Page 44 of His Greatest Treasure

I hated thinking about that. When I imagined Alfie getting hurt, I felt the anger wash over me and the fear. I needed to check he was okay.

It was a miracle that nobody spotted me but I slunk around the edges of the castle, taking care not to disturb those spells that were wrapped around it. They weren’t at all like the ones at theboundaries to the territory. The Guardian hadn’t laid these.

I managed to spot Alfie once, standing between two women. They were looking out, scanning the room and the window for movement and I knew, even without being in there, that they were listening intently for any sound.

Alfie stood between them and he had his head lowered slightly. He might have looked bored to anyone who didn’t know him but I knew him. I had seen that look before.

He was watching his bonds.

I tried to project my feelings through our bond so he would know I was alive and well. I wasn’t sure how to do that, though, so essentially I concentrated on feeling safe and happy so that he would somehow feel it.

He looked up, straight out of the window.

I was small. I was hardly visible and I’d only be seen by somebody who knew I was there.

Alfie knew. He looked straight up at me without any hesitation. That bond, I guess.

We stared at each other for a long time and I felt better the longer I was there. I didn’t know what the fuss was about but I did know that theGuardian was screeching, and that there had been several other dragons outside of the castle and those barbed-wire protections.

They’d flown off in different directions and another dragon had taken to the roof and was scanning the fields around us for movement.

Something bad must have happened. Yet Alfie was safe, and I just watched him until someone shuttered the window.

I snuck back to the little hut that Alfie had made into a home for me and waited. And waited.

The longer I was alone, the more my thoughts turned to flame. To being flame.

I spent more and more time as a little flicker atop the oil lamp. I couldn’t help it. The longer I was away from Alfie, the less I felt connected to my body.

He had family all around him, people who loved him and wanted to protect him, and I had only myself. There was no need for me to exist in this physical body.

It became almost painful to be there, without my darling beside me. I had to slip into my flame form and linger in the middle of the lamp orI’d have burned fierce and broken through those barbed-wire spells just to reach Alfie again.

It didn’t occur to me to leave. I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. But it didn’t occur to me to stay in my human form, either. I slipped into a state of merely existing and burned.

On the third night, I heard footsteps and recognised them as Alfie’s straight away. I only just had time to stand up before the door burst open and Alfie came tumbling into the room, looking almost wild with his hair sticking up and his eyes on me. They shot straight to me and locked on mine, and I only caught a glimpse of their silver irises before Alfie was on me.

He gripped my arms tightly and I was shoved back against the wall. The hard thump of it winded me and I couldn’t do anything for a second.

I felt Alfie’s lips press against mine almost brutally and then his tongue slid inside my mouth and his lean body pressed mine back against the chilly wall and my body reacted with heat before I could consciously identify what was happening.

Alfie kissed me like his life depended on it.

I was the absolute centre of his world in that moment, and nothing existed except for the two of us and our passion.

My body burned hot. My tongue duelled with his and my hands came up to grip his hair. He gasped into my mouth but didn’t pull away. That was all I needed to know.

This was different from our kisses before. I’d been easing him into it, not wanting to push him past his comfort. Now, though? It looked like we were done going slow.

I leaned into the kiss for a long time, letting Alfie pin me and rub against my body, leaving scorching trails wherever he put his hands. After several minutes, though, I realised that kissing was all we were doing. And grinding. He was rubbing his body against mine and it felt incredible but it wasn’t quite enough.

I needed more.

Alfie needed more, too. It was in the desperation of his kiss, the way he gripped at me as though he could pull me right inside him, as though he could devour me completely if he just tried hard enough.

He wanted more; he just didn’t know how to get it.

My sweet, naïve little darling.

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