AllFreeNovel
Share Us
As our lips finally met, the world around us melted away. It was just him and me, lost in each other’s embrace. Rhys’ kiss was gentle at first, a soft exploration that sent shivers down my spine. But soon his kiss became more urgent, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, teasing and tasting every inch.
His tail came up to curl possessively around my thigh, pressing me tighter to him. I moaned into his kiss, my hands finding their way to his hair, pulling him closer. Rhys’ elemental magic sparked to life, the flames behind us roaring higher as his passion grew. His hands roamed my body, pulling me tighter against him, until there was no space left between us.
His kiss left me dizzy and breathless. Rhys’ raw masculinity was overwhelming, and I surrendered completely to his ravishing attentions, body and soul. We tumbled together onto the couch in a blur of seeking hands and fevered caresses.
Rhys wrapped his arms and wings around me, cocooning us together, while his ridged tail stroked molten paths along my bare skin.
Abruptly, we broke apart, gasping for air. He pressed his forehead against mine, his breath hot against my skin. “I’ve wanted this for so long,” he murmured. I could feel his heart racing, matching my own.
“Oh, gods...” I whispered back, still lost in the haze of desire. “Me too.”
The fire cast Rhys’ sharp features in flickering shadow, amplifying the burning intensity of his eyes as they bore into mine. The tower room fell away, the world narrowing to just the two of us perched on the precipice of irrevocable change.
When he leaned closer, my lungs froze, afraid to shatter the moment. Then Rhys closed the last distance, and the touch of his mouth on mine was like striking a match. Fire consumed us both, racing through my veins to ignite every cell in my body. I came alive in his strong arms, returning the kiss with equal fervor.
The rest of the world ceased to exist. In this enchanted tower, nothing mattered but his tender lips claiming mine, his firm hands memorizing every curve and contour of my pliant body. I gave myself over fully to sensation and him.
Distantly, I marveled that anything could feel so fated and yet set the world spinning wildly off-kilter all at once. I carded my fingers through his ebony hair, traced the sharp angles of his cheekbones, learning him anew. A low rumble reverberated through his chest as he slid an arm around my waist, hauling me tighter against him. We clung together, lost in breathless discovery…
A sharp crack jerked us violently back to reality. Rhys’ head snapped up, body tensing to shield mine. Before I could react, leathery tendrils exploded from between the ancient floorboards, coiling around us with lightning speed. I cried out, struggling as they cinched tighter, thorns digging into my arms.
With a roar, Rhys ripped free of his binds and blasted our assailant with infernal flames. The thing recoiled—a nightmarish plant with lethal thorny vines and a will of its own.
“Snarevine!” Rhys warned me. A plant, rare and deadly, that bound its prey in a relentless, compressing hold. As we watched in horror, its singed tendrils withdrew, only to plunge into the tower floorboards again and begin sucking the aged wood back into itself like fuel.
The entire tower shuddered, timbers cracking as the ravenous creature fortified itself. Rhys tried incinerating it again, but only ignited debris as the thing retreated deeper into the framework. We had minutes at most before its integrity failed completely.
Grabbing my hand, Rhys pulled me towards the open window, unfurling his mighty wings. “Hold on!” he shouted over the chaos. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he leapt into the open air, powerful strokes carrying us up and away from the crumbling tower.
For a breath, it seemed we would escape the snarevine’s deadly grasp. Then leathery tendrils burst through the window frame, slashing towards us with uncanny speed. Rhys twisted in midair, shielding my body with his own as the barbed vines sought purchase. We plummeted, the extra weight plunging us downwards.
At the last second, Rhys wrenched us sideways, crashing through an ancient stained glass window into the open stairwell. We tumbled to the landing in a rain of shattered colored glass. The snarevine screeched in fury at our escape, trapped outside the tower walls.
Rhys hauled me to my feet, eyes blazing. “The stairs—RUN!” We flew down the steps two at a time, the quaking tower raining dust and stone. But the twisting vines were never far behind, smashing through walls in pursuit, their rage unnervingly personal.
We were forced to halt halfway down when a choked hallway blocked our escape route. Whirling, Rhys pushed me behind him and summoned a shield of blazing blue flame to hold back the oncoming tendrils. The first thorns ricocheted off the mystical barrier with screams and sparks.
“I’ll hold it off, you go!” Rhys shouted over the chaos. Around us, the tower shuddered violently, raining dust from the precarious ceiling. Escape was narrowing to a pinpoint—I had to act now or perish.
But I would not leave Rhys to this fate alone. Gripping his arm, I added my magic to his, weaving a hasty protection spell into the burning shield. His eyes widened in surprise, then shining gratitude. Side by side, we poured all our energy into bolstering our elemental shield as the snarevine thrashed against it.
With a bone-rattling jolt, the ruined floor beneath us collapsed, sending us plunging down in a cascade of rubble towards the unforgiving stone foundations. The impact drove the breath from my lungs, filling my vision with black spots.
As I clung to fading consciousness, the vines were breaking through at last, the shield extinguished. Its quickened thorny tendrils descended towards where I lay helpless in the wreckage. This was the end.
But with his last ounce of strength, Rhys flung himself over my broken body, wings spread to shield me from the killing blow as the tower ruins rained down around us. I screamed his name, voice raw and shattered. My world narrowed to the boy who’d sacrificed everything for the sake of my own undeserving life. Rhys’ name became a prayer, then a desperate sob.
Miraculously, as the last stones settled, weak sunlight pierced the swirling dust—the eastern wall had collapsed completely, leaving us exposed but alive. The snarevine thrashed wildly back from the dawning light now flooding its lair. With the grim rising sun came salvation.
Ignoring the screaming agony of my battered body, I crawled desperately to where Rhys lay unmoving beside me. His wings were crushed, his proud horns snapped halfway, but he was blessedly solid and real beneath my hands.
“Rhys! Rhys, please!” I wept, cradling his limp form. I pressed a fervent kiss to his slack mouth, pouring all my fear and despair into it, willing him to open his beautiful eyes again. “Please come back to me. Don’t leave before I can even tell you...” My chest hitched on a sob.Tell you that I love you.
“Please, Rhys!” Tears pooled in my eyes, as I blamed myself for being just a second-year student of sorcery. My basic knowledge of magic could never save him—I didn’t even know if I had it in me to complete such a daunting spell.
For an eternity, there was only silence. Then a shuddering inhale lifted his chest, the first sweet gasp of life. Relief crashed through me, leaving me dizzy. Rhys’ dark gaze slowly focused on mine again, wonder dawning on his ravaged face.
“My brave little one,” he rasped, wiping a smudge of dirt from my cheek with a trembling hand. “I thought I’d lost you.”
