The Hidden (Shadowed Wings #1)(25)

“It’s rumored that some small tribes found shelter up in the Quietus Mountains, but they know better than to cross paths with us. And really, it’s all probably just a rumor; those lands are practically uninhabitable.”

I nod in agreement and then chuckle at myself. I have no fucking clue if it’s true or not, so I have no idea why I’m just agreeing with him.

“Now, I heard the sirens, but what explosion were you talking abou—” Ryn starts, but my gasp cuts him off as we exit the cave and step out into the sun.

I look around me, wide-eyed, taking it all in. It’s so green and beautiful I don’t even know what to stare at first. The short grass looks soft enough to sleep on. It’s some kind of mix between pillowy looking moss and the bladed green stuff that exists back home. The wind blows a cool mist over me from the river that leaps off the edge of the cliff and thunders down the side of the cliff castle. I close my eyes and revel in the feel of it as faint shouts reach my ears. I open my eyes and take in the deep periwinkle of the water that stretches as far as I can see.

“Is this an island?” I ask, curious and not able to contain it.

“No, we just kiss the Talle Lake in quite a few places,” Ryn offers, and he makes his way toward some trees to the right.

This is a lake? I question as I stare past the top of the cliff we’re on and take in the expanse of water. It’s the biggest lake I’ve ever seen. I move to follow Ryn and have to bite back a moan as I step out onto the soft grass. It feels like a layer of cotton against the sore pads of my feet, and I have the sudden urge to roll around in it. The wind picks up, making my hair and the fabric of my barely there dress dance about, and I almost flash nipple when the sneaky air tries to get randy with the gathered part of the dress covering my boobs.

Note to self: roll around in the soft grass when Tysa gives me pants and tops. Until then, try to keep the girls covered and the sideboob in check.

“So you thought you were a wolf?” Ryn asks over his shoulder, but I’m distracted by my nipples’ attempts to escape.

“What?” I ask as I position things back where they’re supposed to be. I slam into something hard and bounce back unbalanced. Ryn grabs my hips to keep me from introducing my ass to the soft grass.

“What are you doing?” he queries as I expel the last of the oomph that escapes me from crashing into his back. There’s a twinkle of something in his storm-gray eyes, and I’m suddenly aware of just how pressed up against him I am. I can feel the texture of the scaled and braided leather he’s wearing against my stomach and hardening nipples.

“Playing with my boobs,” I blurt, and Ryn barks out a laugh and tightens his grip on my hips. My very bare hips, I observe, as the rough skin of his palms lights up a plethora of sensations in me. His laughter snakes through me, keying me up like it’s my favorite song. My clit pulses with anticipation as I clench around emptiness. I start to breathe through the shit ton of need that just tsunami’d through me. I want to fuck him. I want him to snap the two chains holding this poor excuse for a dress together and then slam me up against the tree and make me scream. I want a back full of bark, blood, and scratches from how hard he fucks me.

The need to know if he tastes like the rain clouds that are in his eyes drives me to rise up on my tip toes, and I lick my bottom lip in invitation. Ryn leans down, as transfixed by the moment and—judging by his dilated pupils—as driven with need as I currently am. His full lips are just a hair’s breadth away, and I can feel the promise of pleasure and the need to own and dominate in his grip and on his breath as it caresses my mouth. A pained shout reverberates through the trees around us, and Ryn suddenly blinks and then pulls away from me. Like a desperate dumbass, I lean forward chasing his retreating lips for a second before coming to my senses and realizing what I’m doing.

His hands release my hips, and the tips of his fingers skate over my now heated skin as he pulls away. I try to clear my head of the lust clouding my every thought right now. What the fuck am I doing? My red alert alarm sounds off in my head about three minutes too late. I push away from him, disconnecting any part of me that’s still touching any part of him, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he almost reaches out for me before he fists his hand and drops it back by his side.

Another shout slithers through the trees to find us, and I expect Ryn to hurry off in its direction, but he doesn’t. He just stands there.

“You thought you were a wolf?” he asks me, and the question feels so out of left field that it takes me a moment to catch it and examine what he’s asking.

“Yeah, that’s what my gran always told me. I always smelled like one before…” I trail off as once again the image of the disintegrating ring pops into my head.

“What was her name?” Ryn asks, pulling me from my thoughts.

“My gran’s?”

He nods.

“Sedora Sterward,” I offer and watch his face for any hint of recognition. My gran was clearly keeping things from me, and I can’t help but think maybe she was from here and her name might be recognized.

Nothing akin to knowing lights up in Ryn’s gray eyes. He just furrows his brow in thought and then turns and continues to make his way through the trees. Ten feet later, I step into a clearing the size of two football fields. On the end closest to us, boys and girls who all look to be teenagers hack away at each other with wooden swords. Grunts and shouts fill the air as the clack of wood and the thump of hits swirl around me. Beyond this sword fighting group is another group where people are wrestling each other. All the way on the other side are shifted gryphons who also seem to be taking turns having a go at each other.