Page 46 of A Touch of Gold and Madness (Celestials of Arcadia #1)

Chapter 45

Gray

C hrome lowered himself to his knees at my feet, stopping his finger’s ascension to the growing tightness at my center. The sight of someone so powerful on his knees for me shattered the last of any resolve I had.

His quicksilver eyes whirled like a vortex, matching the emotions that he failed to block from me. Feeling twice the passion would be the death of me. I didn’t think I could withstand both of our emotions. I wouldn’t last long.

I bucked my hips toward him, silently begging for his touch to return.

Chrome chuckled, a husky sound, before he nipped the inside of my thigh. “What do you want, little savage?”

I glared down at him, barely able to breathe. “You know what I fucking want.”

A crooked grin inched up one side. “That’s not playing very nice.” He nipped me again, this time slightly harder. “How do we ask nicely?”

“Please,” I gritted out through clenched teeth.

“Please… what , Gray?” He slowly dragged his fingertip up again toward my center, teasing me and setting my nerves on fire.

“Please make me fucking come. ”

“All you had to do was ask. Was that so hard?” He reached my opening, circling around the wetness with his finger. “You’re so fucking wet for me.”

My mouth went dry from heaving for air. “Please, Chrome…”

He groaned just before he entered a finger inside me. I gasped at the penetration. “Fuck, you’re so tight.” He worked his finger slowly before entering a second one, spreading me further for him.

“I need…I need… you .” My chest felt like it would explode. Every time he hit that special spot that put me on the brink, he slowed down, leaving me on the edge for minutes.

Without stopping the motion with his fingers, he brought his face closer to my center, laying a tender kiss to the inside of my thigh. “All… mine ,” he said before flicking his tongue against my clit. Another groan escaped him. Then he took my clit between his lips with just the right pressure, adding his relaxed tongue to massage it as he sucked.

My knees buckled. Chrome’s free arm flew up to catch my hand, giving me something to balance on. I suddenly became aware I wasn’t being quiet in the slightest.

Chrome tugged on my hand as he shifted from his knees to lie on his back between my legs. “Sit on my face and let me make you fall apart.”

My legs could hardly hold me vertical much longer anyway, so with shaky thighs, I gladly lowered myself onto his mouth. His tongue instantly began to slowly lap at my opening. The electricity that already hummed in my veins intensified and shot through my body. I drooped forward, bracing myself against the wall as Chrome’s mouth brought me closer to pure ecstasy.

He groaned into my pussy. “You taste like oblivion. I’m forever lost to you.” His tongue lazily caressed my opening several times, before dipping in and out, as if he had all the time in world. Pulling my clit between his lips, he applied just the right pressure as he sucked, putting me on the precipice of nirvana. I rolled my hips over his tongue, unable to control my body’s needs.

“I’m gonna…” I whimpered.

“Come for my tongue, little savage,” he rasped. He pushed two fingers back inside me while never relenting with his mouth.

My core tightened; I was wound up, I couldn’t breathe. I threw my head back as I allowed the shockwaves of pleasure to surge through me. My inner walls clenched tight as the euphoric explosion catapulted through my body.

Chrome squeezed my hips, rocking me back and forth over his mouth, consuming every bit of my release.

My body went limp, feeling drained as I worked to even my breaths and ride out the aftershocks that Chrome continued to induce after the fact.

A banging on the door had me bolting upright, adrenaline shooting right through my weakened state as I stood to remove myself from Chrome’s face. I cursed, using the wall to hold me upright as I searched for my discarded clothes.

The banging continued. “Chrome!” Blaize’s muffled voice yelled from the other side. “I know you’re in there. Open up.”

Light-headed and weak, it was a struggle to get dressed in a frenzy. “Relax. Go get a shower and get dressed,” Chrome said, wrapping his arm around my torso, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. “I’ll be here when you get out.”

I sighed in relief. “Thank you.”

Like the rest of his room, the oversized bathroom was similar to mine with the natural oasis theme. However, there was a masculine touch that I found made me feel safe.

I took the time in the shower to process what had just happened. How I’d lost myself to Chrome in the heat of the moment. As much as I felt I should feel ashamed, I didn’t. Whatever happened between us felt right, natural.

