Emergence

Chapter Seven

A cold shiver skittered down my spine, and my gryphon shrank away. I willed myself not to pull my hand out from under his. He was still Kaden Rhodes, the same man before he’d said the word that all mythoi feared. “Corruption?”

“My mother is a gryphon. My father…” His mouth thinned and he shook his head. “I can’t say. But I wanted you to know.” His hand slid from mine, and his fingers curled into a white-knuckled fist. “What I am should make it easier for you.”

“To what?”

His laughter was quiet, bitter. “You reacted to Amanda. You can’t do that.”

Heat flared in my cheeks. He’d noticed my stupid burst of jealousy. “Are you and she…”

“No.” He muttered the word with a sharp shake of his head. “Mixing with humans brings a harsh penalty.” He wiped his hand over his mouth and his eyes met mine. “And the morals of humans…” He cursed. “How the hell do I explain this?”

My gut twisted. What was worse to him than admitting that he was a corruption, the dreaded mixing of two species of mythoi? I put my hand over his and squeezed. “You don’t have to. I’ll be careful.” I stroked my fingertips over his straining hand as it pressed against his thigh. “What can I say? I can be possessive.”

“And now you can’t be.” He straightened and his chin lifted. Serious eyes held mine. “I’m sterile. Which makes me safe from repeating the mistake of my birth. If one of his gryphons performs exceptionally well, then Lord Sinon favours them.”

Lead sank into my stomach. “With you.”

“With me.”

I would have to watch as Lord Sinon farmed Kaden out to any and every gryphon he thought worthy. Pain knifed me and I breathed past it. The few words he’d spoken held so much. One stood out, more than the abuse from the First Dragon, more than my own bitter hurt. He was sterile. I closed my eyes, feeling the pain for both of us. “I’m so sorry.”

“You have to know this going in, Jaime. It’s rare, but it happens. Be prepared.”

“Yes.” It burned me to say it, but he was right. Ultimately, Lord Sinon decided who we slept with. Our lives weren’t our own. I sank back into the heavy padding of the seat, and my fingers laced through his. Silence hung heavy again, the muted vibration of the engines the only sound. We flew through wisps of cloud now, white streaks flickering against the windows. A chill came off the thick glass, and a shiver ran over my skin. I’d never flown at high altitude. Even with vast wings, I tended to be a groundling, happy to skim the tops of trees, but nothing beyond that.

I forced my mind to focus. “What happens when we reach Wormwood?”

Kaden let out a slow breath. “I’ll take you to the tower room, Lord Sinon’s office. We kneel. He will examine you and then you’ll be judged by the senior gryphon. It’ll be fast. They want all gryphons in the air.”

“And that’s it?”

“Amanda will turn this car around and take you to Jura.”

“Right. Good.” A soft laugh escaped. “All right, maybe not good.”

I watched a scurry of thin cloud as it reflected my chaotic thoughts. Lust shouldn’t have my gut tight and tears burning. It made no sense. I knew nothing about him, nothing…yet the thought of Kaden with someone else stabbed at me.

Damn it, I was falling for him.

My head fell back into the heavy padding of the headrest, and I almost let out a groan. How completely fucked up was my life?

“Jaime?”

I tapped the heavy buckle resting above my belly and fixed my gaze on the solid partition separating us from Amanda. My mouth pursed before I looked at him and then down to the panel near his armrest. “If I unbuckle this harness, can you stop it from showing on Amanda’s dash?”

Kaden frowned. “Yes, but…”

“Do it.”

He ran his fingers over the panel, pressing out a quick combination. I sprang the clip and, with a quick twist, turned, hitched up my skirt and climbed onto his lap. It wasn’t elegant-my knees jammed hard into the sides of the seat, and my head almost scraped the curve of the roof-but it didn’t matter. My mouth covered his, a soft, sweet tasting that dropped molten heat low in my belly.

Kaden grabbed my hips in surprise. “Jaime.”

I pulled back, just far enough to hold his gaze. “What? You never made out in a car?” I frowned. “On second thought. Don’t tell me. This is the first time you made out in a car.”

A genuine smile broke out, gleaming in his eyes. “Yes. It is.”

“Good.”

I ran my hands down the smooth material of his jacket until I reached the heavy harness buckle. A single press released it, and Kaden shrugged free. “Are you sure about this?” Even as he asked the question, his mythoi shrouded us, my gryphon rising up to meet him. “Because-”

My mouth smothered more words, and Kaden’s soft, satisfied groan encouraged me to slip my fingers over the buttons of his shirt. I pressed my palms to the heat of his bare skin, his taut muscles flexing. He tugged at his tie and I chased my fingers up his chest, meeting his as he attacked the top buttons.

