Page 51 of Kingdom of Chaos (Creatures of Chaos #2)

“Talon,” I whisper, overwhelmed. Not just by his presence, but by the weight of his words.

An ache blooms in my chest. I can’t tell if I want him to stop talking . . . or never stop.

But he doesn’t pause. He keeps going.

“I see someone who deserves to be chosen. I’d choose you, every time. Every version of you—strong, stubborn, scared—I see it all. I. See. You .”

The air between us shifts, charged and heavy, as something electric crackles under my skin. My magic stirs within me, and the gold and silver threads that bind us together appear, casting Talon in a soft glow and taking my breath away.

“I know this is difficult for you,” he says.

“You don’t want to hurt anyone, and all of this is messy and confusing.

” His tongue swipes over his bottom lip, wetting it, and I’m drawn in, helpless against the slow, deliberate motion.

“But every time we get close, you push me away, like we don’t already know how this ends. ”

“How does this end?” I ask, mesmerized.

His eyes search mine, not with uncertainty, but with a quiet promise I feel in my bones.

He steps in close, his hand sliding to the back of my neck, holding me like he’s afraid I’ll run before saying, “Becks was your first, but I’m your forever.”

A shiver rolls down my spine, and every part of me tilts toward him like gravity has chosen sides.

“Do you remember what I told you about the first time we kiss?” he asks.

Awareness coils low in my stomach as words that have been impossible for me to forget run through my mind.

“The first time we kiss, Freckles, it won’t be to make another guy jealous. It’ll be because we can’t live another second without tasting each other’s lips.”

I nod, not able to find my voice, and Talon’s gaze drops to my mouth. The look in his eyes makes my breath hitch, and as he inches closer every nerve in my body goes on high alert.

“And are you there?” he asks. “Because I am. I’m tired of waiting.”

My heart hammers in my chest as I whisper, “Yeah,” my voice barely there. “I think I’ve been there for a while.”

Something shifts in Talon’s expression. Relief, maybe. Or a sharper longing, raw and intense, like he’s been holding his breath for days and I’ve finally let him exhale.

He leans in slowly, giving me every chance to pull away. I don’t.

“Good. Because I’m done holding back,” he murmurs, and then his mouth finds mine.

He tastes like an intoxicating mix of danger and desire. His lips are soft and smooth and I can’t seem to get enough of them as they brush up against mine again and again.

The kiss is everything he promised it would be.

Not about jealousy. Not about proving anything.

Just us. Raw, consuming, inevitable. Deeper and different than anything I’d ever experienced before.

More than I could even fathom a kiss being, because at once I’m broken into a million pieces, but then in the same breath, right back together again.

It feels like electricity is being passed back and forth between us.

This is the most alive I’ve ever felt in my life.

A moan rises from my throat and slips from my lips when his mouth breaks from mine and trails down my neck. I dive my hands into his hair, holding him close, refusing to let him go.

In one swift motion, Talon reaches down, hooks his hands under my thighs and lifts me. Instinctually, my legs wrap around his waist as he presses me back against the rough brick wall, his mouth never leaving my skin.

He brushes his lips along my throat, slow and deliberate, until he reaches my ear. When he catches the lobe gently between his teeth and bites down, a rush of heat pulses through me like a live wire snapping beneath my skin.

I drag his mouth back to mine, and when his tongue brushes up against mine, my mind goes hazy.

I can’t think. I can’t stop. I don’t exist beyond this bubble.

As his mouth moves over mine again and again, the world doesn’t tilt to throw me off balance—it settles, like it’s finally fallen into the place it was always meant to be.

The thing that’s been trying desperately to grow between us finally bursts to life, bright and beautiful, like an all-consuming fire, impossible to contain.

Suddenly, Talon pulls back and we break apart, both struggling for breath as we stare at each other, wide-eyed and stunned.

“Damn, Freckles,” he murmurs, his voice rough and low, and I feel it all the way to my toes.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” I ask, breathless, confused by the sudden pause.

He lets out a soft laugh, and I feel it rumble in his chest with how close we still are. “Had to stop,” he says, eyes dark and steady. “Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have.”

Oh. Oh .

“Well. That was, um, a lot,” I say with a nervous laugh, still tingling from the way his kisses lit every nerve in my body. “Honest, yeah. And kind of wrecking me, just a little.”

He brushes a thumb across my cheek, his voice low. “Yeah? That’s kind of how I’ve felt since the day I met you.”

A shaky breath escapes me. “I don’t even know what to do with that,” I whisper. “Except maybe admit that you’ve been under my skin since day one too.”

His brows lift slightly, eyes narrowing. Not with anger, but disbelief.

“Since day one?” he echoes, voice low. “Because the way I remember it you were mooning over a particular dragon heir and treating me like the guy who couldn’t annoy you more.”

He searches my face like he’s trying to find the lie, but all he finds is me.

“Tell me that again,” he says, softer this time. “And mean it.”

I huff out a laugh, my cheeks warming. “I said you were under my skin, not that I was doodling your name in the margins of my notebook and daydreaming about our wedding.” I meet his eyes, trying not to smile. “You were obnoxious. And unfairly hot. It was very inconvenient.”

His eyes widen comically, like I’ve shocked him. “You mean to tell me that you weren’t composing love sonnets about my jawline?”

I can’t help but laugh with him at that. “No!” I pause, then mutter, “Though it is a really good jawline.”

He chuckles, and a sudden burst of embarrassment hits me as I realize I’m still latched on to him like a spider monkey.

“You should probably, um, let me go,” I say.

He quirks an eyebrow. “Let you go? Never.”

Butterflies flutter in my stomach, but once I’ve untangled my limbs from around him, he lets me slide down the front of him until my feet touch the ground again.

His gaze travels over my face, like he’s searching for something, and a moment later I know what when he asks, “Any regrets?”

There’s a touch of vulnerability in his gaze I’m not used to seeing.

I draw in a slow breath, eyes dropping for a moment as the question settles between us.

Do I have regrets?

The truth is, I don’t know how to untangle one feeling from another right now. What I feel for Becks, what I thought I knew, what I wanted to believe, it’s all still there, layered and complicated.

But things with Talon have never been simple either.

“I don’t know what this means for everything else,” I say finally, meeting his gaze. “But this moment? You?”

I pause, feeling the truth of it settle in my chest like a heartbeat I hadn’t noticed until now. “No. I don’t regret it.”

Talon’s smile is equal parts relief and joy, lighting up his entire face. Just as he opens his mouth to respond, the door to the warehouse slams open.

The bang reverberates through the space like a gunshot, and we both jolt. I spin toward the entrance, my pulse still racing from everything that just happened, but now for a very different reason.

Becks stands in the doorway, a takeout bag clutched in one hand, his eyes fixed on us.

He freezes.

The lighthearted expression he wore only a second earlier dies on his face as he takes in the scene: me still flushed with swollen lips and standing far too close to Talon, whose hand hasn’t quite dropped from my waist.

“I—” Becks starts, his voice catching. He clears his throat and lifts the bag slightly, like that somehow makes this moment less raw. “I, uh . . . brought dinner. Thought you might still be training.”

His gaze darts between us, and emotion shifts behind his eyes. A wound I opened once and somehow tore open again. Hurt. Betrayal. Maybe a feeling he won’t let himself name.

He sets the bag down on the nearby folding table with more force than necessary.

Neither Talon nor I say a word. The silence is thick. Heavy.

“I’ll give you two some space,” Becks says, already backing toward the door. “Clearly, you don’t need me here.”

Then he’s gone before I can figure out what to say. Before I even know what I want to say.