Chapter 30

We walkedfor a little while in the complete darkness, down a narrow tunnel with a low ceiling to get to the heart of the mountain, but with my hand in Grey's, my step didn't falter.

When I reached the other side, though, I was frozen in place at the sight in front of me.

Half my mind was made up that this was an illusion or a hologram or something. Definitely not real. The way the walls made out of rock rose to the sides and met over our head, so high I hardly saw where they connected. The way that turquoise water glowed and produced bright light in the middle of the uneven ground—the same way the water of that fountain at the Paradise had glowed purple. The massive space around us and the shadows cast by the rocks on the walls that would have you thinking you were surrounded by ghosts.

And the white dragon that was sleeping on the raised ground on the other side of that pool.

He took my breath away completely. His head alone was the size of Storm's body. He had large spikes over it like a crown, his scales a silvery white and his claws taller than me. His tail was so long I couldn't even see the whole thing. On the scales of his back, around the spikes going down his neck, ink the same turquoise color as that water marked him with circles and squares and other shapes I couldn't see well from here.

A white dragon. I'd never seen one before and I could have never imagined they could look like this. So…unreal. So fucking beautiful.

So familiar.

My heart skipped a long beat and my lips moved on their own. "The Great White," I whispered.

"Yes, that's the guardian of the Eighth Isle," Grey said. "How did you know?"

An image came in front of me—of a lake at the edge of the woods. "Sedelis."

"The siren?" He looked confused as hell.

"Yes, Sedelis. I saw her at that lake near the castle talking to someone. I think…" My eyes squeezed shut. "I think it was Valentine. They talked about a red faerie and about someone being ready to march into the Woods and…and…" I looked ahead again, at the sleeping dragon. "And the Great White." Except back then, I'd had no clue what the hell that even meant, and I'd beaten myself up over it so many times, trying to figure it out.

"Sedelis spoke to Valentine about the Great White?" Grey whispered, and he suddenly sounded afraid. I nodded. "What exactly did she say?"

So, I told him. I told him everything I remembered about that conversation, and Grey kept shaking his head.

"How?" he finally said. "How would Sedelis not know you were close enough to spy on her?"

I flinched. "Something about my magic," I whispered. "There's something wrong with it, I think. One night, I followedValentine in the woods, and he didn't hear me until I stepped on a twig. He said that I was incredibly hard to detect when I don't want to be seen—and he was right about that, too. I confirmed it with Romin and Emil. They literally couldn't tell that I was sitting in the mirror room. And Emil and Amita! They didn't even hear me when I approached them in the hallway, while Emil was f?—"

The words died on my lips.

I looked at Grey and he raised a brow. "While Emil was doing what?"

I swallowed hard. Damn it, Fall. "Talking," I muttered.

"Right," Grey said with a sneaky grin.

I rolled my eyes. "All I'm saying is that I turn invisible to much more powerful Enchanted when I'm trying really hard to disappear or to not be seen." I hadn't even done it consciously at all. It had come naturally, which made sense. The book Valentine had written for me said that magic responded to our wants and needs and the emotions that drove us, first and foremost.

"I didn't hear you at all when you first landed here. I thought Storm was alone," Grey finally said. "Valentine had no clue, either."

"Yes—and I was right there behind that rock, watching you."

Grey sighed, putting his arm over my shoulders. "That's not unheard of. There are Enchanted out there who can keep their energy shielded perfectly well so that they're basically invisible to most people's senses," he said. "What concerns me is Sedelis. Sirens are incredibly hard to fool."

As if on cue, my eyes moved up to the raised rock behind the pool, the one the Great White had basically wrapped himself around. Someone was lying up there, but all I saw was strings of light hair on the side.

Ice cold chills washed over me. "Is that her?"

Grey nodded. "Do you want to see?"

Fuck, yeah, I wanted to see, but… "Is he going to wake up?"

"Not if we keep quiet."

Grey wrapped his arms around my waist, and his wings moved slowly this time. You could barely tell they were beating by sound alone. It took him a moment to get us high enough so that I could see the top of that rock clearly, and when I did, I tightened my arms around his neck, suddenly terrified.

Syra looked both dead and alive.

