AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I heard Noah just behind me, but I didn’t turn around to face him. Instead, I flicked my shoes off and threw my coat onto the hood of his Jeep. And then I ran. I ran fast and hard, the trees whipping by in a blur of speed, not caring as thin branches whipped at my body. The pain was welcome.
My feet barely touched the ground. I was faster than any human could ever hope to be, and for that moment I was free. Free from my family and my responsibilities to my people. I was free from the weight that Calista had placed on my shoulders. And I was free from The Destroyer and whatever the hell Noah Ford was.
I stopped when I reached the lake. My breathing wasn’t labored, but my hands shook. I knew it was from fear. Not fear of Noah, though there was a part of me that respected the danger he could bring me. But it was fear of the unknown. I knew what it meant that I couldn’t see myself in my visions. I was going to die, and no one was going to be able to stop it. Even worse, no one would care.
The Jeep crept to a stop behind me and the door opened. I kept my back turned, but I could feel Noah approaching from behind. He placed his hand on my shoulder, and I let out the breath I’d been holding. And when he wrapped his arms around me I knew I had nothing to lose and everything to gain. Loneliness overwhelmed me.
I turned in his arms and sought his mouth, avoiding his gaze at all cost. I didn’t want to think. Only to feel. Liquid fire rolled in my belly as our mouths touched, and all I could think was I might have underestimated Noah Ford. My temperature spiked, and it wasn’t until then I realized Noah couldn’t possibly be human, or the heat from my flesh would have burned him.
I couldn’t control the intensity of my inner dragon fire. It had never blazed so hot, and I thought I would die from the pressure of it building inside of me. I’d never felt this way with another man.
Noah either hadn’t noticed the heat of my flesh or he just didn’t care. I didn’t know what to do, or how to make the fire stop, but the all-consuming pleasure was quickly turning to pain. Liquid fire burned down the right side of my body and I screamed.
“What’s wrong?” Noah asked.
“God, it’s like someone’s taking a hot iron to my body.” I broke free of him and writhed against the hood of the Jeep, rolling into the fetal position. I kept my eyes closed against the torture. I pushed Noah farther away from me, but he made a sound that made me open my eyes. His face was pinched in a grimace, and his eyes were clouded with pain. “You feel it too?”
He nodded and tried to get control of his breathing.
“What’s happening to us?” I asked.
The naked surprise on his face was like a bucket of cold water over my head, and my curiosity intensified as he quickly blanked his expression. His voice was strangled with effort when he answered me. “Are you telling me you don’t know?”
“Know what?” I looked frantically down my right side, positive I’d see burns along my skin, but there was nothing. Just flesh that was quickly turning cold with goose bumps. “What aren’t you telling me?”
He helped me off the hood and straightened my clothes like nothing more than anything platonic had just happened between us. “I’m sorry, but I need to take you home,” he said softly.
I’d run the gamut of emotions for the night, and despite everything that had happened since I’d met Noah, my prevailing thought was one of disappointment. And shame. I was still woman enough to feel the sting of rejection.
It was followed closely by anger. The severity of my rage took me by surprise. My throat vibrated, and a roar erupted that I had no intention of stifling. I charged Noah with all the strength and speed I possessed.
He grunted as I tackled him to the ground, but he didn’t cry out. The feel of flesh pounding flesh was fulfilling, and my body needed to be sated. If not by sex, then by violence.
“Dammit, Rena. I promise I’ll tell you everything I can once I find out what the hell is going on. You have every right to be upset, but you have to trust me.”
He captured my arms in an iron-clad grasp, so I butted him in the chin with my head and felt satisfaction at the crunch. He didn’t retaliate against me. He only held me closer. In the back of my mind I knew he had every opportunity to fight back, and he was strong enough to injure me. But he didn’t.
“Trust you?” I yelled. “You’ve done nothing but play with my emotions and evade my questions since I met you.” We were tangled in a heap on the ground, arms and legs entwined. All my speed and strength was useless against him.Definitely not human. I kicked at the back of his leg, and he rolled with me until I was underneath him.
“Stop it, Rena. I’m sorry, okay. I’m sorry. Please listen to me.”
I stopped struggling, not because I wanted to, but because we were at an impasse. We were evenly matched. Our faces were within inches of each other, and our breaths mingled as we gasped for air.
“Will you listen?” Noah whispered.
I nodded yes, but broke eye contact. I stared at his mouth instead.
“There are things you don’t know that you should have been told before we move to the physical part of our relationship. Things that will affect your future. And mine. When I sought you out this morning, I fully expected for us to meet each other on a level playing field, but we can’t when there’s so much you don’t know. It’s not fair to you.”
“What don’t I know? Tell me.”
There was regret in his eyes, and I knew it was hopeless for me to ask. He lowered his forehead to mine, and my breath caught in my chest at the sweetness of the gesture.
“I give you an oath on my life that I will tell you everything, but I must find out all I can first. I’ll be betraying my people if I tell you this information, and I need to get permission. I need to find out why it was kept from you, and what will happen once you do know. There are those I can ask these questions and get the answers. And then I will come for you, Rena. There’s nothing that could keep me away now that I’ve tasted you.”
I didn’t acknowledge his explanation one way or another. “Just take me home,” I said.
He nodded and let me up. I got in the car with what was left of my dignity, and stared out the window the entire way, not bothering to reply to Noah’s attempts at conversation.
