Page 19 of Reigning
But something else is pulling at my confused attention. The taming device is locked in place over Sin’s dark hair. He sits at my side while Chaos vacantly strokes my hair.
Sinister sits here talking to me while the other two shifters pace slowly back and forth at the front of my cell.
“She couldn’t tame you?” I skim my fingers along the metal halo around the demon’s head.
Long fingers wrap around my wrist, and he kisses my hand, pressing his lips softly to my skin.
“Fuck no, she couldn’t tame me. I’m a demon, not a pet.”
I feel his smile along my flesh and shove against the floor and wrap myself in his arms. He holds me to his chest, letting me breathe in the warm cinnamon scent of him that I had completely forgotten until now. Everything that’s been pent up inside me crashes out on a tumbling breath.
He never lets me go. Even as I tremble in his arms, he takes it. He takes every sobbing breath and every quiet tear that slips down my cheeks.
“You’re all right, love. We’re here.” He pauses and looks at the shell of a shifter at his side. “Sort of.”
I cry harder at that, and he holds me more firmly to his chest, stroking over my hair until I finally quiet, catching my breath but still melding myself to his hard body.
He’s strong. He’s the physical symbol of strength. I need that. I need them here to make me feel stronger than I really am.
“She’s going to take Minden. She’s going to destroy anything in her path until she gets what she thinks she’s owed. And she’s going to use us to get it.”
His palms press lower down my back, and I skim my hands higher, caressing the hard muscle of his chest, biceps, and shoulders.
“No one’s ever going to use you. These three might not have a logical thought in their head—I’m going to pretend like I haven’t been thinking that for a long time—but even their beasts care for you, Arrie.”
I narrow my eyes on him and his sneaky comment, and it only makes him smile more. His smile, his dimples, they make me weak. They make me forget all the terrible things in our lives right now.
Big arms slip around me, gripping firmly under my thighs and back before tearing me away from the demon. Chaos pulls me right back to him, cradling me to his broad chest. He stands, glancing down at Sinister for just a moment before walking me across the little room to the farthest spot in the corner, and there he lowers himself, shifting me in place until I’m held affectionately to his body.
I hover my hands over his shoulders, barely touching him because I remember the way Rime’s dragon reacted to me at first.
Chaos’ sweet beast is the opposite. He just wanted to mark his territory, it seems, rub his prize in Sinister’s face, and all but hike his leg and piss on me with pride.
It’s both ridiculous and adorable all at the same time.
The light around his head illuminates his beautiful two-tone eyes. One blue and one brown. Both as beautiful as the man staring down on me. They hold warm affection in them, and he studies me curiously for several seconds.
Then he tips his head back on the bars and closes his eyes, pressing me to his chest even while he eventually slips off to sleep.
A deep ache blooms through me. I lower my head and rest against his strong body, watching Rime and Kain prowl around the room.
This is our lives now?
What if…what if we’re like this for literally the rest of our lives?
A breath shakes through me. I-I could handle that. I could figure it out. We could make it work.
“Rime?”
He halts the moment I say his name. It’s progress. Really slow, really painful progress.
“Come here. Rest.” I nod toward where Chaos and I are seated.
Chaos tips his head up, and the two of them stare at each other for several moments.
It surprises me that Chaos is the tamest right now. He feels our bond in a different way, I think. It’s as if there’s no doubt in his dragon’s mind that he and I fit better when we’re together.
Rime, on the other hand, he took time.
