But she wanted more of him, to feel him, all of him.
Even if it burned, she would meet him in the fire.
Alora pulled him close, whispering against his lips. “Please.”
They descended and he picked up speed, at last relenting to what she wanted.
Each powerful beat of his wings cut through the sky. Her fingers curled against the muscles of his back, his heart thudding steadily beneath her hands. But he wasn’t taking her back to Karag Dûr like she thought.
The mountains gave way to familiar cliffs. The air thickened with the scent of pine and cold stone. A balcony rose ahead, the terrace she had sat alone in for weeks.
The cottage manor.
They didn’t land gently.
Rune descended like a storm breaking upon the balcony. His boots cracked against the flagstone, his body still coiled with tension as he set her down but did not step back.
The wind stilled. The only sound was the whisper of her dress as it fell around her ankles.
Alora reached for the doorknob shaped in a rose and pulled the glass door open, retreating into her bedroom. She waited for him to follow but Rune stayed behind, his red eyes glowing,his shadows lashing wildly. He looked like a predator, moments from pouncing.
But Rune closed his eyes and stepped back. “Alora…”
In breath she heard the dejection in it and her heart sank.
“Don’t do that.” Alora took his face, looking into his crimson eyes, his beauty crafted from the night. “I don’t care about gods, or Rifts, or fates... or who is coming….” Her breath trembled. “Please … kiss me.”
The shadows shifted.
“I can’t.”
A soft breath escaped her and she looked down.
His claws gently stroked her cheek. “You are my forbidden sin. The craving I desire. The one destined to be my complete and utter ruin.”
Her heartbeat climbed.“You fear devouring me?”
Rune stood silent, shoulders heaving, eyesburning. Like he’d been running. Like something inside him paced and shook with hunger. His next words were guttural.“I have been starving for you.”
“Then consume me,” she breathed. “Let me feel every ounce of your need. I want nothing but your mouth and your madness.”
A shadow of a smile ghosted across his lips. “Very well, my deadly little flower.” His gaze flared red, molten and ancient. She leaned into him, but he placed a finger on her mouth. “But these are not the lips I will kiss.”
Before she could decipher his meaning, Rune swept her into the room in a single breath. A gasp escaped her throat as he dropped to his knees before her like a convert before the altar.
She looked into those molten eyes.
He bore that look the first time they met. She had mistaken it for desire but now saw it for what it truly was.
Obsession.
“You are the only one,” Rune panted. “Who renders me a beast.”
Alora barely had time to cry out his name before he draped her thigh over his shoulders like petals blooming around his face. He swept the pleats of her dress as side, tearing them in his eager claws.
Then his mouth was on her.
Not soft or tentative as the first time.
