Page 15 of Scorched by Fate (Drakarn Mates #3)
FIFTEEN
VYNE
Selene lay tangled against me, her breathing uneven but slowing into something calm. Sweat slicked her skin, the salty tang of it lingering where her pulse beat faintly at her neck. Her warmth pressed into mine, every soft edge of her fitting against the sharp, unyielding lines of me. My hand rested low on her hip, claws carefully curved back because I didn’t trust them—not with her like this. Fragile. Human.
Mine.
The thought struck, sharp as any blade. It rooted itself too deeply, twisting through me with brutal certainty.
Mine.
And fates take me, nothing had ever burned quite like the satisfaction wrapped up in that word.
Her dark hair clung in damp, chaotic waves to her skin, streaked with ash and grit stolen from this unforgiving landscape. And still, nothing—not Volcaryth’s heat, not the volcanic terrain threatening to destroy us both—could dull how fierce she looked in the bare afterglow. Fierce but soft, utterly untouchable despite the undeniable way she melted in my arms.
My wings gave a flick. The motion curled the edges inward, shrouding her body where she rested against me, offering her a quiet shelter she didn’t even know was there. Her weight grounded me, warm and too close, leaving nothing—not battle, not rage, not reason—to distract me. It was just her. Her scent in the thick air, the tension still crawling sharp under my skin, and the knowledge of what had just passed between us.
Stars above, I was already failing.
My instincts snarled, wild and unrelenting, demanding more of her. Touch her again. Taste her again. Claim her utterly.
I stilled, forcing a sharp inhale into lungs still aching from exertion. The sulfur-tinged air clung to my ribs, its bitterness scratching at my throat. But it wasn’t what filled me now. No, all I could taste was her—the maddening sweetness beneath the salt tang of her sweat, the wild scent of something citrus. It clung to my tongue, lingering like a punishable indulgence, and some reckless, bone-deep urge wanted to taste it again. To remind her of this bond in ways she couldn’t ignore.
Not yet. That leash was tighter than want, though the edges frayed enough that my claws twitched at their cage. I couldn't give in, not while her body still hummed with exhaustion pressed into my chest.
Selene shifted against me. The small motion—so subtle yet intimate—tore across every frayed nerve. My grip tightened on her hip, my palm warm and calloused against the thin fabric of the shirt I’d scavenged from her pack. Her fingers stirred against my ribs, a soft twitch that shouldn’t have tugged at something deep inside me. And yet … I memorized her, almost unconsciously, with a sharpened focus I couldn’t explain even to myself.
I wished she was lying naked against me, but no amount of lust could overcome the reality of our location, and we'd hastily pulled on clothes before collapsing beside one another.
Her exhaustion softened her edges, and for half a moment, her guard gave way to something gentler. Her brown lashes rested softly against her cheeks. Her chest rose in steady rhythm beneath my hand. I dragged my gaze over the shape of her.
Sanity should’ve returned by now, except it hadn’t. I’d crossed every boundary I had no right to touch … and still, it wasn’t enough. The heat pulling tight through me hadn’t dulled; it didn’t burn out the way it should have. If anything … it burned sharper now. Hungrier.
Mine.
Mate.
It wasn’t something quiet anymore. The word crawled red-hot through every breath, every nerve, an ache gnawing sharp at the center of my chest. I hadn’t said it aloud. I didn’t need to. Every time my fingers skimmed delicate bones beneath too-fragile skin, I came closer to losing the leash entirely.
She wasn’t just mine. She was her —stubborn, maddeningly human, and so gorgeously unbreaking she made all of Volcaryth look brittle by comparison. No molten river could claim her, no volcanic ridge could match her stubborn, radiance. And she still didn’t know, did she?
Selene tilted her head, a soft brush of her temple against the dip of my collarbone. Heat sparked, unbidden and familiar where her pulse beat. My throat locked around the need coiled there, wrapping tight through sinew and muscle. Every part of me wanted to take more—to feel more —but instead, my fingers eased into that moment.
I forced myself still. Anything less threatened whatever frayed balance I’d clawed back. The whisper of her name burned against my tongue, bitter smoke tight at the edges. If I’d let it slip now, if I’d told her?—
Forge save me, I wanted to tell her.
If she saw everything unraveling in me now, she’d never believe it. The truth. That no ridge, no fault line, no uncharted piece of this godless terrain could break me half as easily as she could.
And if I wasn’t careful … she would .
“I can feel you thinking,” Selene muttered, her voice soft and frayed at the edges, though laced with a bit of humor. Her hand nudged weakly at my chest—not a push, not even close, but strong enough to pull my focus back to her because of course she’d notice.
Of course she would find space to tease even now.
I blinked down at her, the corners of my mouth twitching despite myself. “You should be sleeping.”
“So should you.”
I tilted my head. “Are you fussing at me?”
My claws shifted against her hip, the motion careful, restrained. She didn’t pull away. Didn’t stiffen. But she did look up at me, eyes catching reflections of distant light. The glow carved firelight into her expression, pulling tight against every stubborn edge of her.
“You’re impossible,” she muttered. The softness beneath the words caught somewhere deeper—fragile, not from weakness, but from something she wouldn’t offer easily.
“And you’re still here,” I replied.
Selene snorted, though the sound lacked edge. Fragile. Tirelessly human. The tension between us dulled—not into emptiness, but into something quieter. Something heavier. It settled there, like this volatile mountain ridge couldn’t shift it.
Her head tilted, gaze slipping past me toward the expanse of Volcaryth unfolding just beyond the crumbled plateau. The landscape was vicious in its beauty, a sprawling labyrinth of broken black rock and shimmering heat. The rivers of lava threading veins deep into the mountains glowed, casting distorted shadows across her sharp features.
“What is this place to you?” she asked quietly, her voice tinged with something sincere enough to unbalance me.
I stilled.
My focus cut away from her face, following the long spires of dark peaks breaking against the stifling haze. Her tone was soft but unflinching, brushing against the edges of something I hadn’t intended to acknowledge.
“It’s a proving ground,” I said finally. “There was a time when young Drakarn warriors who thought they’d finished their training came here. The Harrovan Mountains are cruel, but surviving them …” My claws flexed against her side. “The ones who came back weren’t just warriors anymore.”
“It’s different now,” I continued. The weight tightened in my chest before I could stop it, rougher than the air clawing its way through the rocky expanse under us. “The terrain is too unstable. Fewer came back. And Ignarath has expanded their territory; we're not far from the border.” My thumb moved along the curve of her waist. “They would not take kindly to this mission."
Her lips parted, not in argument, but with questions lining the space between us. She didn’t ask them.
Her head shifted, brushing against my chin. I should have held her still, anchored her completely into this moment before her restless thoughts took her another direction. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it—not when it was Selene, not when her fire kept breaking apart things I thought I’d buried long ago.
She settled back against me, and her soft, shallow breaths melted into an even sleep.
I sat there for awhile before finally, my own eyelids drooped, and I joined her in the peace of slumber.
Then it shattered.
A scream split the still air, and I jerked upright, looking for its source.