Page 51 of Heart of Fire
No sight. But she could smell him, that sweet cinnamon smell that seemed almost familiar, and she could hear the rapid thump of his heartbeat beneath the curl of her palm. Her fingers flexed, exploring the feel of him. She quite suspected he was completely naked, and despite everything that had happened to her today, she couldn’t help feeling curious about thisfact.
The only man she had ever come into such close contact with was Rurik, that night in Akureyri and again in the barn. Her cheeks flamed as a flash of memory struck her: gasping beneath his kiss, grinding her hips against the hard bulge of his erection, begging, her nails digging into the hard slab of hisshoulders….
And again suspicion danced withinher.
Perhaps it was thedrekishe curled against. His voice was deeper than Rurik’s, but something in the timbre of it reminded her of the man, and they were much of a build perhaps. Strong, sleek muscle slid beneath her fingers. She flexed again, tracing the harsh edge of his clavicle, dancing her fingers up the thick column of his throat as she explored. She couldn’t deny how similar theyseemed....
“If you keep petting me like that I shall not make the bed,”he purred in hermind.
Instantly Freyja’s curious touch froze. “The bed? You have abed?”
What would he need such a thing for? Then her cheeks heated again. There was only one purpose she could thinkof….
“I created it for you, Freyja. The night you came here, hunting for your ram.”His mind brushed against hers, a dark caress that made her gasp. A feeling of overwhelming satisfaction flooded through the link between them.“Dreki can manipulate raw matter if they will it, and create small pockets of existence out of Chaos magic.The dreki court is one such place. A... sidestep into another world, if you will. Or a small pocket of existence within a bubble of Chaos. It’s how Tiamat first created the universe, except her bubble expanded until it contained the entire world, and many others. You’re about to enter one, so it may feel strange atfirst.”
“Why would you create it for me?” she whispered, though her heart ticked loudly in herchest.
“Would you prefer that we do this on the floor of thecave?”
This?Freyjaswallowed.
“Because I want you,”thedrekiadded in a quieter thought-thread.“There have been no other women for me. Not for a long time.You are important to me, and I wanted us to have time alone, where we will not beinterrupted.”
“Why me?” She turned her face in the dark, feeling her breath refract off the skin of histhroat.
Another low growl sounded deep in his chest.“Vixen.”Then he laughed.“Because nobody has ever challenged me the way you did.”And he sounded incredibly pleased with this fact. His arms tightened, possessive and strong.“Fierce,”he whispered in hermind.
And Freyjastilled.
Fierce.A word that another man had used for her. A man who hadn’t been there today to rescueher.
She felt that soft brush against her senses and pulled everything about herself in tight, thrusting up her mental shields as she sorted through the sudden cacophony of thought. All her suspicions seemed to form into one loudvoice.
Memories flooded throughher:
Rurik suddenly turning up in Akureyri, a stranger the likes that even the local port town had neverseen.
Rurik, with his deep knowledge ofdrekiculture, and the way he’d challenged Haakon about killing thedreki.
Rurik, kissing her in the barn, his touch setting her alight even as he proclaimed fate had thrown her into hispath.
Suddenly it all made a horrid kind of sense, like a dozen misshapen puzzle pieces abruptly fitting into place. And she didn’t know how she felt about that. Angry that he’d lied to her. Relieved, that all the little things that hadn’t quite added up finally made sense. And also a vague, choking sense ofloss.
Because some part of her had begun to look at Rurik in a way that saw him in her life forever, and now there was no chance ofthat.
“I do not like it when you close yourself off,”hegrowled.
“You may have my body, my lord,” she responded tartly, even as she worked her way through her confusion, “but you do not have the right to all ofme.”
Tension radiated through his menacing build. Oh no, he did not like that at all, and now she had a powerful, irritateddrekitohandle.
Strange, how fear was the last thing she felt. She knew this man—or creature. He wouldn’t hurt her, of that she wascertain.
No, notphysically.
Freyja slid a hand down his chest, enjoying the soft feel of his skin and the power that she suddenly felt. He had the ability to take her mind, rip it apart, and steal any of her thoughts. But he wouldn’t. She knew so little about this curious beast, but that was one truth. There was more honor in a single eyelash of this inhuman creature than in Benedikt’s entirebeing.
“You think to taunt me?”He didn’t sound irritated anymore. Intrigued, perhaps.“You throw such challenges in my face without thought toconsequences.”
