Part 8 (1/2)
”I can use my shadow to search for someone to help us.”
He scowled. ”What does that mean?”
”I've inherited a few s.h.i.+nto talents,” she said, her voice edged with impatience. ”I can create a shadow.”
”Like the one your mother used before she went missing?” he demanded.
She shrugged. ”No one is sure what happened. The sprite who was with her disappeared at the same time.”
He made a sound of disbelief. ”And now you want to repeat her mistake?”
”We don't know if it was a mistake-” She bit off her words, giving a shake of her head. ”We have to try something.”
Torque narrowed his gaze. ”Explain what happens when you create a shadow.”
”It's actually a part of my essence that I release to travel through s.p.a.ce and-”
”No,” Torque snapped.
He'd heard enough.
There was no part of her...essence that was going anywhere.
Not without him.
She scowled. ”Is no your favorite word?”
Squatting down, he leaned forward until their noses were nearly touching.
”I spent the past hour holding you in my arms, unable to wake you,” he growled. ”At least give me a few minutes to recover before you try to get yourself killed again.”
Her eyes widened, as if shocked by his accusation. ”I'm not trying to get myself killed.”
His gut twisted with...
He didn't know exactly what it was.
Anger. Betrayal. A terrible dread that he'd nearly lost something infinitely precious.
”Are you sure?” he muttered.
”Why would you think I'd want to die?”
He spoke his darkest fear before he could halt the words. ”I a.s.sume death is preferable to the horrible fate of becoming my mate.”
She pulled back, genuine confusion darkening her amber eyes.
”That's insane.”
”Is it?” He reached to cup her chin in his hand, careful to keep his touch light. The last thing he would ever want to do was bruise her smooth, delicate skin. He might be a dragon-s.h.i.+fter, but he wasn't an animal. Okay, that wasn't true. He was an animal. But he could usually control his beast. ”You accused me of not being properly excited about our betrothal, but I didn't disappear from my home on a reckless mission that put my life in danger.”
She stuck out her chin. Stubborn female.
”I had to find my mother.”
Her explanation only fueled his sense of injustice.
”And you trusted a frost sprite to help you instead of reaching out to me,” he scolded.
”I told you, I didn't think you would care.”
His fingers drifted down the curve of her throat, lingering on the rapid beat of her pulse.
”But you knew I cared when you insisted on opening a portal and entering it despite my protests,” he muttered.
A part of his brain recognized he wasn't being entirely fair. But that didn't stop him. This female stirred the primitive side of him that didn't care about logic or justice.
With a frown, Rya reached up to smack his hand away. ”Are you blaming me for us being trapped here?”
He heaved a rough sigh, grasping her shoulders as she tried to scoot away.
”No, I'm blaming you for scaring the s.h.i.+t out of me,” he rasped.
She blinked, as if startled by his revelation. ”Torque.”
”And if you dare claim that I would be happy if you were dead, I'll...”
”You'll what?” she demanded.
”This.”
Torque didn't know what demon prompted him to swoop his head down to claim her lips in a stark kiss. At least not until he felt her mouth soften beneath his fierce demand.
Only then did he acknowledge that he'd been aching for any excuse, no matter how flimsy, to kiss her again.
He'd harbored a precise memory of her sweet taste. And the way her lips parted when he swept his tongue over their lush temptation.
Now he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and tugged her tight against his body.
She had heat, but not the scorching heat of his own dragon. Hers was a smoldering, exotic warmth that enticed his beast even as his fey blood bubbled with the intoxicating magic that sizzled between them.
Allowing his fingertips to touch the satiny smoothness of her cheek, he plundered her mouth. He wanted to drown in the sensations that thundered through him.
Why the h.e.l.l had he been so reluctant to claim this delectable female?
Reluctantly lifting his head, he watched as her fingers fluttered toward her reddened lips, her eyes still dazed.