Page 291 of Scorching the Alien Empire
No...
“I can no longer—”
“I love you, Dracoth,” I blurt.
Wait—did I just say that?
His eyes snap to mine, glowing crimson. I erupt into euphoric, delirious laughter. “Hah! There. I said it. Genie’s out of the bottle,babes!”
“Love...” he growls, like he’s testing the weight of the word in his mouth. Hard as diamond. Just as beautiful. “Once, I thought such a concept was the domain of liars and ancient fools. They spoke of peace. Of contentment. Of wholeness.”
His eyes drop to my chest. One massive hand traces a searing path over Arawnoth’s scorched runes, igniting them like a living furnace. I groan, back arching into his touch. Heat pulses through me in burning waves.
“But when I look at you, I don’t feel peace,” he murmurs. “Only fire. Chaos. Strife.”
Then his hand lifts. The fire extinguishes. Cold slams into me. Bitter. Biting.
“Look at me, Dracoth,” I demand, straining to cup his towering, chiseled jaw. “Of course our love is different. I’m theDivine Daughter. You’re Arawnoth’s chosen. Wearethe fire. Wearethe chaos. Ours isn’t safe, boring, or soft. It’s fierce, wild...alive. That’s who we are, and I wouldn’t trade it for the entireLexie-verse.”
Our eyes lock—molten silver against blazing crimson.
“That’s why I stopped the fight. Seeing you slip away... it shattered something in me. I realized how much I needed you, how much you meant to me. And I swear, on Todd’s holy booties—” I grin softly, “—I’ll never push you away or dishonor you again. Because I love—”
His lips crash over mine.
A molten avalanche. His arms wrap around me, a living furnace pressing me close like a warm blanket on a lazy Sunday. I squeal into the kiss, feet lifting clean off the floor. I melt into him—a gooey marshmallow sinking into a boiling mocha.
My mouth opens. His heat floods in, greedy and desperate. Our tongues meet. I tease. I pull. Drawing him in, like I always do. I want all of him—his fire, his fury, his everything. Let my Red Dragon claim me. Let him burn the world down to keep me. The thought ignites a wildfire inside me.
I fumble at his tunic, frantic fingers battling fabric that’s basically fused to his god-tier muscles—
And then I see it. Above. Movement. Black and red.
Croak.
Ut oh.
Todd drops from the ceiling like a chubby meteor. Slapping onto Dracoth’s head with a wet, unapologeticplop.
“Grub,” Dracoth mutters, frowning. He freezes. Like someone dumped liquid nitrogen down his back. His glowing eyes roll upward as Chug Bug’s black orb peers down, spindly booties gripping his freshly shaved scalp like the cutest alien facehugger.
“Todd, you little cock block,” I shriek, scrambling to retrieve the traitorous burrito-bug. “Get off Daddy’s head this instant, mister!”
I tug. He clings like a cursed laundry tag.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter to Dracoth, cheeks flaming. “He’s started doing this head-crab thing, Might be the heat. Or territorial dominance. It’s hard to tell.”
I glance around the cramped Nib room, searching for something to pry Todd off with. My eyes land on the massive axe Dracoth was swinging around earlier—Cloudcutter. Or was itThunderwhacker?
Fingers wrap around the warped, half-crushed shaft. I give it a lazy tug, expecting a nice clean lift.
Nope.
“Uff!” The breath whooshes out of me as the thing refuses to budge. It’s apparently fused with the wall—very Assemblage.
“Rawr!” I grunt, yanking harder, teeth clenched, every muscle straining like I’m trying to outlift Dracoth. The axe shudders, wobbles... then slams sideways onto the floor with a deep metallicclang.“What the hell is this made of? Compressed mountains?”
Dracoth steps in, crouching low, looking slightly ridiculous with his Todd hat acting as a rubbery, black lighthouse. My Red Dragon scoops the weapon up with one hand like it weighs nothing, fingers brushing along the shaft—now bent in a perfect U, complete with his massive handprints molded into the metal.
