Evermore Academy (Evermore Academy #3) - Audrey Grey Page 0,69
see Valerian approaching, eyes bright yellow and unrecognizable, enormous fangs protruding from his lips. Before Hellebore can move, Valerian swipes a clawed hand into the Spring Court Heir.
The blow sends Hellebore flying back. I barely have time to register the claw marks dripping blood down Hellebore’s grinning face before Valerian comes for me.
Considering what just happened and his predatory features, I should be scared of my mate. But I don’t even flinch as he takes me in his arms like I’m a child.
The next thing I know, we’re . . . going over the side of the roof?
A scream splits apart my lips, which until that moment were clenched in terror, and my eyes snap shut.
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Instead of plummeting to the concrete like I expected, we’re floating. I peek open one eye and catch sight of moon-white feathers.
Wings.
Valerian has wings.
I exhale and brave a look at his face, expecting anger. The primordial yellow glow still emanates from his eyes, his pupils still razor thin, but the caring way he looks at me makes the last of my fear melt away.
Disappointment hits when he suddenly veers left, sweeping through an open window into a hallway on one of the lower floors. I’m still in his arms, surprise and shock making my tongue momentarily forget how to form words.
He quickly settles me on my feet. My legs are shaky, and I lean against the marble wall, trying to sort out the last thirty seconds.
He draws in close, hands planted on either side of my head. His brows are furrowed, mouth twisted to the side, anguish lining his face. “Did he hurt you?”
I shake my head. Afraid if I open my mouth, I’ll beg him to fly us away from here, damn the consequences. My emotions are all over the place. I should have fought Hellebore harder. I should have struggled at least. Details of the kiss flood my brain. The mortifying sounds I made, the way I practically begged him to touch me—
Oh, God. Tears warm my eyes, my shame threatening to completely undo me.
“Stop.” Jaw gritted, he slowly reaches his hand out and carefully, oh so carefully, wipes away one errant tear. “You did nothing wrong.”
“I—”
“You did nothing wrong,” he snarls. “If anything, I should have stopped him as soon as I realized what was happening.”
I’m shivering, I realize, my breath spilling out in milky bursts. Frost layers the walls and drips from the light fixtures, and snow drizzles my skin.
I open my mouth, to say what, I’m not even sure, when something about the way his intense gaze falls on my lips makes me freeze. At the same time, I realize that instead of cold, I’m hot to the touch. Skin inflamed as heat floods every part of me.
Valerian’s dark blue eyelashes lift as he stares into my eyes. The cold wall of armor drops so that his vulnerability is visible in those icy depths. Vulnerability and desire. I can see how much he wants me.
He leans closer, his juniper, balsam, and cedar scent enveloping my senses. My body thrums with energy. The bond like a steel rod anchored in my center, vibrating with a need so intense it feels like it will split me open.
I want him to kiss me. I want him to take me right now, in this darkened hallway against a cold wall. I want to look into his eyes as I give myself to him completely.
As if reading my mind, he nears until his cool wintry breath tickles my lower lip and the dark blue flecks inside his icy eyes are visible. So is the craving.
A wild, almost predatory need that completely eclipses mine.
Hellebore was telling the truth. My urge to satisfy the bond is nothing compared to Valerian’s.
“I could take you right now, Princess.” His gravelly voice burrows into my belly, and when he drops one of his hands and slips it between the slit of my dress, his fingers stroking the inside of my thigh, I melt against his touch. “In fact, I’ve never wanted anything more.”
I moan, but the desperate sound conjures the memory of kissing Hellebore, and I murmur, “I wish I could take kissing him back.”
“Stop.” The muscles of his neck flex, his nostrils flaring in anger, but his eyes show me nothing but affection and forgiveness. “That was a trick, it wasn’t real. This, however, is.”
To prove his point, he deepens his caress. Every brush of his cool fingers sends jolts of deep, intense longing reverberating through my core.