Page 74 of Wild Bond

Curling up to a sitting position, his lips met mine in a searing kiss. The kiss quickly turned ravenous, and before long he had me on my back. His mouth was on me again, and he was coaxing me to a shouting release of my own.

Afterward, I lay sprawled on the bed, the blankets in a tangle around me. Rake was leaning on his side staring down at me, one arm beneath him while the other reached to grasp my left hand. He began playing with the ring on my finger, twisting it back and forth as he smiled faintly. “You kept it.”

I smiled lightly. “Of course, I kept it.”

Then his fingers ran higher over my scar, trailing from just above my wrist and over the length of my forearm. The slightly raised skin appeared waxy in the morning light. I couldn’t help but feel self-conscious and found myself wanting to pull away, but I resisted the urge.

“Every time I see this, I think of that night,” he said.

I stiffened slightly at the confession but then forced myself to relax, continuing to stare at the scar.

“When we spoke in your room that day after you bonded Skye . . . you looked so beautiful and vulnerable sitting there, then I saw this on your arm . . . Realms, how you must have hated me!”

“You and he were only doing your duty,” I said, reiterating what I had said to him before. “It’s not your fault you caught me stealing.”

He rubbed a hand through his hair. “But now, knowing what I know, what I learned last night . . .” He shook his head and sighed. “I wish things had gone down differently.”

“I don’t,” I said, surprising myself and at the same time knowing I meant it.

He stared down at me. “You don’t?”

“No, because then I would never have been thrown in prison. Well, that part I could have skipped, but then I would have never been at Petitioner’s Square that day, never would have bonded Skye and become a dragon rider . . . and I never would have met you.” His eyes warmed. “In a way, Safan was right. Not about him taking the credit for all this, but in the fact that if I hadn’t been captured that day . . . none of this might have happened.”

“Your gods at work again?” Rake teased.

I shrugged. “Maybe . . . maybe they had to ensure I met Skye, and that I met you or maybe they just observe and let us make our own decisions most of the time, only interfering when it’s necessary. Who knows?”

He leaned down, his nose brushing mine. “I like the thought of our meeting being important enough for the Nine to get off their golden thrones and interfere.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in the gods.”

He smiled. “I don’t, but perhaps I could be persuaded.” His breath tickled over my lips. “There’s this silver-haired temptress I know that seems quite convinced of the matter.”

“She sounds very smart. You should listen to her.”

“Hmm,” he purred, tracing his lips down my neck and across my exposed skin, making goosebumps pebble wherever he touched. His mouth found a particularly sensitive spot and one of his big hands had just begun to explore lower on my body, stirring the smoldering coals of my sated desire, when Rake’s chamber door burst open.

“Rake!” Zade cried as he entered. “You need to—” The rider’s eyes went wide, and he halted mid-step when he realized what he had just burst in on.

“What are you doing? Get out!” Rake snarled, hastily covering us both with the sheet.

My cheeks flamed as I sank down under the covers even further so only my head was visible.

“My apologies,” Zade said, averting his eyes and trying and failing to keep a smirk from his lips. “I wasn’t aware you had . . . company. Hello Rin.”

Embarrassment flooded me. I wanted to scream that it wasn’t what it looked like, but then realized that it was exactly what it looked like—well . . . almost.

“Then why are you still here?” Rake demanded.

The question seemed to remind Zade of why he had come here in the first place, and his expression sobered immediately. “It’s your prisoner,” he explained, “the one you had Naasir drop off.”

My blood ran cold at the mention of Safan.

“What about him?” I questioned, sitting up.

Zade looked between Rake and me, his expression bleak. “He was found dead in his cell this morning. Someone killed him.”

“Nowwe’llneverknowwho he was working with,” I murmured after Rake and I had seen the body and made our way back out into The Tower courtyard. Someone had cut Safan’s throat and left him to bleed out there on the floor of his cell. “Or where those men took Lessa,” I added. How were we going to find her now?

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