Page 47 of Court of Secrets and Flames

“Knox,” I breathe. “You can’t say things like that to me.”

“I know I put you through all kinds of shit with the lies and bringing you here. And it seems like my brother might have something up his sleeve regarding you, and that fucking terrifies me. Hells, he might even be into you, and the mere thought of you with another man, my brother or otherwise, drives me crazy. We’re in one hell of a mess, but once we get out of it, I’m going to hold onto you, and I’m never letting you go. I’ll do whatever it takes to prove to you that what we had was real.”

I shiver when his thumb ghosts along my lower lip. I’m not sure if I move or he does. Maybe we both do.

His mouth is on mine before I can figure out the logistics.

My lips part, and his tongue plunges inside. Teasing. Tasting. Devouring. I wind my arms around his neck and tunnel my fingers through his silky hair, not realizing until that moment how much I missed stroking the soft texture. When he groans, the vibration hums through my entire being, and I melt into him.

This. I’ve missed this feeling of closeness. His hard body pressed tightly against my softer one. The playfulness of his teeth nipping my lip, and the intimacy of our tongues tangling together.

He’s everything I want and everything I can’t have. Forbidden. At any moment, we could get caught. The kinghimself could walk in here and find his brother and his bride all over each other.

“This is a bad idea.” I start to pull away, but he yanks me back until our bodies are flush against each other.

“I know.”

He never stops kissing me. Instead, he flicks a wrist, and ice forms over the doorknob. At least no one can get in now. We’d have to come up with one hell of an excuse if someone realized we’re in here.

But in this moment, however long it lasts, there’s nothing else. No deceit. No politics. No regrets. There’s just his mouth on mine, and the warmth of his body seeping through our clothing and into my skin.

I want to revel in it, to stay here forever, even though I know we’re on borrowed time. This stolen slice of paradise won’t last.

But Ziva curse me if I’m not going to make it count.

I’m not sure how long we remain standing there with our lips locked, bodies entwined. He takes his mouth away only to press soft kisses that tug at my heart to my cheek. My forehead. My nose.

His mouth returns to mine for the sweetest, most exquisite kiss before he finally releases me.

In these stolen moments, I almost forgot about the mess we’re in, but reality comes rushing back to remind me.

As soon as we separate, the haze clears from my mind. Struck with the sudden need to put distance between us again, I turn and rush from the room.

Chapter Fourteen

I enter the field, clucking my tongue at the three little fawns with my palm outstretched. “Here, I brought you some sugar cubes.”

As I stride closer, the birds stop singing and the wind stops rustling the leaves. I can only hear sinister, unintelligible whispers.

I don’t want to get any closer, but some unseen force compels my feet to move. As I creep forward and reach their sweet little faces, the ground melts beneath my boots and changes into dirt. All of a sudden, all three fawns open their eyes. Black blots out the white, and pure evil glares right at me.

With a scream, I lurch backward and sink into the dirt.

As I’m buried alive, the fawns hiss my name…

I gasp awake, the silence of my chamber pierced by a silent call. My heart races, but my room is empty, undisturbed. Though I listen, only silence greets me.

The loud clamor attacking my head originates within my own skull.

Sitting up, I press my fingers to my temples, trying to focus on and understand what I am feeling.

It’s them, the dragons.

Their minds brush mine, a torrent of emotions and flickers of images assaulting me as I sit up and wipe the sleep from my eyes.

Their collective mental voices overlap in my brain. I’m not yet familiar enough to sort through their individual tones to decipher who is who.

Ever since they accepted me as a dragoncaller, their existence has been an omnipresent buzz in the back of my mind. Sometimes if I concentrate on something else, I can tune out the noise. Mainly. But not this morning.

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