Page 4 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
But Grae was too fast. He caught up to me, grabbing me and yanking me back against his hard, bare chest. I wailed, thrashing in his grip. Let him tear me in two if it meant reaching my twin—
“Calla! Open your eyes!”
At his command, my eyes flew open. At first all I saw were shadows, my gasping breath filling my ears. Then the world started to become clear, stars blinking out from my vision. I wasn’t on that mountain covered in snow. I was slicked by sweat, in my bed, in my castle, in my homeland.
In so much pain.
Grae held me tight to his chest, spooning behind me, so warm and powerful as we lay on our sides. “Breathe. Breathe.” He spoke softly as he coached me through another nightmare. They had plagued my sleep since Briar was taken by the Silver Wolves.
“I’m okay,” I rasped, wiping hair off my damp forehead. My throat was raw, so scratchy it felt like I had swallowed a bucketful of sand.
“You’re not.” Grae gently soothed his fingers down my bare side. “But you will be soon. I vow it.”
“As if you could will it into existence from sheer determination,” I replied, catching my breath.
“Do not doubt my powers,” he said, almost but not quite eliciting a snort from me. Serious again, he added, “Soon, we’ll have her back,” and that assurance—that confidence—cut to the quick of me.
Maybe because, for the first time since I’d known him, I wasn’t sure I could believe it.
A lump formed in my sore throat and I battled back tears as I shook my head. “I don’t think anything will be right again.”
I couldn’t dare say it aloud to anyone else, not to my citizens who feared another war, not to people who looked to me to promise a better future. Not to the humans I’d sworn to protect. I couldn’t voice my terror to them. But even queens needed reassurance, and in that, Grae had always been my guiding star.
Once again, I needed to believe him. Believeinhim. Believe in his belief of me.
My breathing steadied as Grae circled lazy fingers over my rib cage and up my arm.
“I would say go back to sleep,” he murmured into my hair. “But I know you too well for that.”
I looked at the curtains, the pink of the predawn sky limning the edges.
“It’s almost sunrise,” I replied with a weary sigh. “Might as well start my day. There’s so much to be done. Especially now.”
I moved to sit up and Grae’s hand splayed low across my belly and pulled me back against him. And despite my still racing heart, a smile curved my lips when I felt the outline of his erection against my bare ass.
“Perhaps I could be persuaded to stay in bed for just a little bit longer...”
Grae’s hand lifted to knead the muscles of my tense shoulder. “You’re wound tighter than a trapped bunny.” His mouth dropped to the shell of my ear. “Maybe I can help with that.”
“Maybe,” I taunted.
The suggestion lingered in the air between us for a beat before Grae moved again. His hand circled lower across my skin until he cupped my sex. I leaned my head back against his shoulder, arching into his touch. I didn’t know what I would’ve done without this—the distraction, the comfort, the release, theconnection. Grae had been taking care of me in a way that only a mate could, saving me from my racing thoughts and ratcheting pulse if only momentarily.
And I thanked every star in the sky for these sacred, quiet moments. When the wool of lust covered my eyes to everything else. When nothing existed except Grae and me.
His finger slid down my center, circling my already swelling clit. He touched me with such deftness, as if my body was an extension of his own, as if he couldfeelthe pleasure unfurling within me. Grae knew the exact pressure and tempo to make me come undone, and yet he also knew how to perfectly tease me. To take me to the edge... and sometimes keep me there, taunting me until I was panting for more. Not knowing what to expect—the anticipation—took my delight to new levels each time.
A little moan escaped my lips as he worked over me, his other hand coming up to cup my breast.
I reached behind me, finding his hard cock and stroking its silken length. “Is my mate hungry?” I asked in a goading tone as I stroked him up and down.
“For you? Insatiable,” he said, biting my earlobe.
I guided him to my slick entrance as his finger kept working me in tauntingly slow circles. Grae pushed into me slow and sleepy as if he had all the time in the world, as if we could take all morning to melt into each other. Everything quieted in my mind as he began to move, and in that moment, time meant nothing to me. I wished we could stay in bed all day, wished there weren’t any other responsibilities aside from making him repeat that low sound at the back of his throat.
Grae picked up his pace, pushing me higher, and I came before I had a chance to slow him down. A bright flash of an orgasm zapped through me, making my body light as air and heavy as the mountains. Tingles of ecstasy coated my skin as Grae chased after me, his release rushing through him just as quickly.
We stayed there, intertwined, our limbs entangled as we caught our breath. I stared at the brightening light around the curtains, time slipping away from us like the mist lifting from sunlight. Soon the castle staff would be awake. Soon there would be meetings, debriefings, and fight training. Soon I’d have to unflinchingly face the uncertainty of the future ahead with confidence and grace.
