Bad idea. Strategically sound, but personally catastrophic.
I needed his wings. Needed his knowledge of the terrain, the predators, the route to Ignarath. Needed his combat skills and his ability to navigate Volcaryth's brutal landscape.
Without him, I'd be dead before I made it halfway.
With him, we were going to end up fucking.
The thought sent heat spiraling through my core. My thighs clenched. I could still feel the phantom sensation from the dreams, the stretch and burn and fullness that left me gasping awake in tangled sheets.
This was going to be a disaster.
But the alternative was staying in Scalvaris while Larissa and the others suffered somewhere. While Kira waited for news that might never come. While the Blade Council congratulated themselves on making the practical decision.
I'd take the disaster.
My hand dipped into the small pouch at my belt, fingers closing around smooth stone. A river rock from Colorado, palm-sized and worn smooth by water. I'd grabbed it without thinking when I packed, some stupid superstitious part of me needing the familiar weight. A grounding point. Proof that I'd survived other difficult situations and could survive this one too.
Even if surviving meant losing the last shreds of my self-control around a gray-scaled warrior who looked at me like I was something precious.
Footsteps echoed from the tunnel behind me. My pulse kicked up before my brain caught up.
Nyx emerged from the shadows carrying his own pack. Larger than mine, designed to distribute weight across his broader frame and allow him to still fly.
Silence stretched between us, charged with everything we hadn't said, everything that had almost happened at the hidden exit before he'd agreed to come with me.
His scent reached me across the space. I breathed through my mouth, trying to minimize the impact.
It didn't work.
"We’ll head northeast," he said, his voice dropping into the clipped efficiency of mission briefing. "We'll fly through the night while the air is cooler. Rest during the day in whatever shelter we can find. It will take us three days to reach Ignarath's outer territory if we push hard."
Three days alone with him. Pressed against his body during flight. Sharing shelter. Sleeping in close quarters.
My blood heated at the thought. Fuck. No. I had to ignore it.
"What are we waiting for,” I said.
He crossed the space between us. Each step slow, giving me time to object, to back away. I held my ground.
He stopped close enough that I had to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact. His wings shifted, a subtle movement that drew my attention to the breadth of his shoulders, the powerful build designed for endurance.
His arms came around me. Careful. Giving me space to refuse even as he drew me against his chest. One arm beneath my knees, the other supporting my back.
His heartbeat thudded against my ear. Steady. Strong. The rhythm of it traveled through my body, syncing with my own pulse until I couldn't tell where his ended and mine began.
His tail coiled around my waist. The appendage was thick and muscular, the scales smooth against my leathers. It settled low on my hips, the tip resting against my lower belly.
I stopped breathing.
"Hold on," he said.
My arms went around his neck without conscious decision. My fingers found the ridges of scales at his nape, the vulnerable place where neck met shoulders. His skin was warm there, softer than the scales covering the rest of him.
He launched.
The ground fell away. My stomach dropped, then swooped upward as his wings caught air. The sky vent rushed past, stone walls blurring into darkness. Then we were through, bursting into Volcaryth's night.
The moon hung overhead, smaller than Earth's but brighter. Its light painted the landscape in shades of silver and shadow. Below us, the desert stretched endlessly, sand still radiating heat from the twin suns' punishing attention. In the distance, a lava flow cut a river of fire through the darkness, the sight both beautiful and terrifying.