I couldn’t get close enough to him. His warm skin tasted clean. A hint of expensive soap, cologne and the delicious flavour of him burned against my tongue. The melting passions of our mythoi swept around me, hot, wanted, and I fought my way out of my jacket, found his hands on my stomach and ribs as he tugged the silk of my top over my head.

It tangled in my hair, and I laughed, meeting his grin before I found his mouth again. Damn, he tasted nice. Especially with my breasts pressed against his hard, bared chest and my fingers caught in his hair.

“Jaime…” He groaned my name. “What are we doing?”

“If you don’t know by now-”

He gripped my shoulders, holding me back from him. “You know what I am.”

“And do you see me caring?”

“But…”

I sat against his thighs and my shoulders dropped, his hands weighing heavy. My gryphon protested, her melting connection to his mythoi severed. I ignored her. “We have now. In this cramped-” I shifted my backside against his legs, my thigh and calf muscles already protesting. “-and frankly uncomfortable seat. I want you.” I sucked in a steadying breath and held his gaze, watched it widen as I murmured, “Maybe more than want.”

I stared down at my hands and found them in a tight knot. “I need us to have this time, our time. Just us.” The shroud of his mythoi shadow still darkened the interior of the car. “And them.”

Kaden took my hand, threading his fingers through mine. The gesture squeezed my heart, and my eyes burned. “More than want?”

I licked my lips before I looked up. “Yes.”

“That’s…”

“Sudden? Tell me about it.”

“I was going to say unexpected.”

“Yes, it’s that too.” A wry smiled lifted my mouth. “My fling is not going well, is it?”

“I’d say very well.”

Kaden sat forward. Some deft manoeuvrings let me slide over his erection, my legs lifted and my boot heels digging hard into the back of his seat. His hand cupped my jaw, making me look at him. “I’d commit to you in a heartbeat, Jaime.”

The sudden joy, the rapture of my gryphon, caught me unawares and, hell, I almost shifted right there, the first blurring of my thoughts into the wild power of my mythoi burning over my skin. But then his exact words hit me, and the surge died away. I drew in a shaking breath and found Kaden serious, almost sombre. I fought to say the words that left a sour taste in my mouth. “But you won’t.”

He shook his head. “They would know. A mated gryphon loses the hunger for power, the need to hunt.” His thumb traced over the line of my mouth, his eyes fixed there. “He already hates what you are. Present him with that and he could kill you.”

“If he hates me so much, why did he summon me?” I knew I sounded like a petulant child, but my life was becoming shittier with each passing second. Kaden wanted me, more than wanted me, would have been mine. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t right. “He could have left me-”

“And have another dragon steal you?”

“I’m twenty-seven and no one thought to steal me before now.” A slight smile pulled at his lips, and I blinked. It made connections in my head, and my stomach hollowed. “I was watched, watched by you.”

“On and off.”

“Kaden…”

His hand slid down to curve around my shoulder. “I don’t want to pull this apart.” He ran his fingers down my arm, the touch light against my bare skin and raising goose bumps. “Trust that I’ve looked out for you for a long time.” He teased over my hip. “And that I always will.”

I scrubbed a hand over my eye, wanting to deny the wetness. “You knew I’d be at the bar.”

“Jaime…”

My stomach twisted. “You were waiting for me.” I waved a finger between us. “Waiting for this.”

A faint line of red stained his cheeks, unexpected and strangely endearing. He’d planned to approach me, known what I wanted for my last night. It was little wonder he’d hidden who he was from me.

“I was selfish.” His head tilted. “Hate me?” His voice had a light touch, but lurking under this was a brief hesitation, a doubt that formed a wince around his eyes. “Or not?”

“If I’d known you were the envoy, you would have found my beer in your face.”

“But not now?”

“Now…” I leaned in close. Our time was ticking, beating out in each rapid thud of my heart. His mouth was only inches away, his breath warm against my lips. “I don’t want to waste anymore time.” He wouldn’t be my mate-and my gryphon pined for that loss-but we could still make love. I stroked his cheek, sighing at the satin smoothness of his skin, and his amber eyes darkened, deepened into molten gold. “Do you?”

“Absolutely not.”

His kiss was soft, exploring, and I had to remember to breathe. Wanting him hurt, a hollow ache in my chest, driving me to deepen the kiss. I needed to forget the impossibility of our future in his mouth, his hands, in his flesh hard and hot against mine.

