My intentions in bringing her here were pure to begin with, truly wanting her to get more training in trusting her instincts and reflexes. I hadn’t been looking forward to her struggling on this course. She’d demanded to come to the battle with us before, despite my insistence she stayed home, and I had no doubt she’d be at the front of every single one moving forward. We needed to ensure she survived for the sake of all our lives.
However, I couldn’t deny the spark of glee within me at her frustrations now. It was slowly allowing me to release some of the pent up fury within me that wanted to scream at her and demand to know what she saw in those guys that she didn’t see in me. Not once had she tried to touch me, or even be near me. The closest she got was in passing at the house.
Finally, she reached the end of the wind tunnel, sans a few of her feathers that floated in the air behind her. Her gaze was furious as she turned to glare at me, nostrils flared as she panted heavily.
I cupped my hands around my mouth and yelled, “Keep it moving, Princess. This is probably the slowest and least graceful first attempt I’ve ever seen.”
Her lips pursed as she let out a growl. My cock twitched in my pants at her response. She was the most headstrong and stubborn woman I’d ever met, and that was really saying something, considering who my grandmother was.
I fucking hated how much I admired the trait.
“Is that what all the girls say that you beg to grace your bed?”
An image flashed through my mind of dragging her ass off the course to make her body shake as she took every inch ofmy cock. I’d have her apologizing and begging me to let her come within minutes. Even then I wouldn’t relent. Bad behavior wouldn’t be met with good rewards, after all.
I let out a tsk. “You were even a bit slow with that snarky response. Do you need to take a break already? It seems that the course is a lot for you to handle. There’s no shame in admitting you can’t take it.”
It was like something shifted within her at my words and she took off, seemingly fearless of whatever came her way next. I hated the part of me that took so much pride in that, as if she was actually mine to feel that way about.
Her wings tucked in tightly as she spiraled through the next section like a bullet locked onto its target, sweeping over the metal spikes sending off sparks of lightning beneath her. Curving her path up toward the tunnel running straight up and down, she pulled her shoulders back as her chin tilted up, narrowed eyes focused on her goal.
“I won’t fail this course too.”
I could barely hear her words this time but instantly knew they weren’t for me. Whatever was driving her right now was an old wound. Some of my anger resurfaced at the thought of what she faced in Alfemir. While I’d likely never know the details, the emotional scars she carried were so easy to see in these moments.
She shot up the tunnel, grunting as heat followed her ascent, with flames licking up at her feet. I watched in quiet awe as she maneuvered through the rest of the course with a determined glint to her eyes. I didn’t bother making any comments, knowing she was in her own world right now. Small grunts of pain slipped from her as she made a few small errors in judgment, but before I could even think to worry, she found a new path and moved on.
I flew alongside her until the end came into sight. As she prepared herself for the final stretch, I settled in at the end ofit, waiting for her to emerge through the small funnel. Typically, with their larger frames and the layered barbed wire within, this was the area that my guys dreaded most.
Her eyes met mine for the first time in nearly ten minutes, and it was like everything malicious swirling within me had fallen away while watching her prove to herself that she could do this. I wanted to hold her and tell her how great she did when she finished. I wanted to clean her off in the showers and tell her how proud of her I was.
I swore she could sense the change within me as we stood in the silence. Her lips parted as I watched her throat move with a harsh swallow. The pink of her tongue swept along her lips as a blush crawled up her cheeks.
Heat and desire pooled within me as I recalled her soft breathy moans as my fingers plunged into her pussy. The way she tried so hard to lie to herself in that moment, to convince herself that her body didn’t want me. The way she was already slick as I’d pressed my fingers to her clit for the first time, swirling them around. Her body betrayed her words, and here I was, wondering if I could fuck her into seeing how badly I still wanted her.
To see how badly we needed each other.
“Crawl to me, Princess,” I growled, narrowing my eyes on her in challenge. I dragged my bottom lip between my teeth, biting the soft flesh to keep myself from telling her exactly what I had waiting for her on the other side.
Her eyes sparked with a golden light as her chest rose and fell with quick breaths before sinking to her knees slowly and disappearing into the entrance of the small crawl space. I ran my hands over my face roughly, knowing she couldn’t see me now.
What the fuck was I going to do? A war waged within me—was I going to fight for what I knew we could have, or was itpointless? Would this end with me falling for her even more if she didn’t want to commit to me and I couldn’t cut it off now?
A sharp cry sounded from within the metal chamber, and I couldn’t stop myself from darting over to the section I thought she’d be in.
“Talk to me, Princess,” I demanded, hoping she could hear me through the thick material surrounding her.
Another cry came, this one filled with agony.
Something broke within me, and in a second, I was drawing a rune on the metal. Energy funneled through me and into it, lighting it up until a ring of hot fire circled around the tunnel, searing it open slowly.
“Don’t move, Kieran!”
It felt like agony to stand here, waiting for the tunnel to crack open enough, but when it finally did and strands of her golden hair came into view, I lept into action. Jumping onto the side breaking off just ahead of her, I stomped it off and kicked it to roll away, leaving me room to get on my belly and help her out.
I lowered myself down just as her head lifted. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she breathed out, “I didn’t finish. I failed.”
A lump formed in my throat, and in that exact moment, I knew I couldn’t walk away from her, ever.
