Kim Knox - Emergence

His finger brushed over my cheek, and the contact was electric. “Semi-regular.” He threaded through to my hair, holding me, his lips only inches from mine. “And I think we should take…this…away from mere mortals.”

“This?” The question came out on a little burst of air. “We’re at a…this…already?”

His quick grin warmed his amber eyes to a deep, intoxicating gold. “Aren’t we?” He put his beer bottle on the counter and took another step closer to me. The heat of his body brushed over me now, his spiced scent sliding into my lungs. “And there’s enough of the mythoi in both of us to have those pure-bloods falling on each other.” He paused, and my blood pounded in my ears as he focused on my mouth. The soft, rich murmur of his voice made me wet for him and nothing, nothing else mattered. “And I don’t think that’s what they came for.”

“Is this what you came for?”

“Me? Yes.” His unhurried smile eased through me. “You’re irresistible.”

“So much flattery.”

“I am far from insincere.” The first brush of his lips against mine forced a gasp, maybe from both of us. “Trust me.”

“Who are you?”

“Kaden Rhodes.”

It wasn’t one of the family names I recognised, yet he sounded British…which didn’t make sense. Every one of the mythoi was catalogued-

“Thinking too much,” he murmured, and his mouth hovered over mine, so close everything else simply fell away. “Who I am isn’t important right now. What I want to do is.”

Kaden’s cooled fingers teased along my bare thigh, and the need to take his mouth fired through me. I’d come to the club for this, to find a man with whom to lose my final hours of freedom…but it felt too fast, and there was something else that had my nerves straining. Something about him burned as hungry and dangerous as the karkadann.

He lifted an eyebrow. “Second thoughts…?”

“Jaime.” Only the wild thud of my heart echoed in my ears. I didn’t want second thoughts. I wanted to be naked with this man as soon as possible. Hell, I was half gryphon. Having that much of the beast in my genome meant I could shift my shape and my mythoi came with a razor sharp beak, talons and wings. A smile curved my mouth. “I have a suite at the Waterfront Hotel.”

Kaden’s smile deepened and his eyes shone. His finger traced over my bottom lip, and the urge to tease him with my tongue tip rioted through me. “You’re rich?”

Was there something of the gryphon in him? The need for wealth, we couldn’t help it…but unfortunately, he was wrong. The First Dragon had liquefied all my assets, as meagre as they were, and taken them for himself, but not before I’d splurged on nights in a luxurious suite. It hadn’t made me forget that, in a few hours, he would own everything about me. “I’m treating myself on my last night of freedom.”

His eyes narrowed. “A final fling?”

My gut tightened, but he wasn’t pulling back. And really, it was best that the attractive stranger understood that our…this…could go nowhere. The First Dragon would choose my mate, if he let me take one at all. Only profitable gryphons bred after long service. Anyway, mythoi didn’t cross species to find a mate. I really had no clue what Kaden was.

I pulled in a slow breath. “My only fling. My life will get complicated tomorrow.”

“Then tonight will be simple.” He stood back and held out his hand. “Shall we?”

My time was short. He was beautiful, and both I and my gryphon wanted him. I needed little convincing beyond that. Our differing tastes seldom gelled on one man. I slid my fingers over his thick palm. Long fingers closed over mine, strong, sure, and I slipped down from the stool, my heels clacking against the slate. “I think we shall.”

The barman looked up from taking money from the gaggle of pure-bloods. A line creased his forehead, but he didn’t offer any other reaction. We weaved our way out, the club filling with mythoi and humans. More than one woman sent a long, interested look over Kaden, and even I couldn’t help casting a quick sideways glance. He walked with a lithe grace, and power shimmered over him. Even before it had begun, I regretted that I’d have only one night with my stranger.

The soft click of the hotel door as it closed skittered nervous energy down my spine.

Kaden leaned against the thick, dark wood, a speculative smile cutting his mouth. Soft lamplight carved gold over his smooth features, and his amber eyes gleamed. His shadow pulsed hot and heavy in the short corridor leading to the sitting room, and I backed away from him. My heels caught in the thick, pale carpet, and I kicked the bloody shoes free. My toes thanked me. Again.

“Changing your mind?”

The walk from the club had been quick, silent. He’d gripped my hand and the strength, the promise of his touch had kept the fire sparking under my veins. In the wide, steel-lined lift, our reflections had bounced back at us, and I’d wanted to push him up against the cold metal and find his mouth…but the red light of security cameras glared balefully from the lift’s ceiling. And now I stood on the edge of the long sitting room and my nerve failed me.