Not only that, but she could be the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my whole life. Her ivory skin looked almost completely white, both radiant and dead at the same time, and she was naked. She wore legs instead of a fishtail, her breasts on full display, her hair, a light golden blonde, falling off the edge of the rock, so long it probably reached the back of her knees when she stood up straight.

Every line of her face was perfection, and you could tell exactly how striking she would be when she opened her eyes.

It was Syra—the same Syra I'd seen in the Storyteller, and she hadn't changed one bit.

"Put me down," I whispered against Grey's neck when I turned my head the other way.

A bad feeling had settled in my gut even before my boots touched the ground again. Grey must have noticed because he took my hand in his and said, "Let's talk outside."

I eagerly followed.

Something's wrong.

My gut said it. My entire being said it—something did not feel right here, and it wasn't the fact that the body of the siren that had ruined Ennaris was right there, possibly a couple hundred feet away.

"Talk to me, Fall," Grey said. He stepped in front of me, taking away the view of the woods ahead, of those red eyes that hadn't disappeared but hadn't come closer, either.

"I…I don't know," I whispered. "Valentine's not here." He was not under those rocks as he should have been—a lot of rocks had fallen on him.

"He's probably gone," Grey said, looking out at the darkness—except those words…they didn't settle right with me.

"How?" I wondered. "How could he have gotten off this Isle already?" And with those animals out there? Shadow was a dragon, too, but he was no Storm. He wouldn't be able to carry Valentine or keep those things off him for long. And Valentinecouldn't keep them away with his magic forever, either.

"I don't know," Grey admitted reluctantly.

"He hasn't," I said, looking behind me at the mountain one more time. "He hasn't gone anywhere, Grey. I think he's still here. Think about it—why else would Sedelis talk to him about the Great White?" I flinched, shaking my head. "Something feels off. Something isn't right."

"But there's nothinghere. No source of magic, no people, no nothing. This is all there is to the Eighth Isle." He spread his arms to the sides to show me.

"What about the dragon?" I asked. "The Great White—what about him?"

But Grey shook his head. "He was made to stay inside that mountain for the rest of eternity and guard Syra's body. He cannot be bribed or chased away or fought—the size of him alone makes him invincible. If he were to wake up, nothing could stop him—no man and no dragon. Valentine couldn't control him if he tried."

"But what if he does try?" Otherwise, why would Sedelis give him that spell to put him to sleep?

Grey thought about it for a second. "I don't see what for—unless he wants to rule the world."

I shook my head. "You're right, I'm begin silly." Valentine was not the type to want to rule the world. I honestly believed he wouldn't have bothered with it even if he knew he could actually do it.

"No, no—you're right, something feels off. But when we get home, we'll figure it out," Grey said, and I appreciated it. I really did, but…

I looked down at the ground. "Grey, I don't think we should leave here yet." And maybe it was a crazy, stupid idea, but something told me that Valentine was still on this Isle, and I didn't want to leave without finding him, without talking to him first.

"You want to stay?" Grey asked, and he most definitely didn't think it was a good idea.

"I want to search for Valentine. I want to find him, and I want to talk to him," I said. "I really, really think we shouldn't leave yet."

Once again, I expected him to tell me that we needed to go back to the Woods as soon as possible, that it wasn't safe. Obviously not—mutated monsters and a giant white dragon were on this tiny Isle with us. There was no room for safe here, and I was well aware of that.

But it only took Grey one second to say, "Then we'll stay."

I was ready to argue, to try to convince him in any way I could, but then his words registered and I stopped.

"I—oh." We'll stay.

"We'll search for Valentine, and we'll find him if he's here."

I squinted my eyes at him. "Really?" Because that was just so…easy.

"Of course," he said without missing a beat, and he hadn't burst out laughing yet.

No way was I going to believe it.

"If you're planning to put me over your shoulder and fly away with me, I'm warning you—I will bite you," I said because what more could I threaten him with?

Finally, he laughed—I'd caught him by surprise. "I will put you over my shoulder and fly away, but not off this Isle. If you want to stay, we'll stay," Grey said, and I couldn't find a hint anywhere on him to suggest that he was just messing with me.

Well, damn.

I cleared my throat. "Okay, then. Good. Very good."

