Page 105 of Storm of Desire
"I don't mind if you watch me strip," he said, "but something tells me you'd rather chewrocks."
Malin turned around so abruptly her skirts swished. "You stole the words right out of mymouth."
Except she could hear the rustle of fabric, and even though she wasn't looking, some infernal part of her mind insisted upon filling in the details she was missing. The Blackfrost was a large man with broad shoulders, and she'd caught a glimpse of his heavy pectoral muscles as he undid the buttons on hisshirt.
Imagine what the rest of him lookedlike?
Gods.What was wrong withher?
A shimmer of power washed over her, like molten honey dripping down her skin. She heard the rasp of his breath, loud in the quiet, and knew he'd made the change. Every inch of her skin prickled, and she looked down, feeling something shift inside her in response to hismagic.
But then itdied.
As it alwaysdid.
Malin lookedaround.
The enormousdrekitwisted its sinuous neck, eyeing her with eyes the color of blue-gray ice. Malin's breath came a little quicker. Regardless of what she felt for the Blackfrost, hisdrekiform was pure perfection. Every black scale gleamed, and the lash of his tail was like a whip. Where his brother Magnus had been the size of a brutish conqueror, Sirius was sleek and agile. An arrow of death that mastered the winds herode.
Sirius lowered his wing, inviting her toward him. Her breath caught in a strangled mix of fear andtemptation.
What she wouldn't give to fly justonce....
The brush of his mind caressed her own, and Malin threw up fierce barriers against his psychic touch. She might be unable to shift, but her psychic protections werestrong.
There was no way she was going to allow him inside her mentalshields.
Thedrekibared its teeth at her, and her gaze darted to the side but there was nowhere torun.
A growl caught herattention.
They stared at each other, and again she felt his mind brush againsthers.
"No," she said sharply, and veryloudly.
If anything, it almost looked like hesighed.
Then he picked up a fist-sized stone in his enormous left claw and deliberately released it over the edge of thecliff.
Malin blinked. "You're going to drop me off theside?"
Thedrekishook its headvehemently.
"Oh."You're not going to dropme.
He stared at herpatiently.
"It's not that." Once again she glanced over the edge, and then closed her eyes when the ground fell away sharply. "I'm... I'm afraid ofheights."
There was... a certain silence she could almostinterpret.
"Yes, I'm adrekiand I'm afraid of heights. It's not that amusing. If you fall off this cliff, then you can fly away safely. If I fall off this cliff, then I'll become a bloody splat on the ground below. It tends to play on a girl'smind."
Wings flapped, and Malin's eyes slammed open just as thedrekifilled her entire view. The downdraft of his thrust almost flattened her against the rock, and she screamed and curled herself into a smallball.
The expected pluck of his claws didn'tcome.
Malin lowered herarms.
