Kim Knox - Emergence

“You knew what I looked like?”

He shrugged. “The register.”

“Which you’re not on.”

Kaden ignored that observation and pushed himself to his feet. He fastened the button on his jacket and smoothed his hand down, easing out the creases. He stopped at the arch leading into the dressing room. My skin prickled. He was too close again. “So he told you stories?”

All right, he wasn’t going to answer that question. I flipped over cosmetics in the makeup bag, hunting out the tube of foundation. The few stories my father had shared unnerved me. Lord Sinon ruled everyone the same way, with a hard, unflinching hand of iron. “I saw his scars. His back was almost silver.” I concentrated on applying the foundation, on easing my pale skin and the sleep-starved circles under my eyes into an even tone. The quick, smooth movements broke the memory. “I know the slightest error can anger him.”

“You must kneel, stay silent, bow your head and expose your neck. You don’t speak until you’re spoken to. Even then, it’s short and to the point. Don’t ramble.” Kaden paused. “Is all that understood?”

I gave him a slow nod and hunted for a pad that would take the shine off my face. The ritual, so familiar that my fingers could move without thought, brought with it a level of calm that I clung to. “And my position as a gryphon?”

“Five nain washed up on a stretch of beach on the Isle of Jura.” Kaden moved into the dressing room, and a shiver ran over my skin. The smooth silk of my top itched against me. He stood beside me and watched the quick, precise movements of my fingers as I applied my makeup. Suddenly, they seemed awkward, gauche. Damn, the man could unnerve me, almost without trying.

“That puts their residual energy under the purview of Lord Sinon.” His voice, smooth, calm, swept an unwanted heat into my flesh. I was being professional, detached. Him? He was fucking with me. “So after you meet with our master, you’ll fly up to Scotland to scout the beach and trace back to where they broke into this reality. Lord Sinon will then apply his seal and make the claim official.”

I found my eyeliner and used it as an excuse not to look at him. “So easy?”

“You’re searching for a patch of residual energy across an open stretch of water.” His finger traced over my shoulder and down my arm. I fought to keep the pencil still, to ease it over my eyelid. “You could be gone for months.”

Months. I moved the pencil away and turned to look at him. I glanced at his fingers still skimming over my arm. My heart hammered. Was he playing more games? Thinking he was playing with me hurt. Thinking it wasn’t a game hurt more. “What is this, Kaden?”

“I don’t know.” His fingers curled away and dropped to a white-knuckled fist at his side. Anger held him, and I didn’t know why. Who was it really aimed at? “Sleeping with you. It was a mistake.”

“A mistake?” Laughter burst from me. “You just have this way of saying all the right things.”

“Well, wasn’t it?” His gaze darkened and the hint of desire lurking there shortened my breath. “I should have resisted you, but I didn’t. My need, the need of the beast within me. I couldn’t stop us. And I should have.”

How to make me feel wanted and special. I returned my attention to the pencil in my hand, the anger tight and hot in my gut. As if I wasn’t dealing with enough confusion in my life, Kaden turned my emotions inside out. Bastard. “So I wasn’t a reward from your…our master. Bring in the chattel, but you can have a taste of the goods first?”

He gritted his teeth, the muscles bunching in his jaw. “We shouldn’t have done what we did.”

“What? For that many hours?”

“Damn it, Jaime.”

I recapped the pencil and dug out my lipstick. The tube pressed hard against my palm. I needed to put him-and all that we had done-from my mind, not dwell on it. “We did what we did. Was it enjoyable? Yes. Am I going to let it fuck with my life? No.”

Kaden blinked. “That’s the proper attitude to have.” Something about my words had closed down his anger. Were they what he wanted to hear? “The…” He bit off whatever he was going to say and took a step back. He smoothed his hand over the front of his tie, and colour darkened his cheeks. His unreadable gaze met mine in the mirror. “One of the fleet will pick us up from the roof of this hotel.”

“Understood.” And then I focused on my lipstick as it ran over my lips, pursing to even out the soft red colour. Fixing on the simple, monotonous action shielded me from hurt rising hot and thick up from my gut. Something about Kaden felt…off. His anger and his desire. Damn, what did the man want from me?

I recapped my lipstick. The makeup hid the tiredness in my skin, but I met my dark gaze and there it still lurked. That and disappointment. I moved away from the mirror. I had to repack my clothes, make certain I had everything allowed, everything they’d let me take into my new life. A brief smile curved my mouth. Of course Kaden wasn’t on that list.