"Anything you want is yours, my queen. I told you, I'm at your service." Bringing my hand to his mouth, he kissed my knuckles, grinning mischievously. "That—and I'm not done exploring that cave with you properly yet."

I rolled my eyes, but heat rushed to my cheeks immediately. "Oh, I see. You're willing to stay in this place just because you want to fuck me in a cave?" I teased.

"I want to fuck you on every inch of this planet, actually," he said, leaning down to reach my lips.

"Don't be naughty, Grey," I said, but of course, I didn't move an inch when he kissed me.

"Yes, my queen," he said, then licked my lips and moved back with that same grin.

I shook my head—why in the world did everything he said and did seem so perfect to me?

"Can we just get going? Let's search for Valentine. I'm sure we'll find him in no time."

"Come here, baby. Let me carry you up." And he pulled me toward him.

"Aren't you tired? Maybe we can ride Storm or something." Even though I'd much rather be in his arms.

"No," Grey said. "I'm perfectly capable—and you're mine. Nobody else gets to carry you around while I'm here." And he took me in his arms right away.

"Good," I said with a smile, making myself comfortable.

"Anything else, my queen?" Half of me was convinced he was just teasing me, but I was starting to really love it when he called me that.

"Nothing for now. Carry on," I said and kissed his chin. "You serve me well, Mr. Evernight."

His whole face lit up like the sun just shone in front of him. "And I'm only just getting started."

He jumped in the air, taking us toward the sky.

We didn't findValentine anywhere, despite flying for what must have been over an hour all around the small Isle.

Storm searched with us, too. He already looked so much better, fuller, the black of his scales deeper, his wings so much steadier when he beat them. Guess those monsters were pretty nutritional despite how disgusting they looked to me.

But when we finally landed in front of Grey's cave on the mountain, we were both tired and in need of food, too. Or, at least, I was.

"I got this for Storm," I told Grey when I opened the leather bag to find what was left of the food I took from the castle. "It's faerie-bee honey. The faeries gifted it to me at the party."

Grey took the container, shaking his head. "He loves this stuff."

"Take it to him then. I don't think he likes me very much." If he did, he'd have taken the honey and the meat I offered him at Mount Agva.

Grey smiled. "Trust me, he does. Storm is his own dragon and considers it an insult to carry another person that isn't me in any way, for any distance. The fact that he brought you here with him says a lot about how he feels."

"You only say that because you didn't see how he almost ate me in that cave. The way he screamed at my face. I literally couldn't breathe." I would always remember staring into the depths of a dragon's mouth while he roared at me from less than a foot away.

"He's just dramatic like that," Grey said with a grin, and I shook my head.

"And you're awfully protective of him." Which I loved for whatever reason.

"Because I know him. I know who he is," Grey said without missing a beat, and I laughed.

"Poor little Storm, being misunderstood because he's just a gentle soul trapped in the body of a giant," I teased, and Grey basically tackled me against the wall instantly.

"Maybe he is," he said, taking my bottom lip between his teeth while I laughed.

"Sure, sure. And you're a marshmallow on the inside, Mr. Evernight."

He slammed his body against mine hard, and my laughter turned to a moan as if by magic.

Goddamn him. I was going to tell him that we needed to eat, but then his tongue was in my mouth and suddenly food lost its appeal despite my hunger. I was hungrier for Grey instead.

My arms were around his neck and we kissed against the wall like teenagers, like we were hiding from someone, like this was the only chance at making out we got. I loved that we were always in a rush to take more from each other, but one of these days I was going to take my time with him slowly. Just as soon as I could control myself.

"I'll be anything you want, baby," Grey whispered against my lips. "But right now, you have to eat." I moaned in complaint—I wasn't even hungry anymore, but he wouldn't have it. He pushed me back against the wall and moved away. "Food. You eat first."

His eyes were bloodshot, the jacket almost off his shoulders, and the bulge in his pants so fucking delicious my knees were weak.

"You're hard." And he expected me to eat?

Grey raised a thick brow. "You exist. I'm always hard." And he adjusted his pants.

My mouth was watering, but he was moving away from me, leaning down to grab the honey container.

"Grey, come on." I was wet and I was hungry for him—he couldn't just leave me like this.

