Page 4 of Claim the Light
“Yes.”
He turns and his lips touch mine and that’s when I know I was wrong before, because brushing my cheek to his is not more powerful than this.
As his mouth moves over mine, striking awake sensations that ripple through my entire body, the air we breathe becomesours. The light pouring around us becomes ours. Every wound and every hurt from my past disappears, wiped clean, and for a small moment, I know true bliss.
Fire in the hands he presses to my back.
Need in the quickening of my breath and the heat growing in my center.
Want in the groan that sounds in the back of his throat as I press closer to him.
I slide my hands to his stomach, needing to draw up his shirt and press against his naked skin, needing to get closer to him, but before I succeed—
A shadow drops over us.
It’s sudden and cold and brings so much darkness to my heart that I gasp against Micah’s lips.
Our kiss breaks and it feels like glass cracking, leaving only shards that pierce my chest.
I can’t breathe. My entire body is being compressed by an external force and my fingers and toes are suddenly freezing.
My heart squeezes and pounds, and my ears fill with buzzing, a low drone that sounds like a moan of wind through a dank cavern.
Every shred of hope and love drains from me as my peace shatters.
CHAPTERTWO
My gaze shoots upward.
Above us, far too close, a dark cloud has gathered.
It has no distinct shape but spills across the air above the rooftop like a mass of soot, swilling and glistening as if it were made of ground onyx.
What the fuck is that?
Micah’s arms and wings tighten around me, but even the pressure of his body can’t stop the shudder wracking me.
He wrenches me to my feet while I struggle to drag in enough breath to force sound past my lips.
I gasp. “We need to move!”
I don’t know what this shadow is, but I know we need to escape it.
Micah’s wings spread wide as he releases me from his hold. I extend my own wings, unable to take any joy from the moment theythumpinto the air. They’re strong and bright even in the darkness, a reminder that I’m not as vulnerable as I once was.
Even so, I’ve only begun learning how to defend myself. I haven’t trained for years like Lana, Callan, and Micah have. I haven’t spent my life honing my body or learning how to handle a knife or a gun. I don’t have any dragon’s gold to use as a weapon and even if I did, my ability to control dragon’s gold is modest and new.
I’m sensible enough to know that running is still my best option.If only I could make myself fucking move!
The very tip of my left wing nudges into the moonlight beyond the dark shadow and that small touch of light clears my head. Not by much. Just enough for me to break through my frozen thoughts and launch myself into action driven by instinct.
We have to get to safety.
I can’t let this hellish shadow take hold of us.
I won’t lose Micah.
Grabbing his arm, I prepare to launch myself to the side of the rooftop so we can fly out from under the dark cloud, enter the moonlight, shake off this awful dread, and fight back against whatever this new threat is.
