Total pages in book: 118
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110080 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 550(@200wpm)___ 440(@250wpm)___ 367(@300wpm)
Okay. Good to know. Now they were getting somewhere. Gotta get to that treasure room. And she needed to do it before the tournament ended. Now, her course was set. She must win the crown and kill Roux before he killed her.
Before she could stop herself, she glanced his way again. This time, their eyes met, and her breath caught. He was glaring at her, a muscle jumping in his jaw. Uh, was he angry with her? Had he guessed her thoughts?
The background music changed, the pounding beat becoming a siren’s soft melody. Her questions ceased to matter. Mmm. She liked this music. Slow and haunting. Electric. Her limbs trembled. In her veins, blood raced and heated.
Suddenly every desire Blythe had ever harbored for the Astra surged to the fore. She needed to get her hands on him. Now.
Maybe he felt the same way. His features softened, his eyelids hooding and his lips parting. He looked...hungry.
“Does your favorite weapon happen to be a—” Lucca moaned, then giggled and fanned her cheeks. “Uh, did everyone in the world get sexy all of a sudden? Because wowzer. Even the Astra is starting to look good to me.”
“He does look good, doesn’t he?” she replied with a moan of her own. Her insides were fluttering, heating. Demanding. Pull her gaze from the warrior? Impossible. “Very good.”
Lightning flashed as Roux stalked across the distance, closing in on her. He stopped directly in front of her, his scent making her head swim. “Dance with me,” he rasped, extending his arm.
Dance? With him? Not what she’d expected him to say. Wings rippling, she placed her fingers in his. “Yes.” No other reply was acceptable.
18
THE FEASTING
Something about the melody...
Roux had never danced with anyone. Never even swayed to music when he was alone. He wasn’t sure he knew what to do, but stop this? No. Uncaring about his audience, he tugged his gorgeous harphantom close and wrapped his arms around her.
Oh, the softness of this female. Lush curves pressed against him. Pleased him.
He ignored the muted warning in the back of his mind. Forgot the Phoenix. Lost track of everything but Blythe’s smooth palms skating up his chest, locking at his nape. They swayed together.
Those pale blue eyes mesmerized him. Undid him. He craved everything she had to give, all at once. Lived only to touch this woman and be touched by her. To possess her, body and soul. And be possessed?
Words spilled from him, unfiltered. “Give yourself to me, Lyla.” He wasn’t sure anything mattered more. “Every inch. Hold nothing back.”
“Mmm. Every inch, huh?” she echoed with a sexy chuckle. “That’s my line to you. And I’m betting there are a lot of inches.” She toyed with the ends of his hair, and he leaned into the contact. “If I do, what will you do with me?”
“Whatever I want. Everything. Only what you desire. Whichever answer you prefer.”
“That’s an impressive list.” Dazed, she rasped, “I say yes to each. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. So kiss me, Astra, and make it count.”
Kiss! Yes! Heart hammering, Roux swooped down. To his delight, Blythe rose to her tiptoes, eagerly meeting him halfway. Their lips pressed together, and she opened for him, allowing his tongue to thrust against hers. No, there was no allowing, no passively accepting his ministrations. The breathtaking woman greeted him with a thrust of her own and clutched him closer.
The pleasure of his first kiss! The sensations. The connection, deeper than ever before. Hands wandered. Bodies ground together. Heat left him fevered, wafting from an inferno that sparked in the marrow of his bones. Had anything ever tasted sweeter? Or more intoxicating? She was a potent wine enchanted with desire itself, and he only wanted more.
He kissed and kissed and kissed her, savoring at first. Growing more and more frenzied—and more and more mad.
How could he ever live without this now?
A new burst of lightning flashed overhead, quickly followed by another. And another. Thunder boomed, shaking even the ground. Through it all, the siren’s song filled his ears.
The rest of the world vanished from his awareness, the desperate tasting speeding into a wild devouring. Never, in the whole of his life, had he drowned in anything other than physical pain or mental screams. Until now. Until her. Roux drowned in Blythe, and he had no urge to recover.
Icy raindrops fell, sizzling against his blistering skin. Blythe gasped, and the kiss paused. They fought for air, but they didn’t spring apart. Separate him from this female? No. Not even when the heavens split and hammered the land with hail. He pressed his brow against hers, and she let him.
The most sublime sigh escaped her. “What are we doing?”
“Everything I’ve dreamed.”
“Are you ready to stop?” she asked, soft against him.
“Not until you scream my name.”
“Do it. I dare you. Make me scream and scream and scream and—”