Page 66 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

ARA

B rilliant orange butterflies fluttered through a glittering forest until they turned to embers, floating from a hearth made of black glass. Wooden Draigs flew overhead, a smile tugging at my lips as I followed where they led.

The Draigs, the memories, fate itself led me through the massive obsidian columns onto a ledge that overlooked the sea far below, painted golden by the setting sun, but amid it all stood a Fae man.

The last few rays of sunlight caught the deep wine-red of his large wings, and they glowed like burning rubies.

“Beautiful,” I whispered, and he turned.

As his maroon gaze met mine, the corner of his mouth tipped up in a crooked smile.

He stretched his arms out wide, his grin deepening, and I sprinted at him without a second thought, a cry caught in my throat. I jumped into his arms, wrapping myself around him, and?—

I stirred, peeling my eyes open.

My pounding head rested on his chest, rising and falling in steady waves, his heart beat slow, rhythmic. I sucked in a breath, fingers splayed over his bare skin, warm and solid and alive.

Rogue.

Closing my eyes, I listened to his heartbeat, his breath, savoring the feel of him beneath me. A tear slipped from the corner of my eye, and I quickly, albeit carefully, wiped it away before it dripped onto him.

We were still in the cave, though I wasn’t sure how long we’d been here.

An empty whiskey bottle lay a few feet away, another one shattered at the base of the wall, but there were no plates, bags, or any other sign of food.

Worry gnawed at my gut as I shifted to look at Rogue, moving slowly to not wake him, but my attention snagged on his fingers instead.

Gently, I lifted his fingertips and squinted at the…

I dropped his hand.

Dried blood caked his nails and cuticles.

I swallowed the lump in my throat as the memories of another night flooded me, one not so long ago when I’d been the drunk one. I’d accidentally hit the wounds on his back, the scars he mutilated and refused to let heal.

My hand flew to cover my mouth, my vision blurring behind the moisture pooling there, but I couldn’t look away from his bloody fingers, scared of what I’d find if I went searching for it.

His wings.

Another tear fell, and I harshly wiped it away with the back of my hand, sparks popping at my fingertips, static rising.

His fucking wings.

I screwed my eyes shut as days flashed behind my eyelids.

A blood-red dragon glided over the ocean, three more wyverns chasing after him until a fourth joined. Aurum’s shimmering gold disappeared beneath Rogue’s shadow. Another flap of his massive wings and?—

Sun beamed over a turquoise sea, wyverns as graceful under its surface as they were in the sky. Wind blew around us, Rogue’s arms strong beneath my knees and shoulders, my arms around his neck, his laughter in my ears, and his wings?—

His wings were a bubble of safety against the pounding rain, safety and freedom, despite that I was caged between him and a wall.

His hands explored my body, rough and calloused.

Humidity clung to our skin as his mouth devoured mine, yet I needed more.

I always needed more of him: more touches, more kisses, more words and laughs, more days, nights, weeks, years.

I needed a lifetime with him, but even that wouldn’t be enough… and he’d spend it ground bound.

His wings . His fucking wings.

He’d offered me my freedom, but his wings had always been his.

My hand dug into my mouth when a sob built in my throat, my teeth breaking the delicate skin of my lips, my other hand bracing against my abdomen.

We’d both lost our freedom that night, in more ways than one, and his had rotted on the wall like they meant nothing.

I’d been forced to watch his freedom rot in that fucking dungeon.

Fury, unlike anything I’d ever felt, boiled in my veins, Adonis’s face searing into my mind.

He had genuinely tried to take Rogue from me.

I thought I understood what that meant before, but no.

No number of explanations, no words, no length of time, or recounting of memories, nothing could ever compare to this, to remembering him.

This was Rogue— my freedom, my home, my mate, my love.

Mine.

Fucking mine.

I would rip the essence from Adonis’s being, shatter it beyond recognition, and erase every trace of him. No memory of his existence would remain. He would be nothing but a distant plague on the land, long forgotten.

Silver light cast over Rogue, and I froze, then narrowed my eyes. My skin glowed faintly, power surging to the surface at the call of my anger. I tried to stifle it, but it slipped through my fingers, crackling with blue-white sparks.

“What?” I asked under my breath, lifting my hands away from Rogue.

Static tickled my hair, and the cave grew brighter. Every crystal emanated a weak glow, a subtle hum rising in the air. Energy pulsed beneath my skin and wormed its way into everything it could.

