Chapter 2 Declan #2
“Whoa,” Ayden said, his voice rising above a whisper for the first time since we’d fled the scouts. “This is either beautiful or creepy. I’m not sure which.”
I ran a hand along a tooth-like structure poking down from the ceiling. Something deep within the stone glowed the color of a pale robin’s egg at my touch. I scanned the area, finding hundreds more teeth-like stones dangling from above, each emitting the same hint of light.
“I vote beautiful,” I said, failing to hide the wonder in my voice.
Ayden set his pack down and began walking to the far end of the cavern. Not thrilled at the prospect of being left in almost total darkness, I dropped my satchel and followed him.
“Look, a brook runs through here.”
Entering the chamber from one side and spanning the full length of the far wall, clear water flowed. The scales of tiny silver fish twinkled in the torchlight.
“Doesn’t look very deep, maybe knee high,” Ayden remarked.
We walked the rest of the cavern’s perimeter and, satisfied there were no slumbering bears or other dangers waiting to pounce, relaxed for the first time in hours. But there was one more matter to remedy.
“We should do something to disguise the entrance,” Ayden said.
“Won’t that make it more obvious? I mean, if we don’t do a great job, it’ll be like a sign swinging above an inn.”
Ayden laughed. “Well, don’t muck it up, then.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Muck it up? Are you finally setting aside that snooty pedigree and adopting the common tongue?”
“I’ve got your common tongue.”
His mouth smothered mine before I could move or think.
Suddenly, caves didn’t matter. Enemy scouts were irrelevant. Even the world-saving, magical quest I was on faded into the recesses of my mind.
All I cared about were Ayden’s lips.
He wedged the torch into a crack in the stone, then grabbed me with both hands and pulled me closer. My breath caught at his sudden passion.
“Ayden—”
“No talking. More kissing.”
His hands dove into my hair, massaging my scalp, then pulling my head back. His lips left mine and fell to my neck, and I swear the tooth things flared brighter.
I let my hands drift to swim in his fiery hair. The world seemed to spin each time he kissed me, and I knew, for the first time in my life, what it meant to crave another person. I couldn’t get enough of Ayden, couldn’t feel his lips on my skin enough, couldn’t press my body close enough.
There could never be enough.
“Mind if I help you out of that cloak?” Ayden asked when his mouth was somewhere near my collarbone.
“Whatever you want. I’m . . . good.”
He grunted, and I was sure there was a laugh mixed with pleasure, but his fingers moved to the clasp of my cloak too quickly for me to ponder much.
A weight fell from my shoulders, then he began yanking my shirt from my trousers.
My chest throbbed as my heart swelled.
We’re really doing this. Ayden’s kissing me and—Spirits—taking off my clothes.
I could barely believe my own thoughts.
When his hands touched beneath my shirt that first time, something inside me trembled, like the earth murmuring before a quake. I could feel it rising, my desire, a hunger I’d never known existed, a need I’d never had to sate.
I could feel it.
It commanded me.
It consumed me.
I reached up and snapped the clasp of Ayden’s cloak, sending it flying off somewhere in the darkness.
I needed to feel him, to touch his skin as he touched mine. I needed to be next to him in every way. Spirits, I needed Ayden.
My fingers fumbled, desperate for purchase, grasping his shirt and pulling it upward.
“Raise your arms,” I ordered.
His fingers tensed against my sides, then he did as I asked.
A small gasp escaped his lips as his shirt flew free of his hair, hopefully landing somewhere near his cloak. I didn’t care.
I stepped back.
He reached for me, but I pushed his hands away.
“Let me see you,” I said, a pleading tone threading my voice.
For the first time since we’d met, a shyness entered his eyes. He fiddled with his hands as though unsure where they should go. I smiled, cupping his cheek.
“You are amazing,” I breathed.
My eyes roamed his neck, across the apple that bobbed in his throat, which had been an annoyance before, a part of him that was too perfect, even for Ayden. In that moment, in that cave, it was the most beautiful thing in the world.
He shifted and reached for me again.
I grabbed his hands and pressed them to my lips.
His chest flexed with the motion, and I felt my leggings fill with excitement. The light dusting of copper hair curling around his nipples begged to be licked and chewed. His arms, though not bulky like some Rangers I knew, were corded and thick, yet lean.
“It’s your turn,” Ayden said, sounding tentative and unsure.
I smiled and yanked my shirt over my head, hurling it into the darkness, hoping it hadn’t disturbed the fish.
“Sweet Irina,” he whispered, reaching out and trailing his fingers across my chest. “How many times have I seen you shirtless? And yet, this feels like the first time I am truly seeing you.”
“I know what you mean.” I gave him a lopsided grin.
His hand reached up and cupped the back of my head, pulling me into him again. Our lips crashed together as our chests met for the first time. I wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tight, willing our bodies to meld, wishing we could simply be one.
This man, this insufferable man . . .
Ayden ground his hips so the length of him brushed against me. I felt his yearning throbbing against me, pulsing with my own hunger and need.
With one hand holding my head, his other dropped to my trousers, and my whole body shivered. He gripped me through the cloth, slid his palm down and cupped.
I spasmed.
“Easy. I’ve got you,” he whispered through kisses.
“Yeah, you do,” I said.
His eyes widened, and the flames within them roared to life, an inferno of lust and desire.
He dropped to his knees so suddenly I barely had time to register his lips had left mine. The next thing I knew, my trousers were around my ankles and his tongue was teasing my shaft.
“Fuck, Ayden,” echoed in the cave as his hand crawled up my abs toward my chest.
My own hands found his hair again right before he licked the tender rim of my head.
I gripped his hair like the reins of a horse.
He took my tip in his mouth, his tongue swirling and tasting.
“Oh, shit. Ayden, you need to stop or . . .”He took the length of me down his throat.
“Oh, Spirits, I don’t think I can . . . shit . . . I’ve never . . . Ayden!”
My body jerked, and pleasure burst from me.
Ayden drank me in, bobbing his head, milking me through one wave after the next.