I glanced at him, the shadows falling over him as he stood in the wide doorway. The heat of my gryphon pushed through my flesh, her almost-whisper urging me to close the distance between us, to find the bliss we’d shared through the night. “And this is it?”

His jaw tightened, and he lifted his chin. “You don’t understand the intricacies of our master’s court.”

I obeyed my gryphon, I couldn’t help myself. I’d meant to say nothing, wrap up the hurt and shove it down as I’d pushed down the pain of leaving my home and my father. But my gryphon wouldn’t let me. Sometimes sharing a consciousness with a mythical beast stank. “Then tell me why you’ve been acting like a complete shit since I woke up.”

“Jaime…”

The soft growl of my name eased under my skin and, damn him, my flesh ached. “You’re supposed to instruct me. You lay in wait, take my gryphon’s virginity.” I snorted. That sounded crazy even to my own ears. But he had. And he’d wanted it, gloried in it. “Held me.” I pressed my lips together, suppressing the sudden surge of emotion that threatened to break my voice. None of it made sense. He was my farewell fuck. I should’ve brought the karkadanns to my suite. It would have been less painful to fight for my life than this. I drew in a deep breath. “And now-” I willed strength into my voice, “-now you’re an insane mix of hot looks and acting as if I’m something you’d scrape off your shoe.”

“You can’t understand-”

I glared at him, regret twisting into pain. “Yes, I can! I am not stupid.”

Kaden’s mouth thinned, and a new spark of anger burned in his eyes, but a bitterness lurked under it. “I said you can’t speak out of turn.”

The fire of need and the wild heat of my mythoi burned under my skin. I yanked at his belt, pulling him hard against me. “Then make me.”

Kaden grabbed my hand, his fingers tight, the simple touch of his skin against mine electric. He tilted his head, and his shadow surged over me, the arch of immense wings dimming the soft bathroom lights. I sucked in a quick breath, my heart beating hard. “This is dangerous for both of us.” His low whisper speared me, and I wanted nothing more than to find his mouth and shove him up against the wall. Fast. My lips were only inches from his, his breath hot against my skin. If I just leaned that little bit closer… “I cannot allow it.”

I stared up at him, his face darkened by the lack of light. Too much like the previous night, holding too much of the mix of his powerful mythoi and desire that made him irresistible. His scent, spiced, warm, slid into my lungs, and the familiar fire of need flickered through my flesh. I knew it was dangerous. My gryphon knew it was insanity. Neither of us cared. We wanted Kaden Rhodes. “What can’t you allow?”

His fingers caught in my hair. “This.” And his mouth covered mine.

I didn’t resist. My mouth opened under his, and I met the clash of his teeth, his tongue. He tasted hot, familiar, a hint of coffee blending with the strawberries, and I deepened the kiss, grabbing at the front of his jacket. Kaden groaned and pushed me back against the smooth sliver of the door frame.

I hit it with a low moan. His hands snaked down my body to grip my backside and press me hard against the length of his erection. “I thought I was a mistake.”

“You were. You are.”

“Then why…?”

“Because in a few hours we’ll have nothing. And it’s killing me.”

He took my mouth again, melting deep, hot kisses that made my heart thud and liquid heat surge through my flesh. I hooked my leg around his, and the change in angle, the press of him against my pubic bone, danced bright sparks behind my eyes. I didn’t want to think about his words, about the unexpected pain lurking in his voice. But he confused me. “Why now?”

His fingers raked down my thigh, found the hem of my skirt and pushed it up. The rough pressure of his fingertips against my bare skin forced a low groan, and under his touch-I arched into him-the calloused pads of his mythoi incited delicious shivers. “I thought I could be the envoy. Practical. Level headed. But I couldn’t.” His lips found my throat, his breath ragged and hot. “Damn it, this is too dangerous for you.”

“That’s my decision.”

Kaden lifted me, sliding his fingers over to grip my backside, my skirt bunched at my hips. “I should remember who I am.”

The sharp edges of talons raked up over my belly, taking my silk top with them, and I shrugged free of the fabric before his mythoi became…over enthusiastic…and tore it. The top dropped to the carpet in a puddle of dark silk. “Don’t.” I looped my arms around his neck, holding his molten gold gaze. “Let’s enjoy the lust while we can.”

“Lust.”

His mythoi’s rasping tongue followed the length of my spine, and I couldn’t help the groan that escaped me. His shadow was impossible. Even after I knew what he could do, the incredible, tactile sensation still shocked me. “Kaden… What is he?”