He draws his lips back and snarls at her, sounding so much like his panther voice that she must recognize it.
She stops backing away, her eyes wide as she takes him in, his silver-lilac hair, pale eyes, perfect lips, all the way down and back up his lean, dangerously-muscled body.
Her shocked whisper breaks the silence. “Riot?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Apredatory smile breaks across Riot’s face, the smile that only a dark creature can make, but far from driving Miku backward, she steps forward.
Her shoulders rise with a deeply indrawn breath, her dragon scales glimmer across her visible skin, and her wings shiver, but this time, the motion takes her forward.
“Riot! You’re a man!”
His eyes crinkle even as his smile remains scary as fuck.
She doesn’t miss another beat, leaping at him so fast that I have to dart out of the way. She collides with him as thoroughly as ifshewere once the panther, knocking him off his feet so that they tumble through the sand.
It’s so much like the first time he leaped at her that my jaw drops.
They come to a stop, her on top, sand settling around them and drifting off her wings. “You’re a man!”
His chest vibrates with laughter that rumbles like purrs. “And you’re a woman.”
Color flushes through her cheeks. “Well, you always knew that.”
“I very much did.” He traces the curve of her chin and neck before his fingers tangle in her hair.
She closes her eyes and turns her face into his hand, but when she opens her eyes, they’re downcast. “And now you have to leave.”
He seems to hold his breath as he says, “You could come with us.”
My lips part in surprise, but I bite my tongue. It’s not as if I would have saidnoif he’d checked with me first. A quick glance at Anarchy and Lucian earns me a grimace and a shrug. Rumble and Strife don’t look unhappy, but the keeper scowls.
He could be right to be concerned and I find myself reflecting on my first impulse. After all, Miku is a creature of the light.
How could I expect her to understand the things we need to do?
But it seems she is contemplating the same difficult realities.
Tears sparkle in her eyes and she bites her lips before she says, “A dragon shifter and a dark elf? We’re creatures of the opposite magic. We’re safe here on this island, but out there, both sides would target us.”
His grip on her tightens. “Nobody will ever hurt you?—”
“You would never let them.” She slowly lowers her face to his, pressing her lips to the corner of his mouth. “And I would never let anyone hurt you, but they wouldn’t stop coming. Even my own people?—”
Her voice chokes and she closes her eyes, her words strained as she continues. “My own people don’t understand.”
Riot’s arms slip around her back, wings and all, drawing her down over his chest, her head against his neck.
“I want to fight it,” he says, his voice raw. “I’ll fight the world and anyone who tries to keep us apart. All you need to do is ask, Miku, and I’ll fight all of them.”
“I won’t,” she whispers. “I won’t risk your life like that.”
She pulls away from him, her wings extending and catching the air, undoubtedly making it difficult for him to hold on to her.
He launches himself after her as she makes it up to her feet, stumbling back from him.
“Miku—”