After cleansing my body and allowing the warm water to relax my muscles, I left the shower before I could overthink too much longer. I didn’t know what this meant for us or where we stood, but I felt I’d earned a semblance of happiness at this point .

When I returned to his room, fully dressed, Chrome sat on the edge of his bed, his knees bouncing anxiously as he stared at the door.

I froze. “What’s wrong?”

Turning to meet my gaze, he said, “Sergeant Hogan is here, waiting for us downstairs. They needed me to let down the wards with Onyx to let them in.”

“Oh.” I let out a breath, relaxing my shoulders as my mind jumped to the worst-case scenario. “Did he bring the book?” I towel-dried my hair.

Chrome nodded and rose to his feet. “We should get going. Everyone is waiting on us.”

“Okay.” I found a hamper in the corner by the bathroom and discarded the towel. “Let’s go.”

I moved to reach the door when Chrome’s hand wrapped around my neck from behind, spinning me around to meet his lips in a demanding kiss that claimed me. “Just so we’re clear, we’re not even close to being done.”

I nodded dumbly, desire igniting my veins once again. “Okay,” I whispered, afraid my voice would show how much I wanted his promise to hold true. Because damn .

Chrome’s lopsided grin told me he knew exactly how I felt. He stole another kiss, this one softer, before grabbing my hand and lacing our fingers together before heading to the door. “Let’s go.”

Before we reached what I’d come to learn was called the War Room, Chrome and I dropped hands. Whatever we were, I wasn’t ready to go public with it…yet.

The table housed our group, plus a few human rebels. One face stood out. Dash .

I narrowed my eyes at him, to which he flashed me a beaming smile. “Nice to see you again, Your Highness. ”

Before I could retort, Chrome gestured for me to take our seats at the opposite heads of the table. I took mine at the far end, where River and Aella flanked both sides.

I fought the blush that crept up my neck, fighting the erotic images of Chrome’s face buried between my thighs. I squeezed them together, taunted by the memory of his mouth, tongue…

“Princess Gray.”

I snapped my head up and cleared my throat, straightening my spine.

“I’d like for you to meet Sergeant Hogan, leader of the rebel militia in the southeastern region.” Orion waved a hand toward the muscular, bearded man draped in American military camo. The fabric was old—faded, stained, and frayed—but the name tag beamed proudly on his chest.

Hogan appeared to be in his late thirties. He wasn’t an unattractive man by any means. Yet, the hardness in his eyes told me he’d seen too much death to ever be okay again.

“And you must be the princess everyone’s pinned all their hopes on.” A strained smile, as if he was too tired to muster a genuine one, pulled at the edges of his mouth.

“I am, although I warned those here that it wasn’t the wisest choice.”

Hogan breathed out a weak laugh. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Likewise, Sergeant.”

Chrome took the time to exchange pleasantries with the sergeant while everyone chatted amongst themselves before the meeting began. I caught Dash smiling mischievously at me. Before I could say something, River smacked my arm.

She leaned into me, whispering, “About time you two fucked.”

I tensed. “Why the hell would you think that?”

River laughed as if I was missing something important. “Honey, everyone in the fucking lodge heard you.”

“No…”

“Oh, yes, Princess.”

Aella leaned in on my other side. “Don’t listen to her. It wasn’t the entire lodge. ”

I sighed but caught her keyword. “ Entire ? You mean…”

“Just River because she was being a nosy bitch.”

I shook my head and laughed at River’s shameless shrug. “Oh. Well, in that case, was it a good show?”

River snorted. “All I know is I wish someone would make me feel like that while eating my—”

She was cut off by Chrome grabbing everyone’s attention, but his intense gaze narrowed on River. “Now that we’re all here,” he started.

River suppressed a laugh, her hand covering her mouth. “Who was it we were waiting on again?” she mumbled in a smartass retort.

Aella snorted, holding back a giggle while studying her hands in her lap.

I bit my lip, determined to keep a straight face. Chrome cocked an eyebrow, waiting for us to get it together and be serious.

