Chapter 23

"You forgot something," I say, a corner of my mouth kicking up in appreciation for his body. Hot damn! A fiery sense of pride runs through me at the fact I have this man. Broad, chiseled shoulders and chest taper to muscular waist and a firm bubble of a butt. If I had a quarter, I'd bounce it right off. Whew.

When I finally recover, meeting his eyes, I can't help the smirk on my lips.

"Were you planning to ride naked to the top of the mountain? Is that part of the magic?" I try to wiggle my fingers. "Are you gonna use my body for warmth?"

I can't seem to stop teasing him, the questioning turning stranger and stranger as I babble.

"Stop." He grinds his teeth together, taking the clothes from me and turning away for privacy.

"Ya know, for someone who just had his dick in my mouth, you sure are grumpy."

His entire body tenses, pausing as he pulls the shirt overhead. Slowly, he turns his head, eyes glittering, full of lust.

I must be out of my mind—because I love it.

I wink at him, tugging my vest down a little. His gaze flickers to my breasts, desire lighting his eyes again.

"Ali, do not tease me. Do not make this any harder than it already is."

I step closer to him, so close that his shirt whispers across my body as he tugs it into place. I'm playing with fire, and I'm intoxicated by that.

I run my hands up the sculpted planes of his back.

"Is that right? You're already hard for me? Again?"

A low growl rips from his throat, and I wrap my arms around his waist, smiling into his back.

"I could find out," I say, attempting to run my hands into his pants.

He brushes me away and steps forward, readying the horses for the journey. Rejection stings my pride, but I shake it off. His motions are jerky, and I know he's turned on. Ha! Grinning, I twist a strand of hair around my finger.

"What has gotten into you?" The question rushes from him as he dances away from me, slinging his sword into place over his back.

I tap my finger against my chin, fluttering my eyelashes. "Let's see… your fingers, your tongue, but not what I want most, your?—"

"Enough," he says sharply, eyes flaring.

My smile intensifies.

"I do not have the energy for cruel games. The day is running away from us. Mount your horse and let's be on our way."

Surprise sings through me. My jaw drops open. Cruel games?

Silently, he offers me a hand and leg up onto Molmith, and shocked into silence, I settle onto the warhorse.

Cruel games. I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling like an idiot all over again.

Of course he thinks I'm teasing him. I blow out a breath and let the morning sun wash over me. I never got a word in edgewise, and like the cocky guy he is, he thinks he knows exactly what I was thinking, when he couldn't be more wrong.

All righty then. I narrow my eyes, watching him mount up with effortless grace, despite his enormous size. I'll have to play it differently.

I'll have to show him I care about him before he'll let me really seduce him.

Because I do. This man, with his devilish grin and his jealousy and cockiness and secret softness that only I get to see, is the total package.

And I'm falling hard as a roller coaster, plummeting so fast I'm nearly out of control.

Sun beats down on the back of my neck, something that should warm me—but the further we travel up the mountain, the chillier the air becomes. Lesath had the presence of mind to pack a cloak for me, and I tuck it around myself.

The difference in climate is stark. Ridiculously stark. It's like the laws of Earth nature don't quite apply here, the contrast in landscape startling and surreal. From the vast stretch of rock and desert of Ulson to the flowering meadows in Idiene, and now to the pine bristled side of the Donnora mountains, it doesn't seem possible we've traveled long enough to see such a broad range of countryside. I scrunch my lips up. I was never a fantastic geography student, but it wouldn't take a scientist to realize that something is off about Vraya.

It's heady and strange and full of magic, and a laugh careens from my lips, echoing off the rock and pine landscape. Maybe it's the thinner air, maybe it's the after-effects of life-changing orgasms, but giddiness wells inside me, bubbling through my blood.

I shield my eyes with a hand, Molmith steadily plodding along underneath me, squinting. Snow glistens on the peaks of the mountain range, the sun turning the edges golden. It doesn't look real—it looks like something out of a movie.

I half expect an ice castle to loom from the top, Elsa ready to send a snow monster our way. I start humming under my breath, that damn insidious song fluttering to the top of my consciousness.

"Are there snow monsters here?"

"No." Lesath turns to me, one eyebrow quirked. He's been ridiculously quiet, obnoxiously so, but I don't care. I'm in such a great mood that even his bullshit can't pull me down. I'm so happy I could burst, the fizzy feeling growing inside, like I drank three triple lattes back-to-back. Not that I've ever done that, because I like my heart to not explode.

I hum a little louder, grinning at Lesath as he turns his narrowed eyes back to the sad excuse for the trail in front of us. Damn Elsa and that song!

"Are you all right?" He asks, his voice pitched low. Like he's concerned.

I laugh again, amused by it. "Why are you so worried?" I fling a hand out. "It's a gorgeous day, the sun is shining, and we're taking your secret shortcut to get shit done! Then we can bang it out. Or if you change your mind, we could maybe stop and get down to funky-town right here."

Oh shit, now funky town is in my head. I hum some more, the tune shifting.

He slows his horse further, his forehead crinkling as he stares at me. "You are not acting like yourself."

