Page 149 of On Wings of Blood

He gave an exaggerated yawn. “Whatever you say, Pendragon. I noticed there wasn’t a single ‘thank you, Blake’ in there. Even though you know I saved your life tonight. Yet again. For someone who doesn’t want to belong to someone else, you sure do a shitty job of taking care of yourself.”

I gritted my teeth. “Maybe if all of you highbloods weren’t so feral, I wouldn’t have to worry about protecting myself.”

“Not all of us are feral,” he said, his eyes roaming down my body. “Some of us are all about control.”

“Keep telling yourself that,” I retorted. “You’re just as bad as that highblood who attacked me.”

To my shock, fury filled his eyes. I’d gotten to him.

“We’re not all like that,” he spat.

“That man had clearly been murdering blightborn girls. I saw children out on the streets, begging for someone to pay for their blood. Their parents had been killed, drained of their blood. Who else would do that besides a highblood? Tell me, Blake, why do you all pretend to be so civilized? So restrained? When really you’re all just monsters inside?”

He moved so quickly that I could barely register the blur of his body before he was in front of me, his face an inch away, his breath hot against my skin.

“You think I’m like him?” he growled. “You think I want this? You think I want to be tied to some mortal? To a blightborn who despises me?”

I glared at him, my chest tightening.

“But you’re right about one thing, Pendragon. Why should I fight so hard to leash the monster inside when you’re so determined to bring him out?”

Before I could even respond, his lips crashed against mine.

Blake’s hand cupped the back of my head, his fingers tangling in my hair as he deepened the kiss, his tongue sliding possessively into my mouth.

For a moment, I was too stunned to react, caught up in the sudden heat that was shooting through my body.

Then, to my shame, I found myself kissing him back. The taste of him overwhelmed my senses. I hated it. Hated him. Hated this. Hated how good it felt. My heart was racing. My skin tingled.

I clenched my fists by my side, desperately trying to control the storm of emotions that were sweeping through me.

And then it was over as quickly as it had begun.

Blake pulled away, breathing hard, his gray eyes dark with a mixture of triumph...and confusion.

He turned away from me and stalked down the tunnel.

I stood there, frozen for a moment, my hands trembling.

Then I followed.

“Well, at least now we know where Neville has been going,” I finished, sinking down onto Florence’s bed.

“Neville?” Florence’s eyes were wide. I’d woken her up when I’d brought the fluffin back.

Blake hadn’t said another word to me until we reached the Dragon Court. Then all he’d done was shove the fluffin at me and tell me to bring it to him if the pup didn’t recover by the next day.

I’d wanted to ask him why he didn’t just take the fluffin, but I hadn’t.

Hadn’t dared.

Florence was looking at me curiously. I colored.

“Um, Blake Drakharrow seems to have named the fluffin Neville,” I confessed to her.

We looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

“Neville?” Florence sputtered. “Neville? Why Neville?” She gawked at me. “Are you really saying the fluffin–I mean, Neville–has been sneaking away to visit your...” She stopped herself just in time. “To visit Blake Drakharrow?”

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