Shuddering, Jenna looked at Malik squarely then, their gazes fusing. It was intense to watch his face, as she rocked back and forth in a steady rhythm, and she had to fight the urge to close her eyes, to let herself be carried away by the moment.
But she didn’t.
“Ride me, Jen.” His voice was rough, urgent. “Harder!”
His words caused what little was left of her restraint to shatter. Biting down hard on her bottom lip, Jenna increased the tempo of her rocking. The rasp of their breathing, the wet sound of sex, filled the room—and then when Malik reached between her thighs, the pad of his thumb stroking her, she went wild, bucking against him as hot, rippling waves of ecstasy pounded through her loins.
She couldn’t help it—her choked cry echoed through the room.
The next thing she knew, Malik had flipped her onto her back and slung her legs over his shoulders before driving into her in deep, savage thrusts.
Jenna arched back against the bed, her limbs trembling uncontrollably now. And when she felt him come—felt the hot rush of him empty inside her—a sense of completeness that had eluded Jenna her whole life filled her.
“I’m sure Vic must have heard us,” Jenna murmured. She lay sprawled against Malik’s sweat-slicked chest. “I made a lot of noise.”
Malik huffed a laugh, his fingertips stroking a lazy, sensual line down her spine. “You did … but who cares?”
Jenna sighed, sliding her hand over his chest. “I could never get enough of you,” she murmured. “We’d better both live through tomorrow … just so I can have you again.”
“Well, if that isn’t enough motivation to survive … I don’t know what is.” He caught her hand then, their fingers entwining. Yet when he continued, there was an edge to his voice. “It’s official … you are my ruin.”
Jenna lifted her head, her gaze seeking his. “Why do you call it that? Is wanting me wrong?”
He gave a wry smile. “Itiswhen you want the married sister of the man you serve.”
“Tian and I are estranged … soon to be divorced,” Jenna reminded him, pulling a face. “The asshole wants me dead, remember?”
“You’re still out of bounds.”
Jenna snorted. “Says who? My brother?”
“Will the clan-lord want the Captain of the Lord’s Watch consorting with his sister?”
Jenna tensed. He wasn’t wrong. Cathal likely wouldn’t be impressed; her class had unspoken rules about such things. Nonetheless, she wouldn’t bow to social pressure. She’d already set a precedent when she’d told her brother she was divorcing Tian—her relationship with Malik was just one step further. “I’ll deal with him,” she murmured.
Silence fell between them. Jenna’s gaze roamed over Malik’s proud features, curiosity wreathing up. Their forced proximity over the past few days had broken down a lot of barriers between them, but the man was still an enigma in many ways.
He wasn’t someone who let down his defenses easily—but then neither was she.
Malik’s hand squeezed hers then. “I’ve fought this, you know.”
“We both have,” she replied softly, “but some things are too powerful … you can only resist them for so long.”
25. THE PASSAGE
HOT, DUSTY AIR peppered Jenna’s face, making her grateful for the goggles she wore. Arms wrapped around Malik’s waist, she leaned into him as they raced out of Melor.
The sun was rising, a bloody orb breaking the edge of the craggy mountains to the east. Its arrival painted the sky vermillion. An Idral sunrise was always a thing of beauty, but Jenna was too tense to admire it.
They’d set off now—there was no turning back.
Twisting her head left, her gaze caught Vic crouched low over the handlebars of his needle-nosed hopper. Like her and Malik, he wore heavy googles, while Obsidian perched on the seat behind him. Malik, who knew this landscape better than any of them, led the way through Melor’s empty backstreets, taking a circuitous route out of town.
Mir-Ferrin troops would be patrolling the most frequently traveled route north to the tower, and so Malik would take them in a loop, east for a spell, before heading toward the canyon where the escape tunnel entrance awaited.
Leaving the outskirts of Melor behind them—the last of the low-slung sandstone houses surrounded by high walls to keep insects and desert creatures out—the two hoppers headed through a shadowed ravine. Red dust boiled in their wake, for even though the craft sped around three feet above the ground, their passing disturbed the earth and the creatures that inhabited it.
Jenna spied a sand-scarab scuttling out of their way—a huge black beetle that was the symbol of Idral for many. Indeed, her family used it on their banners, and Malik had worn an embossed design of a sand-scarab upon the breastplate of his armor.
