AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I can go and talk to them,” he offered, frowning a little.
“Why bother?” She reminded herself, perhaps a shade too late, of the emphasis she’d placed on keeping their relationship secret. “I don’t think they’re going to report back to the school about how many beds were in our room,” she added with a shrug. “Besides, we can always say you gallantly slept on the couch and left me the bed.”
Callan stepped closer, and suddenly all the morning’s worries seemed very far away. “We cansaythat,” he agreed, stressing the verb lightly. Then his lips were on hers… and though she knew she should be keeping her mind on the mission, Inota couldn’t help but let herself forget, just for a little while.
Chapter 11 - Callan
They walked together down the streets of Margrav as night fell, and Callan was torn between the urge to gaze around at the strange new city and his desire to keep his eyes on every move that Kaya made. It had been so long since he’d seen her for more than a few minutes at a stretch that it felt like an impossible luxury to have spent the entire day with her. And it wasn’t just today, was it? They had a whole week of this, of traveling together, taking in a world he’d spent most of his life not even knowing was out there. He felt almost like a child, a strange vulnerability associated with the sheer weight of how much knowledge he had yet to gain. It all started here, he reminded himself. No need to panic about the length of the journey. One step at a time.
He couldn’t have asked for a better traveling companion. Kaya’s insights about the city were fascinating, though he’d been deliberately holding himself back from asking her too many questions, not wanting her to feel like she was working. She wasn’t here to be his teacher, she was here to supervise his project. And, he hoped, to talk a little about the subject that had been obsessing him all term. The elephant in the room—the undeniable profundity of the connection between them, and what they were going to do about it.
In the eastern quadrant of the city, there was a small lake, artificial but still beautiful, and they found a little restaurant with tables that overlooked the water. The climate here was a little drier than the often-oppressive humidity of Sanguine, but the night air was still warm enough to sit outside under the stars. As nice as the view was, though, it paled in comparison to the woman sitting in the seat across from him. The effortless sweep of her hair in its elegant updo, the shine of the moonlight on her slate-gray eyes, the subtle quirk of her full lips as she met his gaze… he jumped a little, becoming suddenly aware of how long he’d been looking at her.
“I’m sorry,” he said, ducking his head a little ruefully. “I’m staring. I’m—incredibly happy to be here with you, Kaya.”
“I’m glad too,” she said softly, that small smile widening a little. He wanted to reach across the table and take her hands in his, wanted to let everything spill out of him in a rush—the shocking strength of his feeling for her, the way she hadn’t left his mind for more than a few moments since their afternoon together in the library, all his hopes and plans that they could be together once her contract at the school had finished. But something stopped him. Something about the way her eyes kept flicking around them, taking in the scene with something that struck him as a little more than casual interest.
“Are you alright? You’ve seemed a little preoccupied today.”
“I am,” she said, those gray eyes suddenly flicking up to take hold of his. “I’m sorry, Callan. It’s got nothing to do with you.”
He nodded, feeling a sinking feeling in his stomach. “I’m guessing it has something to do with what you mentioned, back at Brisant? The things you haven’t told me?”
“That’s been weighing on you a little, hasn’t it?” she said, looking at him hard. It was maddening. He’d spent weeks desperate for the briefest flicker of attention from her, and then he’d find himself face to face with her at last and the intensity of her gaze would be almost too much to take. He nodded, straightening his spine, reminding himself that he was going to be under more pressure than this if he pursued the kind of diplomatic career that he’d been dreaming about.
“A little, yes,” he said, not wanting to lie to her. “I’ll admit it worried me a little. But you asked me to trust you, and I do.”
Something in Inota’s gaze seemed to flicker, and for a moment he could have sworn he saw something beyond it, something utterly unfamiliar… like some near-stranger, peering out from behind her eyes. “Why?” she asked, her voice not much more than a whisper. She sounded like someone else entirely.
But it was still the easiest question he’d ever been asked. “Because you’re my soulmate,” he said simply. It was a little shocking, how easy it was to say. He’d worried, in the weeks leading up to this moment, that when the time came he’d freeze up. “I’ve known that for a while, I think. It makes things very simple.”
He couldn’t read the expression on her face at all. “Soulmate,” she repeated slowly, as if she was tasting the word. Callan hesitated for a moment, suddenly wondering if he’d been mistaken. Not about how he felt about her, of course—there was no doubt in his mind that he loved her, that she was his destiny. But was it possible that Kaya was less clear about her feelings? He’d known plenty of dragons who’d had their doubts about soulmates, who’d been confused and overwhelmed by the feelings when they first encountered them. Kaya seemed so self-assured and in control that he’d just assumed she’d take a discovery like this in her stride. But the expression on her face was telling him otherwise.
“Are you alright?” he asked again, reaching across the table. “I’m not trying to put any pressure on you, Kaya. And the last thing I’d want to do is jeopardize your position at the school—”
She uttered a strange sound then, a gasping sound that could have been a hoarse laugh or a muffled sob. “My position—Callan…” He took her hand, and she squeezed it with a suddenness that surprised him—then just as abruptly, she yanked her hand away, rocketing to her feet at the same time. “I’m sorry. I have to—” Her eyes were darting around the dining area, glancing through the crowds, and he could see something close to panic on her face. And then she was gone, her chair scraping against the cobblestones as she knocked it aside with the force of her flight. He rose to his feet to pursue her, but by the time he’d reached the edge of the dining area she was nowhere to be seen, lost among the crowds of people strolling around the lakefront.
Well, Callan thought faintly. He’d imagined that going a little better.