“What’s happening?” I planted my hands on the stone floor, my teeth gritted, silently praying that I could hold it together long enough to slip out from beneath his arm.

The moment I moved, though, it cinched around my shoulders, razor-sharp talons pressing into my skin with the promise of blood if I tried again.

My gaze snapped up, clashing with his, a fiery mirror that reflected my crackling silver. His pupils were slitted, but he blinked a few times, and they rounded again.

Hurt and anger, expectation and caution—they all burned in his bloodshot eyes and the dark circles beneath them, in his furrowed brows and the way he refused to give me an inch, a breath, a heartbeat away from him.

I lifted my hand, and the flames in his irises surged until my palm found his cheek, his skin blistering hot. I traced his cheekbone, his nose, his lips, the scar down his throat.

A faint wisp grazed over my thigh to my hips, then my waist and my breasts. I glanced down, but he jerked my face back up to him—not before I glimpsed the fire consuming my form.

My heart pounded, straining against its cage. A second later, chilled air kissed my skin.

Naked.

He burned my clothes off, yet I wasn’t burned. His gaze never wavered from mine, even as my sparks danced over him, climbing his torso and arms.

Our magic had changed somehow. Had it been the Goddess or the blood oath?

“Not the pattern you intended.”

Was this the pattern, then? My heart skipped a beat. Did this mean I couldn’t hurt him? My magic clearly couldn’t.

I bit my lip, stifling a smile, and rose slowly to straddle him. His large hands settled on my hips, his grip possessive as I whispered, “Have I ever told you I love you?”

He released a ragged breath and tugged me down by the nape of my neck to claim my lips, his kiss raw and desperate, stale whiskey and heartbreak bitter on my tongue.

Rogue Draki had suffered enough, and I would devote every last breath to ensuring he never knew pain again.

He sat up straighter with a groan, one hand splayed over my lower back, holding me to him, the other cupping my cheek. His tongue slipped past my lips, his chest hot against my bare breasts.

Gone was the fiery explosion we once were.

We’d become the smoldering ruins of that collision, steady and inevitable. A star blazed in my chest, as bright and all-consuming as the sun above, but he was the constant I’d wither and die without.

Nothing else mattered. Not tomorrow. Not the next day, the next week, or month, or year. Not even Adonis, or any other distant threat looming on the horizon.

Nothing mattered as long as I had him.

A small flame flickered to life in the chambers of my heart, my rib cage charged with the duty of protecting not only my heart but his, too.

“Tell me again,” he growled and nipped my lip.

I flinched with a gasp, the metallic tang coating my tongue, but he grabbed my jaw and tilted my head to grant him more access.

“Tell me again and again, a thousand times. Tell me every minute of every fucking day until the sun sets on the world, and we’re dust among the stars.

Even then, I’ll be whispering the words to you.

I love you, little storm, so fucking much. ”

“I love you, too.” I kissed his lips, his cheeks, his forehead, his lips again. My back bowed as flames gently climbed my spine and caressed my throat. “I love you, and I missed you.”

In one swift motion, he flipped us, and the heated skin of my back met cold stone. Steam rose from the pool as his magic heated the air, the crystal towers flickering with energy.

His hard body covered mine as he braced a hand beside my head, his eyes tracing my every curve until it landed on my mouth. He ran his thumb along my bottom lip—but then his jaw clenched and his eyes darkened, pupils slitted.

“Twelve hours you were gone,” he ground out. “ Twelve hours, I suffered your loss.”

My heart cracked. “I’m sorry, love. I’m so?—”

His mouth crashed to mine in a bruising kiss, and my words died on my tongue. His hand moved to my throat, his other gripping my hip, pulling me against him as he devoured my mouth like a starved man.

He was starved, and so was I.

The hand on my hip slid lower, and butterflies erupted in my belly in anticipation, but his fingertips skimmed the outside of my thigh. I rolled my hips into him, and he chuckled before hooking his hand beneath my knee and spreading my legs wide.

He slid down the length of my body.

Oh, Goddess.

My heart thrumming in my throat, I squirmed under his heavy gaze, my nerves on fire. His hot breath fanned across my stomach, and I whimpered as he pressed a kiss beneath my belly button.

Oh, Goddess.

My head fell back onto the stone.

He tossed my leg over his shoulder. “Eyes on me, little storm.”

His burning gaze cast firelight over my pale skin as he dipped his head and ran his tongue over my clit. My eyes nearly rolled at the feeling, warm and wet and?—