Page 56 of Wings of Ashes
They were such a dark red, they reminded her of merlot spilled on a mahogany table. Each scale glistened with a crimson shine andcalledto her. Under the light, they seem to glow rhythmically. The scales flashed in a pattern, as if following a throbbing tempo, like a low, sensual bass drum.
Feeling hypnotized by the alluring colors, she reached a hand up to graze a few fingers over his dragon scales.
The wings shuddered under her light touch, and Ryker’s hands on her hips tensed. Sharp nails bit into her, right under her blazer. Had his nails grown into dragon claws?
Only the most powerful shifters were known to half-shift like this. Ryker’s human body stood before her, yet his talons and wings were magnificently dragon.
Predator, she reminded herself.You should be afraid.
But his birthday candle scent was so sentimental and sweet and cozy. Sexy and spicy and sugary. She couldn’t stop inhaling him. Breath after breath. He just smelled so…good.
So good.
Her breasts ached as she pressed herself against him harder. A pulsing tension began in her lower abdomen, and Ryker groaned a low rumbling noise into her ear. Was this the effect of alpha pheromones on her brain? Or was ithim?
Want him, a primitive part of her brain, which she did not know existed, sent a message through her slow-moving thoughts. She wanted him.A dragon.
So warm. Smells so good. She moaned softly onto his pecs as he tightened his hold around her. The snug, toasty embrace quieted her mind.
When was the last time she felt so comfortable and safe?
“You’re…okay,” Ryker hummed in his gravelly, slow-speaking manner that made her traitor toes curl.
You’re okay. In the past, every day through the cage, Persius used to tell her those words. Given little sustenance, she had lived off of his “you’re okay.”
“I don’t feel okay,” she would tell him.
“When I break us free from here, you will never feel anything but safe, cherished, and happy,” Persius told her.
But, of course, he had not gotten them free. His life force had been drained in front of her crying eyes.
A tear slid down Nix’s cheek at the memory, and she nuzzled her face into Ryker’s chest. He clearly felt the dampness because he stiffened.
A low growl rumbled in his chest, vibrating her face. His thumb caught one of her tears. Wearing a concerned and slightly freaked-out expression, Ryker pushed the teardrop to her mouth, as if to push her sadness back inside her.
She flicked her tongue out to catch the droplet of salt water from his thumb.
“Okay, you’ve played the hero. You can let her go now.” Bael’s voice sounded behind the cage that Ryker’s wings made around Nix. “The fire is out. You can put the wings away now, buddy. Prying eyes in the room.”
What did that mean? Prying eyes?
Nix blinked when a gust of wind shot up around her as Ryker’s wings shot back into his spine suddenly. She glanced up and caught the split second of his pained expression before he masked the emotion.
His shifted wings had ripped his uniform right off of him, leaving him tantalizingly bare-chested.
Do not ogle him. Nix tried to have the common decency to look away. Even though she hadfeltthose warm, firm muscles flexing against her face and chest.
Stepping to the side so she could see over Ryker’s massive, broad shoulders, Nix saw that where she had stood and poured in the last potion ingredient…was singed. Even the floor where Nix’s feet had been planted, under the table, was black with soot.
Where the potion vial had exploded, the shards of glass had melted as well as the, now contorted, tabletop. Fewer hyssop blossoms than what the potion called for had created a fire strong enough tomeltthe table.
Nix looked again at the burn mark of where she had been standing, before Ryker’s body had appeared in front of hers and his wings broke out.
That kind of fire… That kind of intensity could have killed her. It would have killed her.
My second chance at life, exterminated so quickly. Due to her own doing.
Shame colored her cheeks as she glanced at Bael and Mara’s ash-covered faces and clothing. They appeared physically unharmed, other than needing a good scrub, but…