“No, not changing my mind.” He pushed himself away from the door, and my feet, of their own volition, backed farther into the room. Kaden was beautiful, powerful. I wanted him, I did, but…it, he, the moment, made everything real. My gut clenched, the sudden pain making me bite at my lip. I would sleep with Kaden and then the First Dragon’s envoy would escort me to his superior. At which point my life would be over. The man in front of me was my last dose of freedom. “I only have a short time,” I said, watching Kaden move towards me with liquid grace. “This time I have…”

“It’s running too fast.” His head tilted, and the smile lurking on his mouth forced my heart to beat hard. He stood close again. His fingers brushed my jaw, and I sucked in a quick breath. Something about Kaden, the man, his shadow stealing over mine, made my body ache. “This room was another promise to yourself?”

“Yes.”

He glanced behind me, no doubt seeing the mess of my clothes thrown over the corner couch and the papers spread out over one end of the long dining table. “How long have you been here?”

“Two nights.” I willed myself to step towards him, to press my body against his lean hardness. My palm skirted over his chest, teasing, playing with the smooth material of his shirt. “I wanted luxury before…”

“What?” Kaden threaded his fingers through my loose hair and turned my face up to his. His lips brushed mine, soft, tender, and it stopped my breath. “What’s taking you away?”

I couldn’t answer, didn’t want to. I only wanted more of his mouth, for him to deepen the kiss into something molten, wild, and for me to forget for the few hours I had left. I bit at his lip, and he growled, a low, primitive sound, and it pushed me hard against him.

Kaden murmured something. His shadow wrapped around me in a dark, enveloping wave and I arched into him. Whatever he was, whatever ancient mythoi rode in his blood, it sank into my core. I couldn’t wait. My mouth took his, my tongue, teeth, lips battling, wanting more of him.

Kaden groaned, his hands shifting until he could snake his arms across my back. He tugged at my skirt, yanking it up my thigh. A hot palm and fingers caressed my backside. He squeezed, urging me up, and I obeyed, lifting my legs. With an all too easy strength he held me, and I wrapped my thighs around his waist, my arms linking behind his head. Our shadows merged, shifted, unsure at the closeness, at the need burning up through us, but wanting it, wanting it as much as we did. And that wasn’t right. Mythoi didn’t cross species-

“Who are you?” The question escaped after I dragged needed air into my lungs. My hand framed the hardness of his smooth jaw. His eyes had darkened and something sparked in their depths, a fire than made me want to strip him and fuck him. “What are you?”

“What you need.”

A chair clattered to the floor behind me, and my backside hit the cool mahogany table. “That’s not an answer.”

He smiled, brief, hard, and need for him tightened low in my belly. “Do you want to say why you want me here? Why you want to fuck a stranger?” His smile grew, and something must’ve reflected in my eyes as he said, “I thought not.” He brushed tangled hair back from my forehead, and the unexpected tenderness hurt my chest. I breathed past it. “So, till the morning, we’ll both have our secrets. Agreed?”

My throat ached and I couldn’t speak. I nodded instead.

“Good.”

He tugged at my clinging top, pulling it over my head. Cool air brushed my bare skin. The top slid from his fingers, dropped in a golden puddle on the carpet, and Kaden let out a slow breath. My nipples hardened under his intense gaze, and everything in me ached for his warm lips, his tongue to find my skin and lick-

“Here on the table?” he asked.

“You want to eat instead?”

The smile he turned on me, wicked, possessive, squeezed my heart. “Later. I promise.” He leaned over me, his lips close to mine. “Right now, I want you.”

I resisted the urge to cover his mouth with mine. If I was getting naked, then I wanted to run my fingers and tongue over the smooth muscles hinted at under his shirt. “Then you have too many clothes.”

His fingers moved and the shirt joined mine on the floor. My own hands, nervous, eager, reached for him, and Kaden shivered under the first touch of my fingertips over the rippled hardness of his stomach. His breath warmed my cheek. “Better?”

“Almost.”

“You want more?”

“I want all of you.”

Kaden grinned. “I can do that.” His smile turned evil, and he traced a languid, shuddering path over my ribs to the thin-banded edge of my skirt. He made quick work of the zip. I wriggled and the skirt and my underwear joined the growing pile on the floor. “Though you first.”