Page 29 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
My eyes twinkled with the challenge. “You may be a sorceress, but I’m a Gold Wolf.” With that, I turned to the door and ran toward the stairwell, Maez laughing, hot on my heels.
THE MOONLIGHT ON MY FUR WAS SUCH A GLORIOUS RELEASE. Ididn’t realize how much I needed this after being cooped up in the castle. Maez’s silver fur was a gleaming flash through the white snow, but I stayed close, nipping at her legs and making her push faster. As she weaved across the snow dunes, I tracked that black tip of her tail, keeping her locked in my sights. No magic seemed to spark around her Wolf form. She seemed almost back to her normal self, howling at the moon, playfully swirling back to snap at me.
When we dropped low enough down the mountain, we hit thetree line and plunged into the dark forest. Spindly pines and shrubs gave way to more and more robust trees until we were in the sweet-scented pine forests that made me giddy. Running through the forest was so much more enjoyable than a frozen tundra. There were logs to jump over, brambles to dodge, rivers to breach, animals to scent and hunt. We ran and ran, my soul singing.
When we reached a powdered meadow, Maez slowed her pace and spoke into my mind for the first time on the run. “All right, Princess,” she said, her voice warm and crystal clear. “You’ve proven your point.”
It felt so good to sense her in my mind, to feel that connection between us so strongly. This was Maez. She was still here. She still existed. A flutter of dangerous hope sparked in me.
“Do you admit defeat?” I asked.
Maez’s head turned back toward me. She had beautiful amber eyes, rimmed in black fur that faded to silver. “Never.”
She pounced on me, playfully trying to pin me. I let out a yip of delight, rolling out from underneath her, and trying to get my teeth to grip the back of her neck. She dodged out of my strike and pounced on my again, using her barrel chest to pin me down.
“Shift.”
“What?” I asked, laughter in my unspoken voice.
“Shift,” she commanded, her voice tinged in desperation.
Without thought, I did as she said. Maez shifted at the same moment I did and all of a sudden it was us—her bare skin on top of mine. I didn’t feel the burn of the snow on my back as her dark eyes hooked into mine and she smiled for a split second before she dropped her head and kissed me.
This kiss was all her, all my mate. My body reacted on instinct, my hands sweeping around her bare skin and pulling her tighter to me. I could feel the magic tying us together, like a flaming rope I could reach out and grab on to. My lips tingled as her mouth worked over mine, kissing me with a passion and hunger as if she’d been starving for weeks, gorging herself on me. Her thigh slid betweenmy legs, spreading them wider as her hand dropped to cup my ass and rock my hips against her.
Electricity sparked between us, crackling and zapping the air.
Maez gasped and pulled back, her eyes now filled with that eerie green.
And just like that, my mate was gone.
Her mouth tightened into a scowl.
“Maez.” I reached for her, but she leaned out of my touch.
She shoved backward onto her knees. “You don’t want this, Princess,” she said, her voice still husky with lust. “You don’t want what I’ve become. You are too sweet. Too good.”
“I am not so good,” I spat.
Maez threw her head back and laughed bitterly to the full moon. “If ever there was a portrait of goodness, Briar Marriel, it would be you.”
There it was again, the accusation chafing against my inner thoughts. I was not as sweet as all of them seemed to think. The urge to prove her wrong crested in me like a wave. Maybe I’d have to absorb some of her darkness into my soul to pull her back into the light. Maybe we could both become a mixture of the two.
“No,” I muttered, sitting up and gathering my knees to my chest. “I am not that person. Not anymore.” The bite of the cold came rushing over me, stinging my vulnerable skin.
I wouldn’t give up, not now that I knew she was still in there. If we had to live our entire lives in Wolf form just to be together, then so be it. A part of her was still mine and I would cling to it with everything I had.
Maez frowned, seemingly reading all that determination on my face.
“Time to go home now, Princess.” And with a swirl of her magic, the world disappeared.
Sadie
“THIS IS A REALLY,REALLYBAD IDEA,” ASHA SAID AS WE HIKEDthrough the pine forest. “Never in my life did I think I’d besearchingfor monsters.”
“These ones should be fairly harmless,” I said.
“ ‘Fairly,’ ” Timon muttered.
