Walk away.
But something in me snaps.
I shove her back against the ground, my full weight pressing over hers as weeks of leashed restraint give way all at once and I crash my mouth into hers.
CHAPTER TWENTY
LYRA’S POV
Talen moans against my mouth and I fuckingmelt, my lips parting on instinct at the contact and his tongue answers immediately, sweeping against mine, rough and just as greedy.
“Thorn...” he murmurs, not breaking the kiss as his body grinds down over me, finally letting his weight settle instead of holding himself back. The movement pulls a gasp from my throat. “Mmmm...” His lips curve against mine. “There’s that sound I dream about every damn night.” The rasp in his voice sends a sharp bolt of magic racing up my spine.
God, this is dangerous. I shouldn’t be doing this.
Losing control like this in the middle of a bloody dragon cage, with nothing but Talen’s fire hiding us from the hundreds of lawless half-drunk outerlanders beyond.
Everything about him is too familiar, too easy, too hard to hate, and every hungry drag of his lips against mine feels dangerously close to letting him back in.
But I don’t want to talk. I don’t want to think. Right now all I want is more. More of him. The taste of him. The heat of him pressing up against me.
Without breaking the kiss, he releases one of my wrists and drags his hand slowly along the length of my body, over the curve of my breasts, my stomach, my hips, like he’s trying to memorise every inch. Pleasure sparks through me, my nerves lighting beneath each touch as his hand slides back up and buries in my hair, tugging just enough to tilt my head back so he can kiss me deeper.
And I let him.
Need surges through me at the pull, and my hips rock instinctively into his, chasing the hard lines of his muscles and the second I roll against him another groan rips from his throat, deep enough that it vibrates through every bone in my body.
“Talen!” I cry out, breathless, almost pleading.
At the sound of his name, a flash of bright orange light flares around us, his flames surging higher like his control is slipping right along with mine.
The heat licks across my skin, but I barely feel it. I barely feel anything excepthim. The demanding sweep of his tongue over mine. The way his hand tangles deeper into my hair. The way every touch sends my nerves sparking brighter and brighter until the rest of the world starts to disappear.
Fuck, I never want this to end. His fire could consume us whole and I still wouldn’t want him to stop.
My back bows and a broken sound slips from my chest as he breaks the kiss and trails his lips down my jaw until his mouth expertly finds that euphoric spot just beneath my ear. Then his hand finds mine again, pinning both above my head as his hips shift, grinding against mine, and my thoughts fucking scatter when I feel how hard he is.
I need him inside me.
Now.
On instinct my legs move, wrapping my thighs around his waist as the needy ache between them becomes unbearable.
“Lyra,” he hisses against my skin as I press back into him, desperate for more of that delicious friction. “Thisisn’t what I came here for.”
Lacing his fingers through mine, he pulls his mouth from my neck, the gold in his eyes shining bright as he stares down at me in a way that sends my pulse hammering against my ribs.
How can someone look so strong, so terrifying, and yet so goddamn beautiful at the same time?
“Don’t you dare stop.” I warn, catching his lower lip between my teeth and sucking before I let it go.
The sound it tears from him is almost feral and his entire body drops, sinking back into mine like something inside him just snapped and for one reckless second, I think he’s going to take me right here.
But then his grip intensifies around mine, restraint cutting through the tension between us and he forces his weight back an inch, cold air rushing into the thin space he leaves behind.
“I can’t do this.” His flames around us stutter as his jaw stiffens.
My stomach lurches for my throat at the confession and my legs fall from his waist. “Did I read this wrong? Don't you want this? Me?”
