Page 123 of A Fate in Flames

I tilted my head, purposefully licking my lower lip.“And what if he is?”

His flames flared violently before settling into a slow, dangerous burn that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.

Okay, maybe I shouldn’t have said that.

He took a step closer, until there was nothing separating our bodies but scorching heat.His thigh pressed between mine, the hard muscle forcing my legs to part.He grasped my chin, lifting my face up to his with a grip that walked the knife’s edge between gentle and bruising.

“He willburnif he so much as touches you again.”The promise of violence was clear in every syllable.

I should’ve been frightened or outraged, but instead, a thrill coursed through me.

“It’s none of your concern who touches me,” I whispered.

His eyes narrowed into dangerous slits.He slammed a palm against the stone, rattling the railing behind me.Several small fragments broke free, tumbling into the pit below with tiny puffs of dust.

“No one touches what belongs to me.”

I huffed a laugh.“I belong tono one.”

Dalkhan spun me around to face the pit again.His massive hands gripped my hips, digging into the soft flesh.The thick, unmistakable ridge of his cock pressed hard against the curve of my backside.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop a whimper from escaping.

His lips found the nape of my neck—the barest whisper of contact.One of his hands slid up, skating over my ribs to rest just beneath my breast, his thumb tracing maddening circles.

“Your body,” he murmured, the words like embers against my flushed skin, “thinks otherwise.”

Heat crawled down my spine, settling heavy between my thighs and spreading outward in a wave.My knees were weak.I squeezed the railing until my fingers ached, as if that alone could remove the surge of overwhelming need.

Fuck.Fuck.Fuck.

I tried desperately to focus on the fight below—on Tavrik landing a brutal hit, sending the crowd into a frenzy.Jasila merely licked her lips, her eyes gleaming with hunger.

She was just getting started.

Dalkhan chuckled darkly, his teeth grazing my earlobe.

“Pathetic,” he mused.His free hand slid down to splay possessively across my stomach, pulling me more firmly against him.“You think staring at them will make you forget just how much you want me?”

Mortification burned through me, tangling with something far worse—the knowledge that he was absolutely right.I clenched my jaw so hard I thought my teeth might crack, still stubbornly keeping my eyes forward.

“I can still taste you,” he continued.“I thought of you all night, little flame.Tried to sate myself on the memory of you coming on my tongue.”His voice dropped to a whisper.“It was not fucking enough.”

It took every fragment of my fraying willpower to not arch back into him.To not surrender to the furnace of his body or grab his wrist and guide his hand where I wanted it.

To not turn my head and capture his cruel mouth with mine.

No.No.No.

I remained rigid, eyes locked on violent clash below, as if Tavrik and Jasila’s bloody spectacle could somehow drown out the storm raging inside me.But Dalkhan didn’t move away.He enveloped me like smoke, suffocating and intoxicating all at once.

“Tell me mortal—”

The word struck like a whip.I snapped my head toward him, glaring.

“Elira,” I hissed.“Notmortal.”

He smirked.