Page 10 of Of Serpents and Ruins
Similar veins occasionally stretched out in the night sky above me, like a fork of lightning moving in slow motion, but there was no trace of thunder, only the heavy steps of the dinosaurs and the loud sloshing of the shimmering waters. When the wind changed directions and caressed my face, both a soothing floral scent and a bitter acrid odor struck my nose before disappearing into the rich earthy aroma of the riverbank.
Nothing acted as if I didn’t belong. A dark-eared rabbit, almost the size of a cat, hopped out from a red-berried bush, studied me, and then hopped away just as fast.
An aching howl rose in the distance. A wolf? Certainly wolf-like.
The hairs on the back of my neck lifted, yet I knew I wasn't in danger. Not here. Not now.
Something had summoned me, and within me, it burned, called, pushed, and begged.
It was more important I find that source than any of the danger I might face. Danger was not something for me to concern myself with now.
It was so easy to just keep walking. My feet seemed to know where they wanted to go. I was content to marvel at the beauty around me.
Far, far ahead, I glimpsed clusters of towers, maybe? Or perhaps they were narrow, triangular mountains? Possibly buildings on mountains? I squinted, trying to make them out.
Why had my first thought been towers? They didn’t look like any tower in the mountains I’d seen on Earth.
I quickened my pace.
That was where I needed to be. I had to get up out of this valley and into those towers. Answers awaited me there.
The wind changed again, carrying with it a different scent. My body tensed as I slowed beneath a dark-red blossomed tree. Oranges, smoke, leather, and bergamot. Ihlkit! My blood heated. That smell was beyond divine.
My feet rooted to the pebble-strewn ground. Boulders and ridges of earth rose in intervals, but this portion was flat and tan with precious little grass. Farther out the river bent, triceratops and hippos swam in the deep waters. The waters sloshed. A reptilian cry cut through the air.
But that heavenly smell dominated my consciousness.
A muscular arm wrapped around my waist, snapping me up against a hard body. Another hand rested against my throat. My heart clenched, my spine stiffening.
"You swore to me," a rough baritone voice growled, his hot mouth against my ear. "You swore it. Now you're back, and I'll have to kill you."
Holy night, I knew that voice!
STELLA
The stranger held me tight, his other hand moving over my throat, but instead of squeezing, he stroked a thumb along it. "Stella…" His voice thickened, rumbling in my ears. The heat of his breath made my skin prickle. "When they told me you had been brought back and that you had run, I thought you ran because you remembered enough to keep your promise. I hoped, oh gods, I hoped!"
The groan that followed weakened my knees and set a tornado of butterflies fluttering in my stomach.
This. This was all a dream. If ever I had needed proof that this was a dream, this was it. There wasn’t a chance it could be anything else.
My heart raced as the hand gripped my throat and continued to stroke. I should have been terrified. Yet…yet there was something in this that felt…not right. Right was not exactly the word I wanted, but as if there was something here…
And I could do something. I could have broken free because he wasn't holding methattight.
He nudged me with his nose. "I have to kill you," he whispered, his voice a low, hoarse rumble. "I have to…"
The line he drew along my neck and up to my ear… I didn’t move. All I wanted was his touch. Desire warred with fear, and desire trounced fear as much as I wanted to pounce on him, so I stood there, waiting, listening, feeling.
"Why couldn't you stay away until we found an answer, Stella?" he whispered in my ear. The arm around my waist pulled me tighter.
My skin prickled with goose bumps. It took all I had to not press my butt against his groin as he held me there. What was going on? I wasn’t usually this stupid! All those dumb blonde jokes had always made me mad, and here I was, acting worse than those jokes, acting like he turned me on.
Which he did.
So much.
But why?
