongue swept in, branding me from the inside.
His hands were everywhere. One tangled in my hair, tilting my head back to deepen the kiss, and the other gripped my hip. Every nerve in my body hummed like live wires, and my pulse was wild, beating and throbbing all the way down between my thighs.
A smart woman would push him away. Should push him away. But I didn’t feel like being smart right now. That urge had run off with the rest of all my fucks.
My hands flew to his chest, fingers curling into the soft fabric of his shirt, and I pulled him closer instead.
His skin was so warm beneath my palms, the ridges of his muscles tightening as he growled into my mouth.
His wings moved, the membrane brushing against my arms, soft and rough all at once, reminding me who and what I kissed. It had me squeezing my legs together.
His teeth caught my lower lip, tugging just enough to make me whimper.
“You have no idea what you do to me,” he murmured against my mouth, his rough voice showing a little of his monstrous side.
I arched into him, my body pressing flush against his, and the heat of him soaked through our clothes, making my nipples peak into tiny buds.
They ached as my breasts crushed against the hard plane of his chest. His erection was a steel bar against my stomach, and the knowledge that this winged and horned monster wanted me was both terrifying and intoxicating.
His hands slid down my back, gripping my ass, and lifting me effortlessly as I wrapped my legs around his waist. His fingers dug into my flesh, holding me in place as he ground against me, slow and deliberate. The new position meant the bulge of his cock rubbed deliciously over my clit.
I moaned into his mouth, my hips moving on their own. He encouraged me, his hands guiding me until we were practically dry humping like teenagers in the back of a car. Except we were in the woods, and surrounded by danger.
The snap of a twig in the underbrush shattered the haze between us.
Graham’s body went rigid against mine, and his head snapped toward the sound. I froze; my brain decided to imagine a pack of wolves charging out to rip us apart.
His shoulders relaxed. “It’s harmless. Just a raccoon,” he said. “I see it in the bush. It’s probably after the berries.”
His thumb brushed my cheek, lingering just a little too long, like he didn’t want to let me go, before he stepped back to put space between us. The chilled night air rushed in where his warmth had been, and I shivered.
“We should go. Before our new friends find us.”
I nodded, my arms wrapping around my body to stop myself from reaching for him again. “Back to the car?”
“No. Too dangerous.”
His gaze flicked toward the tree line, his jaw tightening. He shoved something into my arms, and I realized it was the backpack. I quickly put it back on, hugging the precious cargo to my chest.
“I’m flying us.”
“To Darlington? Carrying me?”
“What? You don’t think I’m strong enough?” he asked with mock offense, and I realized that the playful tone was him trying to keep me distracted.
Before I could protest, his arms were around me, lifting me effortlessly against his chest. “You’re light as a feather. I can carry you all night, Trouble.”
And that had me thinking of other things he could be doing all night.
He groaned. “I can smell your lust. Try to keep that down, will you? Unless you want to distract me midair.”
I glared at him, anger rising that he’d made it seem like I was the one hounding after him when he’d just kissed me senseless. Infuriating man!
But before I could snap back, his wings unfurled, the membrane catching the moonlight. I had a moment of vertigo as the ground fell away beneath us, and the wind whipped my hair into my face.
Heart pounding, I clutched at his shoulders, watching the forest disappear beneath us.