Page 103 of Empire of Flame and Thorns

Completely fascinated by my discovery, I raise my free hand and gently draw my fingers over the wing. I suck in a small breath when I find it soft and smooth. Almost like velvet.

A moan rips from Draven’s throat.

And his cock, which I only now realize is pressed against my ass, hardens immediately.

It sends a jolt through my spine.

Stunned, and more than a little curious, I trace my fingers over his wing again.

A strangled noise comes from the back of his throat, and he snaps his eyes open.

“Selena,” he says. It sounds like it’s supposed to be a warning, but his voice is choked and rough. “What are you doing?”

My heart begins pounding in my chest, but I keep my eyes fixed on the wing before me as I reply, “I was just curious about what your wings felt like.”

Before he can respond, I brush my fingers over the soft membrane again.

This time he actually gasps. His cock hardens even more, and he squirms on the ground.

The reaction shocks me so much that I can’t help but to slide my fingers a little farther down the wing.

Draven’s hand shoots up from where it was resting over my heart to instead circle my throat.

“Careful,” he warns, his voice still rough.

With his hand around my throat, I can’t turn my head to meet his gaze, but I try to catch sight of his face from the corner of my eye. “Are they sensitive?”

“Let’s just say that there are only two reasons to touch a dragon shifter’s wings. To inflict pain. Or pleasure.”

My pulse thrums underneath his hand as he flexes his fingers around my throat. He angles his head slightly, and now his breath caresses the shell of my ear as he speaks.

“So unless you plan to torture me or fuck me, can I suggest that you stop tracing your fingers over my wings like that.”

Pulling my hand back, I clear my throat while heat sears my cheeks. “Sorry.”

He lets out a low humming sound in acknowledgement. It makes his breath caress the shell of my ear again, and a shudder of pleasure rolls down my spine. I swear I can feel him smirking behind me.

Apparently satisfied with that little revenge, he finally releases my throat and pulls away.

The sudden loss of his warm body against mine is almost jarring.

I drag in a deep breath to center myself again while Draven folds his wings back in. Then they disappear with a small cloud of smoke as he shifts into his fully human form. That surprises me, since I have almost only ever seen him in his half-shift form before, but lingering heat still sears my cheeks from when I touched his wings, so I decide not to be even more intrusive and ask about that too.

A faint metallic click sounds as Draven unlocks our handcuffs. I raise my eyebrow at him in silent question.

“If you try to steal the ring and escape now that we’re awake, Iwillcatch you,” he explains. “So there’s no need to keep you shackled to me.”

I scoff in annoyance but don’t argue since I’m pretty sure that he’s right.

“Alright, let’s go,” he says as he pushes to his feet. “We need to scout the area and figure out if there is another way out of here.”

After raking my fingers through my hair and retying the string that holds some of my hair back from my face, I stand up as well and give my body a good stretch to ease some of the stiffness after sleeping on the ground.

Then Draven and I set out to explore this strange underground forest that we ended up in.

Just as I surmised last night, the area around us is mostly filled with trees of a kind that I have never seen before. There are no fir trees or pine trees. Instead, all of them are covered in leaves of different shapes. Some are round and some are long and thin while others are jagged. The actual trunks vary as well. They’re either straight or twisting, thin or thick, tall or short, covered in vines or mushrooms or nothing at all. There is no realunity. Even the ones that look to be of the same species have some features that differentiate it from the others.

The longer we walk, the more I get the feeling that not a single tree is exactly like another in this forest.

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