pulling his head down. “Just one last time,” she murmured and his heart skipped a beat.
This time, she kissed him and it wasn’t a shy or tentative embrace. Her kiss was demanding and thrilling, as if she wanted to pick up right where they’d left off. Hadrian was more than ready to do that. He locked his hands around her waist and lifted her to the work table, then stepped between her thighs.
She wrapped her legs around him and he heard the kesir clatter to the wood table top. He claimed it and hid it away, never breaking their embrace. She didn’t seem to notice. She was feasting upon him, demanding all he had to give, and Hadrian was going to make this last kiss worth remembering. Her fingers gripped his head, she opened her mouth to his embrace, and he could feel the heat of her even through their clothes.
When she started to roll her hips, he could barely stand it. He groaned and would have stripped them both naked to finish what they’d begun before, but in that very moment, Alasdair roared from the lair.
“They’re coming! They’re coming!”
Unfortunately, Hadrian knew exactly who his cousin meant. The firestorm—and his enticing mate—would have to wait.
Hadrian wasn’t the only one who should get a last wish, in Rania’s opinion.
And he wasn’t the only one disappointed by the interruption.
She heard a roar like a freight train and guessed what it was. “Was that old-speak?” she asked, spinning to scan the studio. That the call was urgent was obvious by Hadrian’s quick response.
“Yes. Alasdair is warning us that the Fae are coming.”
Us?
Why would she be concerned that the Fae were coming? They were her allies.
Unless Maeve was checking up on her.
Hadrian was obviously looking for something in the studio, even as he shimmered blue on the cusp of change. He pushed through the tools on his work table, swearing under his breath.
The gloves. He was looking for the gloves. She’d been right about their importance.
He found them finally and tugged them on, their blades shining wickedly. Did he really need them to defend himself? After all, he could become a dragon.
And he did, right before her eyes, shifting shape in a brilliant shimmer of blue. The blades on the gloves followed him through the change and became steel extensions of his talons. Even though she’d expected as much, she was amazed to witness it
Then she reached back for her kesir, only to discover that it was gone.
“You!” she said and Hadrian’s eyes glinted.
“Me. I’m building the best collection.” That dragon smile was as surprising and attractive as the first time she’d seen it.
To her astonishment, he reached beneath his scales and retrieved the bichuwa, then tossed it toward her. Rania barely caught it, she was so surprised that he would surrender it.
“Stay safe,” he said, sobering as he looked toward the door of the studio. He swore then looked back. Even in dragon form, his gaze was filled with concern. “You should use that disappearing act of yours to get out of here. They’re not coming to party.”
Rania was startled. No one was ever worried about her welfare, especially her intended victims. “I’m not afraid of the Fae.”
“You should be.”
She brandished the bichuwa. “You should be afraid of me.”
“Looks like you’re missing your chance,” he noted as there was a cry from the main lair. Then he winked. “I’m getting the impression you like me better alive,” he teased with that sexy confidence. The sound of fighting carried to her ears as he darted toward the door. “Go!” he commanded then joined the battle.
Alone in the studio, Rania looked down at the bichuwa, amazed that she held it. Hadrian had returned it so she could defend herself. She couldn’t make sense of his choice, much less the surge of pleasure she felt in response.
If the Fae had come for his gloves, she didn’t need to watch.
She wasn’t sure she wanted to.
She wasn’t going to help, not either side, when she felt so jumbled up.
Rania held fast to the bichuwa, then manifested in the forest, upstream of Hadrian’s lair. She was breathing quickly and felt torn—this dragon shifter had the ability to confuse her and turn her expectations upside down. She’d confided in him so much.
Maybe she was lonely.
His decision to surrender the bichuwa was the kind of daring move that was perfectly typical of the dragon shifter she was coming to know. Did he just want her to survive for the sake of