Page 68 of King of Fire and Flames

“Now you’re abusing books?” she said. “What did Poems for a Perfect Murder ever do to you?”

“Stole your attention from me,” I replied in her mind.

Her eyes flared in shock. “How can we speak through the bond when you haven’t taken my blood yet?”

“It’s still strong after last night’s feeding.”

Firelight danced over her face, and her gaze softened as it trailed over my wings, my feathers shivering in delicious response. She bit the corner of her smile, hiding it from the guards by rubbing her face.

Interesting. Perhaps her anger was an act, too.

“I told you to get up.” I held my hand out, which she ignored before jolting to her feet, her cheeks glowing red.

“My anger is for the guards,” I said in her mind. “Never you. Ignore everything I say out loud. The truth will be whispered through our bond. Listen closely to every word. To my every plea. I beg of you, Leaf. Let my heart speak to yours.”

The feather glyph on her throat pulsed as she edged backward toward the wall beside the bed, her breath ragged and uneven.

“I’m frightened,” she whispered, covering her neck with a shaking hand.

“An appropriate response,” I said aloud, prowling forward before speaking in her mind again. “My Aldara fears nothing.”

Bracing my palms against the wall on either side of her head, I dropped my face close to hers. “Show your throat, human, or I’ll rip it open without care for scarring.”

I dared to meet her gaze and found a tempest of green staring back at me. My eyes dropped to her laboring chest, then to the peaked, rosy buds visible through the silky material of her gown. With one hand, I pushed her head to the side as my other palm drifted over her stomach, then up to cup her breast. A groan rumbled in my chest as my thumb skated over her nipple.

“Arrow,” her bond voice whispered, the needy sound making my cock twitch in response.

Lust racing through my blood, I kissed her neck in the exact way I wanted to worship her lips, but dared not in front of Azarn’s men.

“Nothing tastes as good as your skin,” I said, shoving against her roughly, making her wince. “Sorry. Sorry, my love. My queen. Most precious Aldara. They must believe I despise you.”

At my words, her body melted against mine, her limbs softening as her fingers twisted into the loose shirt I wore unbuttoned around my chest plate of gold feathers.

I nipped her earlobe, and she moaned aloud.

“For gold’s sake, Leaf. Control your reactions in front of Azarn’s mutts.”

The bond cord connecting our hearts vibrated harder. “I can’t,” she replied.

“Fuck, I want to be inside you so badly.”

“Do it,” she whispered out loud.

“Such a risk taker. You’ll be the death of me.” I turned back to the guards. “Get out,” I growled.

The stupidest one straightened his spine. “By order of King Azarn we must remain with you at all times during the Aldara feedings.”

“Fine. Stay and watch me fuck the human if you don’t mind being scorched by lightning. Your mage’s blocking magic cannot dampen the bond’s ancient power. Be warned, you won’t enjoy what it does to your breeding organs. If you’ve a collective brain in your heads, get out, and don’t come back until I call you.”

The fire soldiers scurried from the room, all color leeched from their skin, reminding me of youths pissing themselves on the field before their first battle.

Leaf’s arms wound around my neck, and then she tugged my head down, breathing a sigh into my mouth. “First, make me forget. Then help me remember everything, Arrow. Each sweet word you ever said to me.”

Brushing my nose against hers, I laughed. “Which do you want most? To forget or remember?” I teased.

“Both. I want everything you can give me, as long as the fire guards won’t hear us.”

I stared into Leaf’s lust-glazed eyes, drowning in forest green, the color of her home, and thumbed her lips apart, revealing the beloved gap in her front teeth. Then I trailed my finger over her Aldara mark, sparkling like molten gold on her throat.

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