Page 15 of Fire in Stone

I glanced away, determined not to get distracted by the way his biceps flexed, bulging out ever so aesthetically. But he took my chin in his hand, directing my gaze back to him.

“Watch, Amber.”

He let go of my chin and turned around.

A huge, incredibly well-done tattoo covered his golden-brown skin on his back. The image of a pair of folded dragon wings stretched from his wide shoulders all the way down until their tips disappeared under the waistband of his velvet pants.

“That’s really nice body art you’ve got—” the end of the sentence stuck in my throat.

The lines of the tattoo suddenly shimmered, as if sparks of fire surged along them. The skin on his back fluttered. A layer of it appeared to lift from his back, separating the tattoo from his body.

The next moment, a pair of magnificent, leathery wings unfurled from his back, stretching wall-to-wall across the entire apartment.

“Aaah…” I stepped back. My legs hit the metal frame of the cot and I plopped down onto it, making the rusty springs screech and whine. “What is this? How…” My breath all but stopped. My heart seemed to come to a screeching halt, too. “How?” I kept repeating, dumbfounded, as Elex rotated to face me again. The wings swayed softly behind him. “Cosplay maybe?” I kept pondering. “With some cool mechanics? Color-changing plastic? Springs controlled by electronics…”

He groaned impatiently, lifting his eyes to the ceiling, as if calling on a higher power to witness my cluelessness.

“Just magic,” he explained, folding the wings half-way, just like the statue-man had them last night. The similarities between the statue and the man became even more striking now.

I no longer knew what to think.

Fascinated, I reached for a wing to touch it, and he helpfully moved it into my hand. The leather felt warm, stretched between the thin, hard spines. The surface was soft, like suede. I stroked up the wing.

With a strangled sound, Elex suddenly sank to his knees in front of me, wrapping his wings around us. Being shielded from the world like this felt safe and…intimate.

“These are real.” I glided my hands along the top part of both wings. Their hard leading edge guided my palms down to his shoulders. His bare skin here felt silky, without the softness of the suede.

Elex held still, allowing me to explore.

“How are they real?” I whispered, afraid to speak out loud. If this was a dream, I feared I was beginning to like it. I didn’t want it to end just yet, wondering where it would lead.

“As real as could be,” Elex echoed, shifting even closer.

His arms caged me, but he didn’t touch me. With his hands pressed into the mattress on either side of me, he curled his wings around us and lowered his head. I felt his breath on the crown of my head. He smelled of spices from faraway lands or…from another world.

I jerked my hands away from him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be touching you.”

Damn right, I shouldn’t. Especially after kicking him in the nuts for touchingme.

“On the contrary, little spark, you should touch more of me.” His voice rolled over me, sweet like honey.Little spark?Was that a term of endearment? If so, I’d never heard it before. “Aren’t you at least a little bit curious, Amber, about what you’re missing?”

I kept my head down, afraid to look into his smoldering dark eyes.

“Should I be?”

The heat of his body warmed the space inside his wings. His warm, spicy scent enveloped me. I didn’t want to move away.

“How often does a gargoyle from another world come your way?” he tempted. “You may never get another chance.”

I exhaled a laugh.

“A chance to bang a gargoyle, you mean?” I’d aimed to sound sarcastic, but it came out rather breathy.

“Exactly.” His voice was soft and enthralling. “You may be my one and only chance, too. You’re the first human I’ve ever gotten to talk to.”

“Is that what this is all about? You want to know what it’s like to fuck a human?”

“I’m dying to find out what it’s like to fuckyou.” His voice dropped deeper, reaching places inside me that had been lying dormant for so long I’d thought them dead.

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