Enflame (Insight #6)(29)

I crawled along the edge of the bed. When I reached him, I let my lips dance across his arm, smelling the sweet scent of Ivory. He must have showered when I was outside. The clothes he was wearing weren’t his either. I knew I’d felt Saige in the house before, but I didn’t know she was taking care of him. I felt guilty for not noticing that he was awake.

I leaned into his neck and let my lips caress his blazing skin. A moan bellowed deep within him.

“Why didn’t you tell me you woke up?” I whispered against his skin.

I felt his smile against my cheek. “You were laughing...I didn’t want you to stop,” he thought as another moan left his lips, telling me his thoughts had more than one meaning.

His lips found mine, and hungrily I pulled him closer, feeling my heart pounding out of control.

He grasped my hands, stopping their hungry claim on his body. “Careful,” he thought.

I knew he must have assumed that my fiery emotions would erupt around us, bringing us pleasure but havoc to everyone else.

I pulled my hands free from his. “I have control of this,” I thought, urging his shirt up. He gasped when he felt my cold hands on his blazing skin.

“I don’t,” he thought as his lips fiercely pulled mine closer and he sat up, pulling me across him. There was something different in his touch. We were always greedy when we held each other, but right now his touch, which felt like fire against my skin, was not greedy—it was near primal.

The blaze of his touch released me from my endless thoughts. The stress of him being trapped in that Realm, rushing here after seeing the images of our friends’ deaths, the guilt Phoenix and Saige had placed on me for a forgotten past—it all escaped my body in passionate gasps. I loved moments like this, when the world outside of his arms did not exist, when all I could focus on was the sensation of skin on skin.





Chapter Seven


In the darkness, we laid side by side, both breathless. I felt his emotions raging in every direction. I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to control mine, to ensure that the sweet, humble taste of balance lingered on my tongue. Holding that sensation was the hardest when I felt his regret and grief.

My breaths became slower as I focused on the bliss my heart was feeling at his side, the gratitude for having him all to myself at that moment. Though I could feel the storm rumble deep inside of me, I was winning over its force at that moment.

“I envy that peace you feel,” he whispered, pulling me against his blazing skin.

“You gave it to me. You shouldn't envy it.”

“God, I was a fool,” he murmured as he kissed my forehead.

I bit my bottom lip as the taste of crimson began to form along the sides of my tongue. In a frantic grasp, I thought of every sweet flavor I could remember, finally finding my balance again.

My lack of response caused his emotions to plummet. He eased to the side of the bed, pulling his shirt over his head. I leaned up in an effort to stop him, but before I could reach him he left the bed and opened a door that must have led to the bathroom.

I wanted to chase him, but my balance was in question, so I pulled myself up, reached for the lamp and turned it on for the first time. The room was smaller than I thought it was. Only a queen bed and one nightstand. The clothes he wore here were across the floor. I started to pull the room and myself back together, shaking my head as I did so. I felt like my mother; she could never sit still when her mind was out of control.

I was sliding on my boots when he finally came back into the room. Instantly, his hand blocked his face as if the lamp were the blinding sun. At that second, the light dimmed as if it had lost half its power.

Now at ease with the near darkness, he lowered his arm. That’s when I saw that the blue I loved so much was nearly gone. His pupils were wide and as dark as a moonless night. They reflected well against his tight dark crimson T-shirt and dark jeans. It was so odd to see him in clothes from my home dimension.

“What did they do to you?” I gasped, standing to go to him, but instantly he was at my side, on his knees before me, and I was sitting again. I couldn’t understand how he had moved so fast.

He reached to cradle my face. “We were foolish...”

“What did we do?’ I asked as my hand met his. He looked away, refusing to answer me as his hand fell from my face. “What did they do to you?”

“Something that had to be done...I needed to see what my selfishness has cost so many.”

“You’re not selfish,” I assured him faintly.

“No one can cheat death, but I did so, a million times over.”

“Do you honestly think that I didn’t plot with you to do that?”

He furrowed his brow to question me.

“Last night is more of a haze than anything, but I remember one thing. We both wanted back in this war, I had to have helped you plot to get her one way or another.”

“You did,” he whispered, rising to sit next to me. “But...I should have known the first time that you didn’t turn into a Phoenix that I should die, begin again, and find you through fate. I was stubborn and stupid. I hunted you. I burned you alive. I lost you every time.”

There was so much pain in his eyes. I wanted to take it all away.

“Looking back has never done us any good...don’t do this now,” I whispered, reaching for his hand, his fingers laced through mine, his eyes were full of the emotions I sensed from him. Dread dominated them all.