“As I was saying,” Chrome said. His severe expression said he wasn’t amused, but the twinkle in his eyes said otherwise. “Sergeant Hogan has been kind enough to come to us with The Book of the Arcane . We should give him our undivided attention.” He speared River with a hard look before his lip twitched.

Hogan cleared his throat. “This book was hidden in D.C. The government had it under tightly sealed protection for centuries, and before that, monarchies and the Catholic Church did. It’s been well-guarded.”

The sergeant looked to his right, where Dash sat. Holding his palm out, he gestured for the teen to slide the ancient tome to him. Dash pulled it from his lap, carefully setting the thick book on the table before gingerly passing it to the rebel leader.

“It’s ancient. It must be preserved by some form of magic because if it weren’t, it would be decayed by now,” he said as he slowly flicked through its pages. “According to the reports stolen from the Pentagon, there is no known language from our world in this book. But the illustrations are indicative enough.” Sergeant Hogan then slid the book to Chrome, whose brows were furrowed as he studied it .

After flipping through several pages, he stopped, pointing at something that caught his eye. “That’s the beastie-bear.” He looked up to meet my gaze. “Take a look?”

I nodded. Standing from my seat, I rounded the rectangular table to reach him. Once I stood beside him, his hand found my lower back. Warmth flooded me.

The pages were yellowed and weathered, but the ink was still dark and clear. There, right before my eyes, was a sketch of the massive, horned bear we encountered. “Yeah. That’s it.”

On the same page was a sketch of a regal castle, pointed spires and all. “You said it was supposedly a regal being, right?”

“Yes, that’s what I was told.”

“Seems that information checks out,” I said and pointed to the castle.

Chrome flipped through several more pages. Sigils and runes marked many of them. It struck me as odd how they resembled Kinetic brands and Elemental marks at the same time. “I don’t see anything exactly resembling Kinetics and Elementals. Do you?”

Chrome shook his head. “But there’s similarities.” He snapped his attention to Orion. “You were a scholar, right?”

Orion dipped his head. “I was.”

“Do you think you’d be able to decipher this language?”

Orion hesitated. “I can do my best.”

“Thank you. I want to…” Chrome stopped on a page, drawing my attention to what halted him.

A black-and-white drawing depicted two individuals that seemed to merge, yet they remained separate. I studied it, trying to decipher the meaning without being able to read the passage beneath it. “That looks like a bond of some kind? If I’m not mistaken, it looks like a spiritual one,” I said, noting the energetic fields circling the joined figures. A line connected the two from the sternum like a tether. “The Twin Soul Bond?”

“It appears that way, doesn’t it?” He looked up at me as if I were the only person in the room, stealing my breath. I couldn’t pull my gaze away as my heart threatened to beat from my chest .

Breaking the tension between us, Orion said, “I’ll take the book and see what I can decode. Thank you, Sergeant. We are most grateful for all the trouble you’ve gone through to get this relic.”

“Anything to stop Forest from further destroying humanity. The sooner the bastard dies, the sooner we can rebuild our world,” Hogan replied, his jaw set in fierce determination.

“I’ll have Blaize show you to the cabins where you can stay for a few nights. They’ve been prepared for your arrival. Electricity and running water are ready for you,” Orion assured him.

Dash’s eyes lit up. “What about Katia’s pies? Please tell me I can have Katia’s pies.”

Kodiak grinned. “She’d be delighted to bake one for you. I’m sure she’s already got one made for you guys.”

Dash clenched his fist victoriously. “Can’t we stay here, Sergeant?”

Hogan rolled his eyes. “Don’t get spoiled.”

“There’s another book out there that’s in Forest’s possession, right? A book of dark magic? What do you know of it?” Onyx cut in.

“We don’t know much, but our intel sources at the palace tell us that he’s had it for over two decades. And that it contains the key to destroying the veil between realms.”

I bit my lower lip. “If there’s a source of power that he seeks in Arcadia, then it must be in the book. Surely, it’ll have a drawing somewhere.”

Chrome’s hand began slowly circling my lower back, sending little shocks up and down my spine. “If it’s in there, Gray, we’ll find it. The only issue is how long we have before Forest decides to make his move.”