Page 49 of Dawn of Chaos and Fury
Then she spun in his hold, looking up at him once more before she was pushing onto her toes as high as she could. He met her halfway, sounds of desperation coming from both of them. It may be a dream, but her body and soul felt the separation of decades.
Breaking the kiss, her hands slipped behind his neck, linking together as he pulled her impossibly closer. With her head on his chest, she could swear she could hear his heart beating. Phantom or not, she didn’t care right now. Not as they began swaying in an empty house among the ruin of a realm.
Not as she danced with a ghost of what could have been and would never be.
Her eyes snapped open, and she gasped for a breath.
On the floor.
She was on the floor in the den. Sitting up, a blanket pooled in her lap. Someone had covered her and dimmed the lights so only the glow of the fireplace illuminated the space. It wasn’t until she ran a hand down her face that she felt the tears on her cheeks.
This was why she couldn’t let herself sleep. Because she could still feel him. His arms tucking her in tight. His lips on hers…
Nightmares that haunted her. Just like she’d told Luka.
She needed to get out of this room. It smelled like them and lulled her into a false sense of security.
Quietly stepping from the den, she made her way back down the passage, passing several rooms with doors closed. Everyone must have gone to bed for the night.
The sitting room was empty and still, and despite knowing she shouldn’t, she crept to Luka’s room. As delicately as she could, she turned the knob and pushed the door open. He was there, in the middle of his nest of blankets and pillows, and she felt two more tears slip free at the memory of being in that bed with him.
Of being in a bed withbothof them.
Tiptoeing into the room a little more, she made her way to the closet where she found the shirt he’d worn that day. Shoving her arms into the sleeves, she didn’t worry about rolling them up just yet. She’d do that once she was out.
Steeling herself, she kept her footsteps light as she slipped from the room and quietly shut the door behind her, never once acknowledging the glowing sapphire eyes that tracked her every step.
10
AXEL
“Ireally don’t like this,” Axel said from where he sat on the edge of the bed.
Kat poked her head out of the ensuite, her toothbrush in her mouth and her brows knitted. “Like what?” she asked around the brush.
“You know what,” he grumbled.
She gave him a small smile before returning to the bathroom, but he knew she was annoyed with him. It had been a week since Theon had shown up here, and like he’d known he would, Theon had set about laying out all their options and overthinking everything. Yes, Axel needed his brother’s help, but overthinking wasn’t how things were done in the Underground.
Unless it came to his wife.
Thenhewas the one overthinking things.
Katya returned, wearing only one of his shirts. Her belly was too large for her own clothes at this point, and while he had purchased her maternity wear from the Apparel District, she said his shirts were more comfortable to sleep in. That might be true, but he suspected it might also have something to do with the scent of him that lingered.
She stopped before him, resting her hands on his shoulders. His fingers trailed up bare thighs as he spread his legs and tugged her between them, needing her closer. He could swear his canines tingled as he inhaled her scent, despite having drank plenty of blood that day. Theon had given him all the rations he’d brought, not keeping any for himself. He insisted he could go get more when they needed it, but gods, that trek there and back would take at least a week. Theon couldn’t Travel, and without a Source, he couldn’t shadow walk like their father either. But that wasn’t what had him worried currently.
“I don’t suppose I can convince you to stay behind tomorrow?” he murmured, his fingers brushing up and down her soft skin.
A small, coy smile formed again. “It hasn’t worked yet,” she answered. “What makes you think it will work now?”
He sighed, his fingers tightening around the backs of her thighs. “It’s dangerous, Kat. The Shifters are?—”
“Cunning and fickle,” she interrupted. “Yes, I’m aware. I have met them before.”
“I could kill Theon for taking you there,” Axel snarled, dragging her closer still until her protruding stomach bumped against his torso.
“I was as determined to find you as he was, Axel,” she said, reaching up and pushing her fingers through his hair. “I insisted.”
