Page 32 of Flameborne: Fury
Shit. This would—
“Donavyn!”
I whirled, every burning drop of my blood going up in flames when I discovered Bren standing at the edge of the clearing, eyes wide and jaw slack. Her hair plastered to her skull, and her leathers saturated.
Bren.
My mate.
Our eyes locked and my body surged, drove me to her,yankedme forward. I stumbled towards her, breathing her name as she sprinted to meet me—but we hadn’t reached each other when there was an ear-splitting scream and Akhane rippled out of the forest, head low and neck extended, ears pinned back and jaw wide showing all her teeth, her blue tongue high and tense.
The dragon was mindless.Blind.And tearing straight for Bren who’d seen me hesitate and drawn up herself, turning towards her dragon’s approach.
Kgosi’s roar set a fire under my feet.
At the same time Akhane surged forward, I threw myself across the space, tackling Bren and curling myself around her,rolling us both across the wet ground until we came up hard against one the clusters of boulders that peppered the ground here.
Bren grunted and curled arms over her head, but startled and froze when a dragon’s taloned foot pounded into the soft earth right where she’d stood just moments before.
Neither of us moved as we watched Akhane rush past, her body undulating, and neck snaking. A split second later, Kgosi galloped in her wake, his mouth open too, and tail lashing with such force it slammed a massive tree so it shuddered from its roots.
An almighty crack punctured the night, then that huge tree began to tilt towards us.
With a shout, I tucked Bren into my chest and dragged her aside, scrambling, panting, ultimately tripping and falling, but clear of the thick trunk and branches that thudded to the ground, then bounced.
I lay there on the wet dirt, Bren on my chest, both of us gaping at the massive branch that had snapped off and landed just feet away.
Then Bren turned her head and locked those wide eyes on me.
I couldfeelthe questions in her, the confusion and thrill and…
I swallowed hard, then clawed one hand into her hair, pushing the wet strands back from her face. “They’re mates!” I shouted over the storm and the crashing and roaring of dragons now running away from us.
She nodded numbly, her expression stunned.
“He didn’t tell me,” I said desperately, pleading with her to see that I hadn’t anticipated this. Hadn’t been playing a game.
“She didn’t tell me either,” she breathed, and even though I couldn’t hear it over the storm, I felt the words right at the center of my chest.
“Bren,” I croaked.
Her eyes widened further until the whites showed all the way around. She reached for me, plowing a hand into my hair and gripping it in her fist. But then she went still on my chest, staring.
I searched her gaze, trying desperately to convince my frantic body that this wasn’t the time and I couldn’t take her when everything was so chaotic.
But then Akhane screamed again, quickly followed by Kgosi’s roar. Bren’s eyes closed and she shivered in my arms. And when she opened her eyes again, her gazeburned.
She’d straddled me in the fall, and now she pushed up on my chest, sitting back so that she was pressed against my groin and I groaned.
Bren froze. Then she fucking bit her lip.
“God,Bren—”
I sat up, intending to pull her off of me, to give her achoice,but she shook her head and grabbed the back of my neck, pulling me in and kissing me, plunging her tongue into my mouth and digging her nails into my scalp.
With a shuddering exhale, I clapped a hand to her back, holding her to me as I sat up fully, then fisted my other hand into her hair and bent her backwards, kissing her with every ounce of the desperate need burning in my veins.
Bren arched, pulling me closer, whimpering—which set my heart aflame and sent spears of desire from my chest to my groin. She fumbled at the buttons on my jacket, rubbing herself against me, gasping and the need for her was so overwhelminglynecessary,I couldn’t fight.
