“They’re not?”
When she turned around to take a final look at it, her shoulder brushed across my chest. A subtle, inconsequential touch. Except nothing about her was inconsequential. The bond twisted inside me, making me want more.
I forced space between us, pulling back and wrapping myself in restraint.
“I believe the homes are built on poles,” she said.
Her attention flicked to my chest, to the gap I’d put between us. She noticed. Of course, she noticed. And gods help me, the thought of her crying again because of me burned through my chest.
“The homes are built on stilts,”Hoshiko corrected.
With stray strands of her hair fluttering across her face, her smile curved slowly and small. Not for me, but because Hoshiko had spoken to her as well.
Before she could turn away, I brushed her hair back, running a finger over the pointy edge of her ear. Goosebumps rippled across her skin and she let out a shuddered breath.
My resolve wavered.
Her lips parted, her teeth digging into her bottom lip while her gaze fell to my mouth.
My throat closed. Our bond howled. I couldn’t. Iwouldn’t. She had Etienne. She wasn’t mine. I wasn’t hers.
But my hand betrayed me. My thumb brushed her lips before I could stop myself. When her tongue whispered against me, a sound broke from deep within me. Primal and guttural.
I was already lost.
I brought that finger to my lips, stealing the faintest taste of my mate. Just one taste. No more. The bond demanded, and I gave in. My chest heaved, my body betraying the same vow I’d sworn over a thousand times.
But no further.
She trembled, her eyes blazing a silver-white. And for a fractured beat, the world narrowed to her. To us.
“Hold on,”Hoshiko said, rattling us both out of this trance.
She blinked, her eyes going back to their pretty silver as she angled her head to the side. She looked every bit the female of my fantasies. The only thing missing was her limbs wrapped around me.
Vith.I had to get ahold of myself.
I cleared my throat and gestured forward with my chin, trying to hide the way my hands shook. “We’re landing.”
At Hoshiko’s descent, she wobbled before she clung to him, the muscles on her neck straining as she did her best to hold on. I pressed my legs over hers, and she seemed to relax. Without my legs holding me to Hoshiko, I lifted a little from his back.
He growled in warning.“Your mate has a good hold of my neck. Worry about yourself as you promised your sister you would.”
“Hold on with your legs too.” I squeezed my legs tighter over hers until I felt her tighten her hold on him.
When I lifted my legs from over hers, she turned wild eyes on me. It wasn’t fear that shone from them, but excitement. Her excitement called to me, made me want things that weren’t mine to take.
I took in a steadying breath, trying to calm the erratic beat of my heart that clashed in my head.
Hoshiko landed us gently, and when I jumped off his back, Finley did the same. She stumbled, though, almost falling to her knees, so I cupped her elbow to steady her, only letting go when I was certain she wouldn’t fall.
But these touches . . . gods, they devoured me. Burned me alive in both savage and sweet ways. I didn’t hunt them. I didn’t dare. Yet when she offered the slightest touch of her hand, my control splintered. I couldn’t deny her, not when pulling away made her cry. Not when the bond roared within me for more. So I let myself burn. I took the edges of what she gave me and nothing more. Never chasing, never asking. Only enduring, with my teeth gritted, as our bond ripped me down to tattered shreds.
I turned, looking at the giant cave before us, cleaved from the very mountain we stood on. Tall trees stood with stout trunks, some straight and others bent. The warm, gentle breeze blew their evergreen leaves, which seemed to drape from the very tops of the trees, encasing me in a sweet, floral scent with a hint of salty air.
Elias and Everly stood beneath a particularly giant tree, their bewildered gaze fixed on its top. Nearby, their dragons drank from the edge of a small pond. I moved to join my friends but stopped, looking back at Finley, whose lips were parted and eyes wide in what looked like awestruck admiration.
Her gaze met mine when I put my hand against her back.