It must have been midnight by the time he gave up on searching for her. His worry for her safety had quickly faded when he remembered how capable she was—if anyone was in danger in the streets of this unfamiliar city, it was Callan, who would have gotten lost a dozen times over if it hadn’t been for the willingness of passersby to give him directions. He felt like he was betraying her when he finally turned back, heading for the hotel. Why had she run away like that? Had it been what he’d said, or something else? Maybe it had been a mistake to take her out for dinner. She seemed to dislike this city, after all. Maybe they should have just stayed in the hotel. Maybe they’d have had a more successful conversation there.
The young wolf who’d checked them in was gone when he got in, replaced by an older man whose presence made Callan hesitate for a moment, somewhat unnerved until he placed that what he was detecting was an absence of magic. A human, then. If he hadn’t been feeling so despondent about Kaya, he might have stayed to talk to the man. As it was, he just gave him a nod and headed for their room. He’d sleep on the couch, he decided. Kaya shouldn’t have to feel pressured to share a bed with him when she got back.
If she got back, he thought, feeling an awful shiver run down his spine. What if she never returned? What if that had been the last he’d ever see of her? It was unthinkable. As he unlocked the hotel room door, he knew in his bones that he’d spend the rest of his life searching for her if that was what it took to see her face again.
And as if that conclusion had somehow brought reality into line with his thoughts, Callan pushed the door open to see Kaya sitting on the end of their bed. How long had she been waiting for him? Her expression was unreadable in the low light of the room, and he moved across the room to her, murmuring her name. The first half of an apology on his lips when her kiss struck him silent, and when she pulled him down onto the bed on top of her, he felt the last few worried hours melt away like morning dew. Of course there was nothing to reveal, nothing to apologize for, nothing to discuss. There was only this room, only this bed, only their bodies finally, blessedly close. It had been all he could do to hold himself back from her earlier that afternoon, when he’d held her close in an embrace that had lingered…
Well, neither of them were holding themselves back now. She’d already made short work of the buttons on his shirt, and he shrugged it from his shoulders, matching her urgency as he reached around to find the zip on her elegant gray dress. He’d complimented that dress earlier, but he knew now that the dress was nothing compared to the woman beneath it, her firm, slender limbs, the way her muscles slid and tensed beneath the deceptive softness of her skin… he pulled the dress from her body and threw it across the room without a second glance.
Kaya, too, was dragging his clothes from his body with undisguised impatience, and he caught his breath at the formidable expression on her face, the way her slate-gray eyes roamed almost hungrily across the expanse of his body. The weight of her regard alone made his whole body tingle, as though the weight of her attention was awakening his dragon, sending the magic trembling up and down his limbs. It was amazing, that she could do so much to him with just the force of her attention. How could he ever have suspected that she was anything but his soulmate, given the way she made him feel, body and soul?
At last, they were both naked, the faint orange light filtering in from the streetlight outside making her slender frame seem to glow like bronze. Callan was torn between his desire to lie there, drinking in the sight of her—and the growing, gnawing, aching need in his body to claim her, hold her, lose himself in the feeling of her body against him and around him. She made the choice for him, in the end, pouncing on him with a low, throaty laugh that sent arousal shooting through him as though he’d been physically struck. She pushed him back against the pillows and he drew her down after him, his breath quickening as she kissed him hard and bruising, her hands roaming possessively across his body, raking down his abdomen with an abruptness that made him gasp. Pulling back just far enough to pin him with a wicked smirk, she lingered appreciatively over his abs for another moment… then his eyes rolled back in his head as he felt her hand curl around his cock.
Gone was any pretense that he was in control of what was happening, here. Her scorching breath against his throat, the feeling of her body pressed against his, and the dexterous, skillful movements of that hand… he was utterly at her mercy. She could have killed him right then and there and he knew he’d have been unable to do a thing about it. The rhythm she set was cruel, teasing him with rapid strokes, then easing him back from the edge. He realized at some point that there were words mixed in with the moans he was uttering, but he had absolutely no idea what he was saying… mostly begging, he suspected. He could feel her drawing him closer and closer to his climax—dangerously close, some part of him realized, rallying against the full-body hypnosis of her touch, her lips. There was no way he was letting this be over so soon. He gasped her name as a warning, felt her hesitate just for a moment… and seized his chance, shifting his weight in one sudden movement that caught her off guard. Quickly, he reversed their positions, flattening her firmly against the mattress and pinning her down. Her gray eyes glinted as she panted, tugging at her wrists where he was holding them, arching her back as if to resist his grip on her… but he could tell from the smirk still playing about her lips that she wasn’t genuinely trying to get away.
His body ached to bury himself inside her at once… it seemed to be what she wanted, too, judging by the way she kept rocking her hips up to brush the slick heat of her sex against his straining cock. But he was calling the shots here, not her… and he was very interested in giving her a taste of her own medicine. So he simply held her still, letting her squirm with increasing impatience, her smirk giving way to petulance as she continued to rock and grind her hips against him without success. It was getting harder and harder to hold himself back, but he was buoyed by the certain knowledge that the frustration was building her arousal, too.
Finally, she ground out his name in a pleading, hoarse tone of voice he hadn’t heard her use before. As well as being unbelievably sexy, there was an odd intimacy to it as well that he hadn’t expected. Callan held her dark eyes, and for a moment it almost seemed like she was going to say something. But instead, she reached up to claim his lips in a kiss that was oddly sweet, oddly tender given the ferocity with which she’d been wriggling against his grasp before.