"Eat what you have for now. I'm taking this to Storm. I'll be right back." And holding my eyes still, he walked backward and around the corner of the cave's tunnel until I couldn't see him anymore.

He was right, of course, but I was still pissed when I sat down to eat that dried meat I had in the bag—which Storm had refused back at Agva, too. Everything else I'd already eaten on my way here, but it was okay. We could probably find food somewhere on this Isle.

Grey didn't take long, and when he came back, he had a smile on his face as he showed me the empty container. I didn't think I'd ever get used to that visual—Grey, smiling. Such a different man from the one I first met at the castle. A completely different person, and I couldn't get enough of him.

"Storm says thank you," he said when he sat next to me in front of the fire. "He devoured it."

I grinned. "Good. You should have saved some for yourself. It's really tasty."

"What do I need honey for when you're here?" And he said it with a straight face, too.

Impossible not to laugh. "Smooth. Really smooth." I leaned in to kiss him and he didn't hesitate in grabbing my face in his hands.

"I mean it," Grey then said. "Now, finish that. You need to rest."

Again, absolutely right. I was exhausted, even though he'd been carrying me in his arms while we searched for Valentine.

"What I need is to know what your brother is up to," I muttered, but I turned to the food again. It felt good to have a full stomach, but not so much when that stomach twisted at the thought of Valentine.

"We'll find him," Grey said. "If he's here, we'll find him, baby. There's only so many places he can hide."

I believed him. This was a small Isle and Grey had wings. We would search every inch of this place again until we either found him, or we made sure that he wasn't here.

When I ate, I drank some water from the small streams that trickled out of the ceiling. Grey said it was safe, that the water was clean, straight from that pool at the heart of the mountain. It tasted just like water should. Then he put his jacket on the ground again and we lay down, and he cocooned me in his arms just like I liked.

I faced the fire burning low now, and he was behind me, my back against his chest, his arm under my head.

My eyes drifted shut in no time, even though I didn't want to sleep.

"I love you," Grey whispered in my ear, and my heart jump-started, and my muscles tensed even before I realized it.

Grey noticed. Of course, he noticed—I was pressed to him completely.

So, he asked, "What is it?"

"Nothing," I muttered. "Just that we met a couple months ago. We've been together a handful of times." And I wasn't even saying that because of him, but because of me. Because I was trying to force myself to be more reasonable, especially the part of me that insisted that I loved him, too. Like crazy. Like fucking mad.

"I understand that," Grey whispered, turning my head up so he could kiss my cheek. "But you should see yourself from where I'm standing. Then you'd understand, too." And he planted kisses all over my face.

Heat underneath my skin.

"If it makes you uncomfortable, baby, I can stop saying it," he said, and I hadn't been more panicked even when that red dragon was about to eat me.

"No!" I blurted way too fast and spun around to face him. "No, no, that's not what I mean. I'm not uncomfortable at all."

Grey chuckled. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Very sure. Just…just keep saying it." Because turns out I loved those three words together like that when he said them.

"But we only met a few months ago." He was full on laughing now.

I slapped his chest then snuggled closer, hiding my face under his chin as I laughed, too. "My, my, Grey. What happened to the grumpy Evernight who doesn't speak or smile or laugh? You know, the one everyone fears?"

"That's for other people," Grey said, kissing my head.

I liked that. "And I get the full version of Grey?"

"Exactly. The full version." Keeping his hand on the small of my back, he pressed himself to me to show me that he was hard. So fucking hard I felt him all the way to my bones.

The way my body fired up within a second was incredible. The smile died on my lips instantly.

"I thought you said we needed to rest," I said, already breathless, running my hands down his naked chest. Fuck, he was ripped. I loved the shapes and curves of him that my fingers glided over so smoothly, until I reached the waistband of his pants. His abs clenched instantly.

"I keep forgetting what it's like to be near you," Grey whispered, licking my lips. "We can rest if you want, baby, but I need to be inside you again until you're full of me…" He pulled my lip in his mouth, sucking hard while I moaned and my back arched. "Until this beautiful pussy is dripping with my cum." His hand was between my legs, fingers rubbing me over my pants. His words shocked me and turned the pleasure up a notch instantly.

I slipped my hand under his pants and grabbed his hard cock. Grey closed his eyes and threw this head back as he pushed his hips forward against my hand with that sexy moan that had me hyperventilating already.

