Page 102 of The Heart of the Dragon

"Baby, I don't understand." He lifted me back into his lap and held me with tight arms. It was a bit hard to breathe, but I didn't care. I'd give him my air if it meant we didn't have to go back there and go through it again.

"I can't do it again. Please. Can't we just leave? Let karma get your uncle? Because I promise it will."

His back stiffened, and I knew his answer before he ever opened his mouth.

"No. I can't. It’s not just my life at stake anymore. But you can. I don't know what's going on, but the grief engulfing you right now is palpable, and I'm about a breath away from a killing spree."

The tears I'd held back dripped from my eyes onto his shirt. I didn't care. After what I'd been through, didn't I deserve them? I'd certainly earned them.

"Shhh. Don't cry, my sweet little flower. I'm not that easy to kill. I'm sure we can figure out something."

"That's what you said last time!" I cried on a low wail. I was losing it, and there was no taking it back.

"Rose," he said slowly, alarm and disbelief clearly in his eyes.

"Look," I interrupted. "I need you to take this seriously. I do not know what the hell is going on, but this is no ordinary premonition. We were there, damnit. Twice. If we go a third time, I'm pretty sure one or both of us won't be getting out, and those odds are unacceptable. We. Must. Do. Something. Different. Or I'm going to give you valerian again and make sure you can't go!"

He probably thought I was kidding, but I most suredly was not. I was prepared to do whatever it took?—

"Wait. That's a really good idea." I scrambled away from him and began making some mental notes and a checklist. "Do you have a notebook and a pen? I really need to take some notes." The ideas and formulas were flying through my brain faster than I could process them. "If we can just get our hands on some specificplants, and if your kitchen has basic supplies, I might be able to concoct something that could help. But it's—" I turned suddenly back to him to find him still sitting, his mouth slightly parted and his eyes wider than ever. "What?"

His eyebrows pinched together. "I thought we'd agreed that poisoning me again was not a good idea."

I dropped my hands and fought not to laugh. While there was nothing remotely amusing about our predicament, his mistake that I planned to poison him caught me off guard.

"Don't you laugh at me." He shoved across the bed and pulled me back and over his lap. "I could pin you here and spank your ass for even entertaining such a thought. And don't think I won't do it. Even joking about it is not funny."

I snorted. As much as I tried not to, his incredulous and offended tone was too much. "You really are insane. Maybe I should have taken Isaac's warnings a little more to heart."

"Why you—" He didn't finish his sentence before his hand smacked down on my bottom with a stinging slap.

I reared back and had his other hand not been pinning my torso to his lap I would have head butted him. "What do you think you are you doing?" I no sooner got the question out before another strike hit and the burn of fire accompanied it. "Stop," I cried, squirming and fighting for my freedom.

"No," he said simply, although his hand began softly rubbing where he'd struck me instead of spanking me again. His touch was like magic as the sting dissipated and I started to feel something entirely else from his ministrations.

"You are the devil," I said with little to no heat.

"Is that why your back arched, and your beautiful ass is reaching for more?"

My entire body jerked at his words. I was not— Oh Gods, I was. And he was too. I could feel the evidence rubbing against my core.

"This is not what we should be doing. We don't havethatmuch time."

"I beg to differ," he said, sliding his fingers between my cheeks and then lower. It didn't matter that I had clothes on. This man's touch felt like fire no matter where or how he touched me, and I couldn't resist it.

I tried to stifle a moan, but the second his warmth reached my clit, I lost all control. He'd already proven more than once how easy it was to turn me into a mass of writhing need. Every time he got close, and I scented his smoke and ash, I was halfway there. But this time I found myself both desperate for him and a little angry about it.

"You don't play fair," I snarled as I twisted off his lap before he could catch me. I flipped around and tangled my hands in his hair, tightening my fingers, and pushing him back to fall on the bed at the same time. "Now it's my turn."

A rumble sounded in his chest. Light at first but intensifying the more I tightened my hold. "You are playing a dangerous game, little wildflower."

This time I growled as I kissed my way across his jaw towards his ear. "That's okay. I enjoy games."

"What makes you think you can win?" he said, snapping his teeth in an attempt to bite my neck. I managed to elude hisbite, but I knew it wouldn't last. Not that I particularly wanted it to anyways. The idea of his teeth sliding into my skin and his tongue lapping at my blood sent a shockwave of heat straight between my legs.

"I'll win because you want me to. Because the hardness between your legs tells me you like this game—a lot."

His low laughter rumbled through this room. "You got me there. I do find you like this hard to deny. But—" He suddenly grabbed me around the waist and flipped me underneath him. "I also like you trapped and unable to get away," he growled, licking his way up the side of my neck.

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