Page 33 of The Dragon King's Curse
My eyes flew open as I realized Noxx’s hard on pressed against my ass. His arms were around me, his mouth on the back of my neck. My pulse pounded faster.
Overcome with the flood of desire that spilled through me, I made a frantic effort to escape. As I tried to sit up, his arms tightened around me, holding me in place.
“What’s the rush?” he asked, his tone lazy and sleepy.
“We should get moving. We’ve been in one place for too long.” I was painfully aware of the thick erection nestled between my ass cheeks. Inwardly, I groaned. No, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. I could not want this man. It was wrong in so many ways.
“Maybe I want to enjoy your sweet ass a little bit longer,” he murmured.
Noxx’s lips moved on the back of my neck. Light kisses at first. The tip of his tongue darted out, licking a line up under my ear. Apprehension hit me hard. What were we doing? How far would he take this if I didn’t stop him?
A throb started between my legs. My own body threatened to betray me. So badly I wanted to roll over in his arms and kiss him. I didn’t let myself do it. One of us needed to keep a clear head. If he kept touching me, I didn’t think I would keep it together.
When Noxx sucked gently on the back of my neck before biting down, I almost lost it. He ripped a gasp from me. My belly filled with adrenaline and arousal. I needed to put a stop to this. Now.
As his hand glided up under my tunic, caressing my stomach, I slapped him away and sat up. This time he released me. I found myself conflicted, both relieved and disappointed.
“We should go,” I said, purposely not looking at him as I crawled out from beneath the makeshift shelter, dragging my sword with me.
Standing upright, I stretched out my limbs before securing the sword onto my back. I sucked in several deep breaths in an effort to calm my wild thoughts and racing heart. Curse the gods for making Noxx Drakoth so hard to resist.
Maybe this was punishment of some kind for what my people had done to him. Leave it to the fates to have a good laugh while delivering justice.
“What’s wrong, princess?” Noxx asked as he emerged from the shelter. “You’re blushing. Don’t tell me you’ve never known the touch of a man.”
My mouth dropped open. “That is no business of yours. I’m not blushing. Just a little overheated because you slept so close to me.”
Even I wasn’t buying that bullshit. Noxx rolled his eyes and grinned. “Sure, whatever you say. Don’t forget, Feryn, I am a dragon. I can smell the desire all over you.”
Leaving me with that, he sauntered away, chuckling to himself. I cringed. Damn this man. I followed along behind him, keeping several feet between us. I didn’t trust myself to get too close to him.
My stomach grumbled with hunger. There were plenty of berries and various fruits along the way. I didn’t trust the forest enough to eat them. Finding water was a necessity though. We should be coming across the river soon enough.
It felt like we walked for hours and didn’t get anywhere. Try as I might to speak to the forest, it felt dark and closed off.Convincing it to work with me grew increasingly more difficult. Eventually, it wouldn’t respond to me at all.
“We must be getting closer to the border,” I said, frowning as a tree root emerged from the ground in time to trip me up. “The forest won’t speak to me anymore. It feels different. Like the magick is heavier here.”
Noxx waited for me to catch up before he kept moving. “I’m starting to think we’re going in circles. Didn’t we pass that weird purple mushroom already?”
He pointed to a large mushroom between two trees. There were many such mushrooms out here. This area did look kind of familiar. Was the forest messing with us? Making us go in circles?
“The forest doesn’t want us to get any further. We must be getting close to something then.” I paused to survey our surroundings. The sound of birdsong had faded. Silence descended all around us.
“Are you sure you can’t do something? We’ll never get out of here if it has us going in circles.” Noxx took a frustrated swing at a shrub with his sword.
A nearby tree snaked out a vine, wrapping tight around the sword as it attempted to jerk the weapon from his grasp. Noxx held tight, battling the tree for the sword. I came to his aid, slicing the vine before it lifted him off his feet.
“Try not to piss off the forest,” I advised. “That’s really not helping.”
Noxx lost his temper. In a fit of rage, he began to hack with his sword at any plant or tree within reach. “Maybe the forest shouldn’t piss me off. I’m tired of these bullshit fae magick games. I want to get the fuck out of here.”
Extending a hand, fire erupted from Noxx’s fingertips. Flames engulfed the tree that had attacked him, swiftly climbingits trunk. I worried that the fae would see the smoke rising and follow it right to us.
“You really shouldn’t have done that, Noxx. You’re only going to make things worse.”
No sooner had I spoken than a bright purple door appeared several feet away, circled by a ring of colorful mushrooms. Noxx started toward the door.
“No, don’t,” I called after him. “Don’t open the door.”