It was unfair how easily he fired me up. This man could have his way with me without even trying, and all I'd do is beg for more of whatever he wanted to give me.

He raised up on his knees and pulled me with him, and his wings were already half spreading on his back. I loved that they always came out when he started to lose control, just as much as I loved how he reacted to the touch of my hands as I ran them up and down his torso, exploring every inch of him as we kissed slowly. The more I moaned when he dug his fingers into my waist, the harder he went at it, until he slowly took my shirt off, too.

I grabbed his thick cock in my hands again, my knees weak, my panties soaked. The world out there could catch flames and burn for all we cared. We were completely absorbed in one another.

Grey squeezed my breasts and played with my nipples masterfully while I played with his cock, pulling his pants down to give myself better access. The way he moaned my name was a fucking sin. We were kneeling in front of one another still, and as I jerked him off slowly, I kissed his neck and his collarbone, his chest and his shoulders, everywhere I could reach him—but I wanted more. Fuck, I wanted to please him more than I needed air right now.

"Get up," I told him, dying to take his cock in my mouth.

He let go of my nipples and grabbed my face in his hands, pulling my head up so he could kiss the breath out of me first. His tongue against mine was heaven. I squeezed his cock the harder he kissed me, and the faster he moved his hips against my hands. We moved in perfect sync, like we'd been doing this a lifetime, and every second of it was perfect.

"Get up, Grey. I need you in my mouth," I whispered when he let go of my lips for a second because I knew we'd lose ourselves completely if we kept kissing like that.

He growled like a damn animal, stuck his tongue in my throat one more time, and finally stood up.

The fire was behind me, and the way the light and shadows carved out his muscles and his wings made me stop and stare for a good moment. Grey smiled down at me and the devil probably envied him. He pushed my hair away from my face, then grabbed a fistful of it with one hand and brought the other around my jaw, slipping his thumb into my open mouth.

"You look so good on your knees, baby," he said with that husky voice that sent shivers down my back, and he continued to move his thumb in and out of my mouth. My greedy tongue licked it and I sucked on it, too, automatically.

Grey must have really loved the sight of me like that because his fangs were slipping out his lip, his movements faster, more desperate.

"But you're about to look even better," he said and took his thumb out of my mouth. "Open wide."

I did so eagerly, then brought his cock to my mouth. I licked the smooth pink tip just to get a taste, and my clit was throbbing so hard it was painful. I had no self-control left two seconds in, so I took him in all the way until he reached the back of my throat.

Fuck, that felt so good.

Grey's head fell back with a moan that echoed in the cave. He had my hair in his fists and his hips pushed forward, and I stayed there until I was about to choke on the size of him.

Then, I moved.

I ran my tongue up and down his length and fisted the base of him because he was too big to fit in my mouth entirely. I couldn't even take half without gagging, and each time I did, he became more desperate, pulling at my hair harder, thrusting his hips faster. I relished on the taste of him, his precum coating my tongue as I sucked him in. Tears in my eyes each time the tip of him slammed again the back of my throat, and I blinked them away to look up at Grey's face, to find him looking at my mouth like he was in pain. Like he really, truly was at my mercy.

My knees were shaking. The more I sucked him, then stopped to lick and kiss his tip, the better the look in his bloodshot eyes. My skull was on fire from how tightly he gripped my hair.

But he stopped me, pulling himself from my mouth too soon. It was like he took away my favorite candy.

"Grey—"

"I'm going to come, baby," he said through gritted teeth, eyes squeezed shut as he held himself back.

I grabbed him again and moved closer. "Then come. Right here, in my mouth." I wanted to taste him so badly I could hardly wait.

Grey didn't hesitate. With another growl, he grabbed my chin and held me in place. "Swallow, baby," he said and filled my mouth again until I gagged. "Every fucking drop."

That's exactly what I did.

He came ten seconds in, holding me by the back of my head as he thrust deep inside me. His cum filled my mouth and I swallowed as much as I could, but some of it slipped out of my lips, too.

It might be one of the hottest things I'd ever done in my life, and even though my throat hurt, tears constantly slipped from my eyes, and I couldn't breathe at all for seconds at a time, it was absolutely worth it.