Page 33 of Hidden By the Gargoyle

Smiling, I turned back toward my destination. My freedom. That word echoed in my mind, melodic and soothing like a song that consisted of a single word.

Freedom.

There was pressure on my face, around my cheeks, and my body collided with a hard, warm surface. I tried to move around it. When that didn’t work, I tried to shove it out of the way.

I had to get to the edge of the forest. To my freedom. It was worth fighting for. Worth dying for.

Suddenly, a pair of brilliant blue eyes filled my vision, the sapphire irises shot through with silver. They were beautiful and familiar.

I was caught for a moment, trapped by their beauty.

Then, the siren’s song of freedom called to me again. I had to keep moving. To reach my destination.

I tried to sidestep the obstacle in front of me, but the pressure on my face increased and those eyes got closer.

There was a pressure against my lips. I opened my mouth to insist on leaving, but warm breath ghosted over my skin and there was a warm, wet touch on my lower lip.

My body abruptly belonged to me again. I lifted my hands and touched the wall in front of me. It was warm and hard. My fingers curled, digging into fabric and flesh.

The pressure on my cheeks lifted my face, tilting my head back and to the side. I realized the touch of wetness on my lip was a tongue just as it slipped into my mouth. The smell of snow and pine invaded my senses, breaking through the whispered words echoing in my mind.

I whimpered, clutching at Dax’s chest, and opened my mouth. All that mattered was that he was kissing me as I sometimes dreamed he did. Like he couldn’t get enough of me. Like he never wanted to let me go.

His lips were hot and soft, and his tongue was in my mouth, stroking mine. My legs shook, growing weak, and I all but collapsed against him.

Dax released my face, and his arms went around my waist, holding me up. But he kept kissing me, his mouth insistent as it moved against mine.

I moaned, lifting my arms to twine them around Dax’s neck. My entire body tingled and there was a relentless throb between my thighs. I needed more than a kiss. I needed his hands on me. His skin against mine.

His kiss woke something inside me, a fire that had lain dormant until now.

When my hands clasped the nape of his neck, Dax shuddered against me, his arms all but crushing me against him. He lifted his head slowly and I rose on my toes to chase his lips. I realized I’d closed my eyes at some point and opened them.

Dax stared down at me, his eyes still that bright, bright blue shot through with silver that seemed to sparkle in the early evening light. He was breathing hard and still holding me so close that I could barely move.

“Thank all the gods,” he whispered, his voice so deep that it nearly hurt my ears. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to stop you without hurting you.”

I stared up at him. “What happened?”

“You were walking toward the edge of the wards. Why?”

I shook my head. “I…don’t know. All I remember was thinking that if I got there, I would be free.”

I blinked when I saw Dax’s wings flex above his shoulders, arching high above us. They were enormous, which they would have to be to carry his weight in full gargoyle form.

“Hang on,” he rasped, bending his knees slightly.

I barely had time to wrap both my arms and legs around him before he launched us both into the air. I sucked in the air to scream, but no sound emerged because it all became trapped in my lungs.

Dax hadn’t carried me in flight since I was a child. And never holding me like this.

I made a sound of distress in my throat and locked my ankles together behind his back, squeezing as hard as I could. The iron bands of Dax’s arms adjusted around me, one moving beneath my butt and the other across my upper back. He skimmed the tops of the trees as he headed back toward his home.

The flight back to the cabin was short. Dax landed lightly, his wings flaring behind him before disappearing into the back of his torn shirt.

But he didn’t put me down. He held my weight with a forearm under my butt and carried me up the steps, across the porch, and into the cabin.

He still didn’t release me once we were inside. He kicked the door shut behind us and walked straight to the couch. Dax shifted me, his other hand going behind him to my ankle. I loosened my legs, and he turned me so I sat sideways across his lap as he lowered himself to the couch.

---