Page 29 of The Dragon's Captured Heart
“Be quiet,” I urged. “Dragon hearing is excellent. And no, I’m not scared. I just don’t want to deal with his belligerence. Nor do I want you to have to be subject to one of his tirades.”
“Okay, because it looks like you’re running scared,” she said. “We should just stay and face him and—”
Well aware that we were nearly out of time, I needed to stop Madison from talking. I put a hand over her mouth, but she glared at me and pulled it away, opening her mouth to speak.
In the alley below, I heard Cleye muttering angrily.
Acting without thinking, I leaned forward, grabbed Madison by the chin, and smothered her lips with my own, desperate to keep her from making any further noise.
You’re either a genius or an idiot for pulling this stunt.
As the kiss lingered, all coherent thought faded from my brain, replaced only with a roar of triumph from the beast I’d kept locked away inside me.
Chapter Sixteen
Madison
The instant Callum’s lips touched mine, a fierce battle erupted as my mind went to war with my body.
Every ounce of logic and emotion I possessed screamed at me to push him back, to tear away from the heat of his kiss as it teetered on the edge of deepening into something more.
My body, on the other hand, fought tooth and nail, bending my spine backward, pushing my chest up into him as my lips tingled from the warmth and electricity pouring over me.
Strong but soft fingers cupped my cheek and then the back of my head, holding me there, taking control of the situation as my body went berserk, begging for more, begging for the moment to last into eternity.
Blood pounded in my head as my heart raced, finding its way between my legs almost immediately.
It was far too quick. Too fast. I wasn’t ready.
Ready? I’m not interested! He kidnapped me. I should hate him!
So, why wasn’t I pulling away? Why were my nipples growing hard and my face flushing with heat as our heads moved together, locking lips freshly again? There was no stiffness, no reservation, as my mouth opened, lips parting to allow his tongue to caress mine.
I wanted him. Right then and there. So badly did my body scream out to him. I started to lie back on the roof floor, eager to give it all up to him.
Either Callum didn’t understand, or he was restraining himself because his fingers gripped my head more tightly, holding me upright—but still pressed against him for an eternity of seconds, each one seared into my brain forever.
I should’ve been the one to end it. To recover my sanity and push him away or slap him for his audacity, but that wasn’t how it went. I wasn’t the one to stop it.
Callum was. He pulled back, locking eyes with me. Something passed between us at that moment. An acknowledgment of the things that lurked beneath the surface between us. Desires that were unspoken and unable to be acted upon.
What made little sense to me was why he was the one to stop.
The answer lurked in the depths of his eyes, the darkness I could only barely glimpse a shadow of yet knew was there. As he turned away to inspect the alley below, I saw part of it. The internalized anger and near-loathing that he thought he hid away from the world.
It was already berating him for what he’d done.
For my part, I bent over, one hand resting on the tiled roof of the stone building, breathing deeply to recover myself. The process took longer than I was proud to admit. Callum had truly gotten under my skin and shown me things I didn’t want to know about myself. About what I wanted.
My mind flashed back to what Laura had told me in the palace halls days before.
If I’ve learned one thing about dragons, it’s that things work differently with them. Especially when it comes to women and love and mating.
Love. Mating.
I scoffed at the concept. Loving Callum? Nonsense. He was hot and dreamy, and the way he’d simply taken that kiss from me was kind of hot in a bad-boy sort of way. But I didn’t love him. I couldn’t love him.
He was too broken.
