Her throat bobs, heat flaring in her cheeks. “Ask.”
A low growl rumbles throughout my body, swallowed up by the music as I lean closer, my voice a whisper for her ears only. “Amara, would you do me the honor of allowing me to kiss you?”
I pull back to search her eyes, needing more than her words. I needeverything. She swallows and, before I can find what I’m looking for, rises on her toes to slam her lips against mine.
My heart stutters to a halt, and for a brief moment, I wonder if my food actually was poisoned, that I’m hallucinating. It makes far more sense than any reality that feels likethis. The constant ache I’ve lived with since the moment I was born no longer threatens to consume me, a calm sense of peace numbing every jagged edge until I feel nothing at all.
With my next inhale, I take the first full breath of my life. Her scent, her taste; Amara’s essence fills my lungs, soothing everything broken inside of me with the grace of a thunderstorm. Every roll of her tongue against mine, each ragged gasp against my lips, she brands herself on my soul like a bolt of lightning. The piercings studding a line down my tongue suddenly heat, the spark of electricity that slipped away from her traveling straight to my cock, and I grind against her thigh with a tortured groan.
Amara pulls away, pupils blown, and chest heaving. "The mark of death makes sense now."
A dark sound reverberates through my lips into hers as I recapture her mouth. Picking her up, I force her to wrap her legs around my waist as I walk off of the dance floor. "What do you mean?"
Palming both of my cheeks, she pulls back with a teasing spark in her eyes. "Because a dragon that kisses like that should come with a warning label."
Chapter 26
Amara
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Stone tops off hisglass of wine. “Kodiak, if you don’t settle down, I swear, I’ll change out the locks with wooden barricades and leave you to sleep outside tonight.”
Kodi sticks out his bottom lip in a pout, lowering his hand without getting his high-five. “You really should pull that stick out of your ass, doc. You’re gonna make a bad impression on the pretty lady.”
Stone’s flustered protest has Kodi’s good mood bouncing right back, his gaze flicking down to the dragon head tattoo emblazoned on his left palm with unfettered joy.
Raiden joins us in the living room with a sigh, crossing his arms and leaning against the threshold. “We get it, Kodi; she marked you. Move on to a new topic of conversation for five minutes, alright?”
“I think the fuck not, bossman,” he scoffs. “She may have been blindsided by the two of you, but shechoseme. Better get used to me bragging about my lovely mate to everybody we cross paths with, or you’re in for a rough couple of centuries.”
The annoyed expression on Raiden’s face softens. “That she did, but it’s no surprise, really. Amara has good taste.”
I bite my tongue, getting a sense that the seemingly innocuous statement means something far deeper that I’m out of the loop on. Kodi mentioned the night he came to rescue me from the side of the road that his story required some emotional support alcohol, but that’s.... really all I know about the past of the man I just marked.
What the fuck was I thinking?
