Page 26 of To Crave Madly
“Hey—” I started but stopped myself when I caught sight of his serious expression. His eyes were focussed on his comms device and he was clearly reading a message.
“Shit. We have to move, and we have to move now.” His tone was all seriousness. All traces of the playfulness from moments ago disappeared.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” I asked as I jumped up from the floor.
“Something’s going down at the Witches’ Corner.”
Oh my god. That was where Rae said she was going. Shit. Was she there now? Was she okay? My heart sped up its tempo and blood raced frantically in my veins.
“Fuck, we’re still twenty minutes away.” Cassian paused and looked me up and down as if trying to make a decision. It made me nervous. Like really fucking nervous. “We’re going to have to fly.”
“Excuse me, what?” Nope. No way. I wasn’t going to fly with him. He’d most likely deliberately drop me anyway.
His wings snapped open behind him and my ability to think vanished. They were incredible. Just absolutely breath-taking. I’d seen them in the sky, and they’d been magnificent then but now, this close, they were spectacular. They weren’t even full size, but they were still impressive. They looked like a midnight sky with stars twinkling in their dark depths.
“Climb aboard, princess.”
Cassian’s words pulled me from eye-fucking those beautiful wings. He stood with his arms open wide and somehow he was managing to scowl and smirk at the same time. It was almost like he couldn’t decide whether he was happy about this or not.
I stepped closer to him and placed my hands on his shoulders. I was so close his breath brushed my cheek, and those cold blue eyes reflected the fear in my eyes. I didn’t trust him not to drop me and I was suddenly afraid that he might do that just to get rid of me.
He tsked down at me. “You’re going to have to hold on tighter than that. Wrap your legs around my waist like you want to—”
Fuck me.
He was totally about to say that before he cut himself off.
I blanched. Who was this? Since when did Cassian talk dirty? I didn’t want to admit it, but part of me kind of liked it. My heart rate kicked up a notch and sent desire flooding my veins with a sudden aching need to be satisfied. Why the fuck was my body reacting to this prick?
“Are you being serious?” I asked, doubt making my voice waiver.
“As serious as a heart attack,” he deadpanned. Wait. Was that a joke? “Come on, Lori. We don’t have time for this. We need to go now.”
“Alright, alright. Keep your hair on, Cassie.” He scowled at the nickname. He really hated it, and it amused me that he wouldn’t tell me how much he hated it. I jumped up and in one swift movement, I wrapped my legs around his lean waist and folded my arms tightly behind his neck. In this position, I was eye level with him, and I didn’t miss the way his pupils dilated as his hands slid up the back of my thighs to cup my ass. My gaze dropped to his lips. They were so close. They looked pillowy soft and I wanted to taste them. I wanted to lick them and suck them and—
Whoa. Need to stop that thought train. This was Cassian. I was not attracted to Cassian. Nope. No way. He was a dick. One I didn’t want to suck. At all…
Cassian leant closer. Fuck. If he kissed me, I’d let him. Why? Why would I do that?
But then he growled and pulled back. Thank fuck.
“Hold on,” he snarled. I was just adjusting my grip when Cassian launched us into the sky. I just about managed to grab hold before I fell off and plummeted to my death. But unfortunately, that meant my face was now buried in the crook of his neck because I was too much of a pussy to take a look around me. Lucifer had flown with me once before, but I didn’t really remember it. I was too numb and a bit out of it after the battle to even really notice how it felt to fly. Flying with Cassian was absolutely fucking terrifying. I think I’d left my stomach on the ground somewhere. Oh god, I was gonna hurl.
I felt Cassian’s lips by the shell of my ear. “You can loosen your death grip around my neck. I won’t drop you.”
Did I believe him — that was the big question. Was I really safe in his arms? He did seem to have a tight grip on me. One large hand was still holding my ass, but the other had snaked its way around my waist to hold me firmly against his broad chest. Fuck it. If he were going to drop me, he’d have done it already. I pulled back slightly, my cheek brushing his as I took a moment to look into his eyes. There was no scowl; he almost looked… happy. Maybe flying did that for him. Maybe it was a way for him to feel free. I wondered if he ever flew with anyone else? I was about to ask but Cassian chose that moment to nosedive and I screamed. I screamed like a little girl because hurtling towards the ground at a ridiculously fast speed was fucking scary. In my head, I knew we weren’t going to crash into the ground, but I could tell Cassian was leaving it to the last fucking minute to pull up before landing. Even with all the wind rushing past me, I could hear Cassian laughing at my shrill scream. The fucker enjoyed tormenting me. That much was clear.
I felt the impact of Cassian’s feet hitting the ground and I jumped off him. Well, more like stumbled. My legs felt like jelly.
“Come on. We need to find the others.”
“Just give me a second. You made my knees weak.” A white blonde brow arched superciliously. “I mean… flying. Flying made my knees weak… not you. Um…” I trailed off. There was no way I could save that train wreck of a comment. “Let’s just go.”
I followed Cassian across the road. This place looked like money. The houses were big, fancy and clearly old. They looked like the sort of properties that came from generational money. Old money. Being a witch clearly meant you were most likely wealthy.
We were headed towards one of the houses in the far corner. There was a fog in the air that gave the streetlamps a weird haze, like a scene out of a horror movie. A shiver traipsed along my spine at the thought. This place felt eerie, like there was something a little sinister about it.
And then I realised. It was quiet. Deadly quiet. There was such an absence of the noise you’d expect in a big housing estate like this. No one was out walking or chatting over the fences. There were no lights on in the windows or dogs barking in the gardens.
