He opened his mouth and danced his tongue with hers. She pushed into him, and moaned...
Lucas gasped as his entire body responded. His fingers plunged beneath the waistband of his pants—without effort, and in an instant, they carried him to the edge, and beyond.
On the waves of the aftermath, he sat and trembled while his heart refused to slow. What the effing hell had that been? It was now gone, whatever it was, but it had been unsettling in the extreme.
He’d been kissing Aria. Only he hadn’t been kissing Aria. Or rather, it hadn’t been him kissing her.
Understanding came on a burst of raw, unadulterated rage. Nikolai had kissed her.
But how had Lucas ended up a part of it? Could it have been nothing but a weird after effect of having the collar removed? Of all those nightmare memories bashing around, free and unfettered in his brain?
It had to have been a trick of his mind. Lucas shoved himself to his feet and headed up the rock ridge.
The boulder at the top wasn’t rock, but rather a crouched form covered in scales that glistened beneath the moon.
His feet stopped moving. “Aria?”
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. So stunning, the sight of her wiped every thought from his head, and took the rage with it. Her wing membranes were pure gold, her body gleamed red, marked with bands of the same color.
She tilted her head to regard him. Her huge eyes were red shot through with gold.
“Yess, Lucass?” she replied.
He swallowed, and ripped his gaze away. “Where’s Nikolai?”
“He’s gone.”
His heart did a twist, and then a leap, before she added, “He’ll meet us at the town with the gate. He’s going to lead the Watchers away.”
Oh. Well, it was still a good thing he was gone. Some of Lucas’s angst abated, although he desperately wanted to know if what he’d experienced was real. But how could he ask if she’d kissed Nikolai? She’d be fully within her rights to tell him to take a hike.
Oblivious to his tortured thoughts, she offered a forelimb. “Get on,” she said. “I’ll carry you.”
Lucas had known this was the plan, but she was smaller than he’d expected. A lot smaller, actually. Her body was about the size of a draft horse with her shoulder coming to about the six-foot height, and he estimated she stretched maybe twenty feet from nose to tailtip. He knew the underworld Dragons were smaller than those that lived beneath the Empire’s umbrella, but this was as close as he’d ever been to one.
They’d always seemed substantial, until he considered riding one into the night sky.
He crossed his arms. “Are you sure you can carry me?”
She snorted. “Yess.”
Her long Dragon muzzle added s’s at the end of some of her words. He regarded her through narrowed eyes. “But you said you’ve never carried anyone before.”
Aria blinked. “Uh, rights.”
“So how do you know?”
She lifted her lip, revealing very sharp teeth. “I’m strongs.”
“That assertion will not help us a few hundred feet in the air if your wings can’t hold us up.”
She rattled the anatomy in question. “Just gets on.”
“I have another suggestion.”
The big eye rolled. “Whats?”
“I’m a Morph. I’ve already absorbed your human DNA when you touched me, and used your talons. If I touch your Dragon, I can turn into one, and fly myself to the town.”
