Gleam (The Plated Prisoner 3)

My chest constricts, something warm scattering over me with the brush of his thumb.

“Shit,” Judd says in a groan. “Rip is being fucking cute, and it’s making me want to vomit.”

Another sigh passes through Slade’s lips as he drops his hold from my chin. “Hey, Lu?”

“Yeah, Commander?”

“Smack Judd for me.”

Quicker than Judd can dodge, she smacks him on the back of the head, making him grunt. “Ow! Why are you so violent?”

Lu flashes him a grin that’s all teeth. “Because it makes me happy.”

I can’t stifle the laugh that bubbles out of me.

“Come on, Mustard,” Osrik grunts as he gets to his feet, yanking up Judd by his sleeve. “Let’s go find some more wine for Lu. She’s always much nicer after she has a few pints.”

“That’s true,” she agrees.

The three of them wander off, and then it’s just Spikey Slade and me alone in the company of a wisping fire with fingers that taper up toward the icy sky.

“So...Goldfinch.” His voice has gone gravelly and decadent, his dark aura coiling around me. The look he gives me is both indulgent and sensual, and it makes my stomach spark with embers of heat. “Now that we’re alone, what should we do?”

The words may be a question, but his voice already has the answer, and it matches mine.

A coy smile appears on my face. “I have a few ideas.”

Chapter 36

AUREN

I don’t know who kisses who first, but our lips come together in a clash of craving. It’s both cold from the winter air and hot from the heat of the campfire, the temperatures warring as much as our drive to fulfill the lust pumping in our veins.

Slade cradles the back of my head, fingers digging into the strands of my hair like he wants to dig deeper into me, keeping me against his mouth so that he can have his way with mine.

And he does.

His dominant hold tilts my head right where he wants me so his tongue can sweep in further, as if he’s drinking me in.

When I pull away to take in a breath, he growls, like a predator being taken from his catch. “Don’t turn away from me,” he rumbles.

Laughing, I say, “You have to let a girl breathe.”

“I want to breathe you in,” he counters. “Your every exhale, your aura, your very essence. I don’t want to miss a single part of you.”

My stomach leaps right up to my chest, his words elevating me like the climb of a mountain and taking me right to the peak. My ribbons lift up and wrap around him as much as he’s curling his arms around me, and once again, the rest of the world just fades away until it’s just us. Just here.

Bringing up a hand, I let my fingertips graze against the ashen scales along his cheekbones, marveling at the smooth texture of them. They reflect the firelig

ht, making the fae in him stand out.

“Did your parents have scales?” I ask curiously.

“My father.”

I try to decipher the tone of his answer, but I get distracted by the light puffs of snowfall that land in his black hair. Slade looks up and glowers at the sky. “This place is always snowing.”

“It’s Fifth Kingdom, what did you expect?” I tease. “At least here it isn’t constantly blizzarding. The snowstorms have been pretty mild.”