Page 30 of A Sky of Emerald Stars

“I’ll admit I have some very good reasons why this would be a bad idea, reasons that have nothing to do with you being a Wolf. But I’m curious to know yours.” It took everything in me not to push him on what his “good reasons” were. He arched his brow. “Is your only reason because I’m human?”

And the massive secret you won’t tell me and caused you to betray me. But I was done with that for now. I pushed off the rock, craning my neck up to hold his stare, my chest meeting his abdomen. “Because I am too strong for you.”

“Aren’t you the one who nearly died of heat sickness this morning?”

“That was one time,” I gritted out. “And once I shifted, I was fine. Can you do that? Heal yourself?”

“No.”

“No. But it’s more. I’m talking about in a fight. I’m talking about combat. I’m talking about my ability to withstand a lot more than your human body can.”

His smile widened, flashing his white teeth. The mask he usually wore began slipping, revealing a different person underneath.

“You think I’m a delicate soul, don’t you?” He tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear and the sensation made my skin tingle. “You think I couldn’t handle you?” His head lowered infinitesimally, his eyes flicking down to my lips and back up. “You think I couldn’t give you what you want?”

My lips parted, breathless, shocked at his question. He traced my bottom lip with his thumb and hummed. I swallowed the burning knot in my throat and stepped out of his touch.

“That’s exactly what I think,” I panted. “You don’t know what it means to be with me.”

“I could learn,” he taunted as he stepped into me again.

“I could kill you with both hands tied behind my back,” I said tightly. “What could you do to stop me? Play me a song?”

His eyes were alight with mischief as his hands rested on the stone on either side of me. “Songs are more powerful than you think, Wolf,” he said. “But let’s test out your theory, shall we?”

He reached for me so slowly I wasn’t sure where his hand was going. Finally, it dipped to the pocket of my cloak and pulled out a thick cord of rope. The rope I had bought in the markets—my terrible cover. I had forgotten it was still there.

“What are you doing?”

“Hold out your hands,” he said.

I swallowed, intrigued. He looped the rope around one of my wrists and then spun me to grab the other. He tied my hands together and tugged on the rope until it bit into my skin, then he spun me back around to face him. I glanced up at his parted lips as he stared down at me.

“Go on,” he said. “Kill me with your hands tied behind your back.”

He waited there, leaning into me. Far too smug that this thin piece of rope had somehow paralyzed me. But I liked this game, whatever this was. I liked that he had this little modicum of control over me. I liked the idea that we could somehow even the playing field between us.

“I don’t want to kill you,” I whispered.

“Then what do you want to do with me?” he murmured. “Better yet, what is it you want me to do with you?”

The question made me lick my lips. I knew I should be afraid of this man beneath the mask, or at least wary of him, but he captivated me, too. And maybe I just needed something good, something purely physical to sate the thrill of this new person.

Fuck it.

I stretched up on my toes and kissed him. Navin didn’t letme lower back down, his arms banded around me and pulled me against his chest, his lips meeting mine in a slow, tantalizing kiss. His tongue traced my bottom lip, and he pulled it between his lips, testing it with his teeth before releasing it to plunder my mouth. Each lick of his tongue sent lightning straight to my core. I moaned and his hands dropped lower to my ass, pulling my hips against his thigh.

One of the oxen lowed, a deep whining sound that echoed up through the hills. A sound like a gasp echoed up after it. We broke our kiss and I twisted to see a Wolf shadow bolting across the desert. Maez shifted in a single bound and leapt onto the driver’s bench of Galen den’ Mora. Her voice echoed up to us. “What the fuck is that thing?”

Navin and I turned in the direction she was pointing. A black shadow skittered low over the horizon. It looked bigger than a horse with black spindly legs and a barbed double scorpion tail.

“Get back to the wagon!” Navin shouted, grabbing my arm to tug me downhill.

“Wait,” I said, grunting and yanking my wrists apart, snapping the rope, which fell to the ground. “Better.”

Navin’s mouth fell open as he stared at my act of strength, realization dawning on him that I was just playing along before.

“Save the gaping for later,” I shouted, pulling him after me down the rubble of stones. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

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