Caged Kitten (All the Queen's Men #2) - Rhea Watson Page 0,62

attention, free rein of a sprawling underground space—even if it was hot as hell most days—and all the freshly baked bread you could scarf down when no one was looking. Bakery duty was a dream, same as the kitchens, the library, and the new greenhouse. I didn’t care if they stuck me somewhere else, but if I got a reputation as a slacker, I just knew Lloyd would use it against me.

He seemed like the type.

Just as I reached in to fix the next row of loaves, Elijah snagged my wrist and hauled me upright. I went with him, unable to muscle my way out of his hold even if I tried, and then glared, hard, conjuring up the sternest expression I could muster.

“I’m worried about you,” he admitted gruffly as his thumb stroked the underside of my wrist, gently brushing over my racing pulse. The physical contact seemed to grab us both, gazes plummeting to where we touched. Exhaling shakily, I shifted my glare back up to Elijah’s face where it belonged, only to find him steely-eyed as well, a mildly annoyed look plastered across his rugged features.

What the—I so didn’t understand this shifter.

But his hand felt like fire, a cuff fresh from the hearth, branding my skin the longer and tighter it held on.

“You’re hurting me,” I croaked. Elijah’s eyes flicked to mine, more gold than brown, his gaze that of the dragon. My belly suddenly looped—with fear or interest, I still couldn’t tell.

“No, I’m not.” He wasn’t. “You can take it.”

I could. His grip might have been firm, might have seared my flesh and sizzled down to the bone, but in my heart of hearts, I didn’t want him to let go. It wasn’t pain driving us apart… Not in the slightest.

“Let go,” I muttered, the order catching in my throat. Elijah shook his head.

“I can help, Katja, if you just let me in.”

“Maybe I don’t want to let you in,” I told him, the fight flaring inside me, briefly shouldering all the other muddled emotions aside. I yanked my arm away from him, twisted it, but he wouldn’t let go—wouldn’t stop looking at me with the eyes of the beast. “Maybe I don’t need you poking around my head in here… Have you ever considered that?”

“Of course I have.” He followed along with slow, lazy steps when I backpedaled, like he was just humoring my escape attempt. “But you can’t help it, and neither can I, so… stop being stubborn and just tell me.”

You can’t help it, and neither can I. What the hell was that supposed to mean? I stomped my foot, my prison-issued shoes useless at absorbing the brunt of the stonework below, about two seconds away from stomping on him.

“Piss off, Elijah.”

“No,” the dragon rumbled without hesitation, just following me around the back of the bakery beneath the flickering lights. Shadows danced across his features, but they did nothing to cloud his expression, the resolute determination that made me both hate and respect him in that moment.

“Yes.”

“No.” His voice echoed off the walls, and we both stilled, heads snapping in the general direction of the bakery’s main door. Nothing. Jensen probably hadn’t even noticed we weren’t within sight anymore, but we still waited a few beats longer. Xargi had a way of screwing you over if you let your guard down; I knew that from experience now. When we seemed to be alone, we faced off again, me glaring up at him, Elijah scowling down at me through a hooded golden gaze. He huffed, breath striking me like dragonfire.

“Katja—”

“Oh, for…” I closed the distance between us in a single stride, pushed up onto my toes, grabbed his collar, and yanked his mouth to mine. Kissing him was a last resort, the only thing shocking enough to finally just shut him up. But it was supposed to be a quick, hard peck.

It wasn’t supposed to feel like fireworks.

It wasn’t supposed to linger.

And most of all, my lips weren’t supposed to soften, to fit so perfectly against a mouth that had been driving me nuts for the last hour. His free hand slithered down my body, rough and wandering over my curves, until it splayed possessively across my lower back. The other held my wrist tighter, both working together to drive me into his chest. Elijah exhaled a hot breath against my cheek, not a flicker of shock in his eyes—only desire. Carnal and raging. Explosive need that knocked the wind out of me. Flames