That strange laugh trickles out of me again, and Molmith snorts, throwing his head back. "Why? Because I'm happy for once?" The light and fizzy feeling intensifies, and I shudder. "I feel amazing. Like I could run a marathon, and you know what? Running sucks. Well, at first. Usually I muscle through the first mile and then feel better, but you know, it's never fun." I gulp a breath, my lungs tight. "Or like I could tackle you to the ground and have my wicked way with you." I waggle my eyebrows, then stop, considering. Maybe I should tackle him to the ground and have my wicked way with him.

I look behind him, where the snow glints in the sun, and can't stop myself from singing Elsa's fave ballad yet again. Finally, my singing dissolves into giggles.

"We really are going into the unknown!" I laugh harder, nearly doubled over on Molmith's back, gasping for air as Lesath's eyes narrow further. "I feel so good." I shiver again, my heart racing.

A flock of birds startle from the nearby trees as I start singing again, and they swoop in and dive in time with my singing.

"Cool," I breathe, enraptured by their iridescent purple feathers. The sun catches them in it's beams, turning them to rainbows in the sky.

I hold a hand up, and one of them alights on my finger, cocking its head and chirping at me. Totally normal! What a trip. I laugh again, flicking my finger and sending the bird back overhead.

Motion at the side of the trail catches my eye, and I point. "Deer! Look at the rack on that thing." A stag, head heavy with antlers, watches me with liquid brown eyes. Several birds land on his velveteen prongs, but he doesn't move.

I shiver again, fiery pricks working down my spine.

"Stars above," Lesath mutters.

"Stop being such a killjoy, this is amazing." Lust roars through me, and I give him my best come hither stare. "Let's stop. Let's stop and you can have your way with me. Please, Lesath."

He swallows, and I laugh again. "You told me I'd be begging for it, and here I am, begging! Let's do this. However you want it, I'm game."

I can't stop laughing, light-headed and delighted and spiraling out of control, like that rollercoaster's run off the tracks and is headed for collision. I'm laughing so hard that I don't realize he's stopped his horse alongside Molmith, his hand brushing against my forehead.

"Fuck," he swears, his eyes wide.

"That's the idea," I tell him, poking his nose. "Let's bang it out." I tug at his shirt, nearly falling off the horse. He gently removes my hand.

"Your magic's out of control. You're burning up."

"What are you talking about? I feel amazing. You should just let it go." I start singing again, trying to shove him away. "Let me live," I gasp out, surprised when he dismounts, gracefully swinging onto Molmith's back.

"That's the problem, my love. If we don't get your magic under control, you won't live. It's burning you up from the inside. Can't you feel it? It's the damned curse."

"It feels…" I was going to say good, but now that I'm thinking about it, it doesn't feel as happy and bubbly. It feels like it's simmering, hot and violent and painful. "I don't like it."

"Molmith, go. Take us to Donnora and do not stop."

Molmith continues to plod along.

"Murder horse, maybe you should listen to him."

Lesath takes the reins from me, and I lean back into him, luxuriating in the feel of his body. Need crawls over me, a hunger I know there's only one way to slake. My body jerks as Lesath digs his heels into Molmith's sides.

"Let's have sex, yeah? Won't that stop it?" I tilt my head to the side, licking up his neck.

"I'm not going to have sex with you when you're not in your right mind." It comes out a growl, and I laugh again, a high-pitched sound. "We can be there by morning if we don't stop."

"It doesn't seem stupid to you to not save my life with a magical dicking?"

"And have you hate me for the rest of your life?"

I pout. "I won't hate you. Besides, how do you know I can make it till morning?"

"Because you only just started shedding wild magic. I should've known this would happen after you called the serpent and the wolves. You tapped into too much too quickly." He shakes his head. "I forgot. I've forgotten much, and for that I am sorry."

"Shut up and kiss me," I tell him, grinding back onto his hard length. "I can tell you want it."

A low groan caresses the shell of my ear, and I melt into him.

Then a fiery sensation spreads along my skin, like an instant sunburn, and I cry out in pain.

Molmith picks up speed, and I cling to Lesath's arm around my waist.

"I don't feel so good," I mutter, sweat beading on my forehead.

"I know, my love. The blood drinker curse must be affecting you, same as it's affected all of the unmated Starbound men."

"You should just let me have my way with you," I swing my angry gaze up at him.

"I promise, if we will not make it in time, I may have to do just that." His expression is grim, and a thread of worry flares through me for the first time. "I will do everything I can to make sure we reach Donnora before that happens."

I laugh again, the power in my blood floating up like sparkling bubbles. I wince as the bubbles pop, fiery pain coursing through me again. I grit my teeth, fear replacing giddiness temporarily.

"Is this what it's been like for you?"

"Yes. I've had longer to manage it."

"I've been awful to you. I had no idea." This is… I feel completely out of control, my thoughts scattered and my body not working right. "I'm so sorry. I didn't believe you, and you felt like this?" I clench my teeth, as another pulse of magic tears through me.

"Do not worry yourself about that. Concentrate on shoving that power down, on letting it dissipate."

"I don't know what that—" I bite my tongue and squeeze my eyes shut as a roiling wave roars through me.

"Ali?" Lesath's fingers tighten on me.

"Hurry," I murmur, and Molmith stretches out beneath us, eating up the ground on his powerful legs.

"Hold on, Ali, hold on."