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“He’d worry.”

Hel tugged her toward the open window that he must have come in from and said “Ready?” and they jumped.

Another jarring shift brought them stepping out of a portal to a large bonfire, drums and tambourines beating. Half-shifted dragons with wings protruding out of their backs danced and talked in gathered groups. There must be a hundred or more. She’d never seen so many in one place before. A boar the size of a horse roasted over a smaller fire and the smell made her mouth water.

She tugged her hand back from him and cleared her throat.

“You don’t like me holding your hand?”

She half smiled. “There are people watching us.”

“So can I grab your ass?” he said with a wink.

Her eyes widened and then she started laughing. “You’re quite the tease, aren’t you?”

War stepped away from a group with a golden goblet in hand, moving their way. “We’re crashing War’s party?” she asked.

“It’s not exactly crashing when I was invited.”

“He looks surprised.”

“To see you.”

Hel slipped his arm around her waist and tugged her flush to his side. “Dragons know how to party and so does War. If your last very formal event was any indication of how you’ve spent the last thousand years cooped up in your territory, you need this night.”

Her heart fluttered at the warmth of his hand on her waist. “What’s wrong with my parties?”

“Nothing, they’re just formal. Proper. Too much talking and not enough inappropriate dancing.” They strolled right by War. “We’ll chat in a minute!” Hel shouted to him over the music.

War laughed and raised a glass to them.

With his hands on her hips, he slowly pushed them side to side. A flush worked its way up her neck, but she didn’t stop him. Rather she began to sway with him and the music. She put her hands on his shoulders, and he smiled. The music was upbeat, the group of dragons started singing and moving their feet in unison, Hel did too.

“I don’t know this dance!” she shouted over the music.

“Me either. Just go with it.” He spun her around and dipped her low then brought her back up so fast her hair flung forward, half wrapping around him. She laughed and they circled and stepped. His hands moved over her hot skin, daring on the edge of inappropriate but he never went too low, though his thumbs scraped under her breasts, and it caught her by surprise at how much she liked it. She threw her head back, looking up at the stars as they swayed with her. The two moons filled her with energy, with vigor, making her skin subtly luminate. She hadn’t let herself feel so free like this in longer than she could remember. Her powers tingled along her body, a high of its own.

Hel’s fingertips pressed into her upper back. She tilted her chin down, grinning. “This is wonderful. Thank you.”

“You look good letting go. Beautiful. The most beautiful thing in the realms.” His hands slid down to her ass, and gripped her, lifting her. She gasped at first then pulled herself closer, their lips a breath from touching. As if he couldn’t take the temptation any longer, he kissed her. He was water and she was a desert that craved it. Her thighs wrapped around his hips, her hands caressed his face, tangled in his hair as their lips moved.

He held her against him with ease, with surety. Possessive.

His lips trailed down her throat, over her collarbone, and she curled tighter around him. Tilting his chin back up she kissed him, sliding her tongue between his teeth.

She finally pulled away and slid down his body. The funny thing was at the moment she didn’t care if anyone saw them. If she was back in her territory, she’d be mortified. She never acted this way with anyone, and it wasn’t wine or drugs that made her feel this way, but him.

He pushed his fingers into her hair and caressed her cheek with his thumb. “I think you might be my undoing.”

The way he looked at her, like she was the only thing that mattered made her heart lurch. The way she suddenly cared about him made her nervous. The way her mind began to wonder if he’d taken any of those girls to bed that night at his party burned her with jealousy. It was too fast, too soon.

She said, “We should go say hello to the host.”

“Alright.” He slipped his hand in hers, intertwining their fingers and they made their way over to War. “Hello, cousin.”

War tipped his goblet back and held out his other hand. They pulled each other in for a brief embrace and then he turned to her. “I did not expect to see you here.”

“Hel is persuasive.”