“Jaime…”

The darkness of his shadow swept around us, coalescing with my own. Their passion flared, and I groaned. I wanted our last time to be unhurried, luxurious, a time to lose ourselves, to pretend that we were together.

“No thinking,” Kaden murmured, kissing away the wetness from my cheek. “Just us.”

He held me to him, peppering my neck and throat with kisses. The heat of his mouth searing too sensitive skin arched me against him. My fingers scrabbled with his belt, the buttons, eager, needing to find him, so that we could lose ourselves in the growing heat of our mythoi.

His hands covered mine, stopping them. I blinked, breathing hard. He couldn’t want us to stop, could he? “Kaden?”

“Making love in the back of a car, not a good idea.”

Cold disappointment sank into my gut. “Not a good idea?”

He held my gaze, his face serious. “When you still have your boots on.”

I swatted at him, my hand impacting the solid muscle of his upper arm. He winced and then smirked at me. I slid off his lap and pulled free my boots and my underwear. Turning back to Kaden, I found him practically naked and couldn’t hold back a giggle. He could move fast.

He glared at me. “What?”

“This.” I flicked my fingers around the cramped interior. “It’s all very adolescent.”

The wicked shine to his eyes said that it had been a long, long time since he’d been a spotty teenager. He held out his hand and I slid my fingers into his. He squeezed and pulled me towards him. I yelped and stumbled, but he caught me. Strong hands eased me over the warmth of his bared thighs, the roughened heat of his skin against mine jolting little shocks of pleasure.

I took his cock in my hand, he sucked in a breath and I smirked. “How long have we got?”

He glanced to the panel. “Fifteen minutes.”

I shifted my pelvis and eased myself over the head of his cock, teasing him along my flesh. Kaden groaned and his fingers dug into my hips.

“You’re playing with me.”

“Maybe.” The word came out on a soft rush of air as I sank down on him. I trembled, the fire of our surrounding mythoi and Kaden’s low moan flickering heat up my spine. I buried my face against his neck, breathing him in, holding him, his strong arms wrapped around me. Damn, his heat, his scent, everything about him felt right, felt needed. My shadow gloried in the emotion, her wild heart surging into Kaden’s shadow, an intense, spiralling passion that had my heart racing, my breath coming short.

I bit at my lip, fighting the urge to simply fuck Kaden like a wild thing, and ground my hips against his in a slow, satisfying tease. It elicited a long moan from both of us. I had to move before the wild passion of our shadows overtook me and I said something insane…like I loved him.

That thought pushed me hard against him, and I took his mouth to drive the idea from my head. It burned with danger. If I said it, I’d be bound to him, my mythoi one with his, mated…and as Kaden had said, the First Dragon would then have no further use for me. But, by all that was unholy, the taste of it, the fire of it on my tongue, was almost irresistible.

Kaden’s hands tightened on my hips, urging me faster, the angle finding my clitoris and sparking fire in my belly. I held him closer, my thighs gripping him. The need to tell him how I felt sharpened with every deep thrust. I couldn’t say it. My life, his life would be forfeit. That knowledge dulled the words, and I focused on the stroke of my tongue against his, a soft moan escaping. Damn, he could kiss.

Already the first tightening of orgasm flushed my skin. I moved faster, harder, ripping my mouth from his to find his shoulder. Our short gasps, moans, the wet slap of our bodies filled the interior of the car…and around us, through us, spun the ancient glory of our mythoi, lost in their own building desire. My body burned, teetering on the edge of a blistering orgasm, and six words repeated over and over in my mind.

He is mine. I am his.

The fierce glory of that knowledge coalesced with the twisting fire of our mythoi. I couldn’t fight it, didn’t want to fight the pleasure, the belief that Kaden and his mythoi were ours, their incredible, ancient power belonging solely to us. My gryphon screeched, the sound of it raw, intense in my mind, her blistering release bursting down over my flesh.

I screamed, arching my spine, pushing hard against Kaden. Orgasm seared over me, wrapped around me in a fiery rush and, for a long, endless moment, I lost myself to it. Somewhere in the maelstrom, Kaden chanted my name, working my hips and blazing fresh need through my flesh. I clung to him, my mouth against his damp shoulder, wanting him to come, wanting him to make me come again.

“Jaime…”

He growled my name as his body gave a final shudder and his release had him gasping. A jumble of words spilled out and they spun fire through my mind. I matched them, said them against his damp skin, his taste delicious on my tongue.

For a second, a wild, insane second, our mythoi surged over the cramped interior, melding into a glorious single beast, vast wings stretched, who screeched its power to the heavens.

And then it was over.