Page 17

Violet meowed sharply, her yellow eyes seeing right through my bravado. You wish, her tail flicked.

The Iron Fox and The Fire

The restaurant was dimly lit and cozy, but I felt the tension coil in my stomach the moment Kael slid into the booth beside me. Not across from me, right next to me. His heavy thigh brushed mine deliberately, like he was daring me to move. Heat radiated from him in waves—sharp, palpable, and intoxicating. Smoke and cedar clung to his skin, a wild scent that curled straight into my lungs. He wasn’t polished like Lucien. He wasn't careful. He was a raw, tectonic force.

“I hope you’re not the type to squirm on me all night,” he said, his voice a low vibration that I felt in my own marrow. His thigh pressed against mine a little harder. “Because I like my women strong. I like them knowing what they want. Do you know what you want, Ivy?”

My breath caught. Gods, the audacity... and yet my body betrayed me, warmth flooding low in my belly. My lips parted, but no words came. I reached for my glass of Irish whiskey to keep my hands from shaking. Kael leaned back like he owned the establishment, his arm stretching casually along the seat behind my shoulders, his fingers grazing my neck. “You know what I think of old blood witches?” he went on, blunt and unfiltered. “They’re cowards. Politicking, whining... pretending their bloodlines make them strong. Most of the Sisters are ancient and brittle, too scared to use the power they have left. They’d rather rot in their sanctuaries than fight for the magic that’s being bled dry.”

His words were cruel, but they hit a chord. He was talking about the same decay I saw every day as a sentinel. I should be appalled, yet my thighs pressed together under the table, desperate to ground the ache his nearness stirred.

“You’re different, though,” he murmured. He turned his head, his lips brushing the shell of my ear, sending a jolt of electricity down my spine. “I can feel the tempest inside you. It’s why you’re suffocating behind that bookstore counter when you should be out here, in the wild, with me."

He spoke about the bike shop he ran on the edge of the docks, a place where he didn't just fix machines, but reinforced them with the kind of brutal, efficient magic the Council frowned upon. As we shared small plates of spicy calamari and more whiskey, the fuck-boy arrogance I'd expected began to bleed into something more complex. This wasn't a man looking for a single night. This was a man who hated the cage the world had built for him.

Then, his patience snapped.

It happened with the suddenness of a lightning strike. Kael surged to his feet, the chair screeching against the floorboards. “We’re leaving,” he commanded.

Before I could even set my glass down, his hand clamped around my wrist, hard and unyielding. He hauled me from the booth, dragging me toward the exit. I stumbled, my heels catching on the rug, my heart hammering against my ribs.

“Kael, stop! You’re hurting me.” I hissed as we hit the cool night air of the sidewalk.

He didn't slow down. He spun me around, his momentum slamming my back against the rough, cold brick of the alleyway. The impact knocked the wind from my lungs. He crowded into my space, his heavy frame pinning me there, one hand staying locked on my wrist while the other slammed against the bricks beside my head.

“Enough with the acting, Ivy,” he growled, his face inches from mine. His eyes were dark, but they glowed with that same golden fire I’d seen at the docks. This was the jealousy I’d sensed earlier, the territorial rage of a man who knew Lucien had been here first. “I don’t do desserts. I don’t do small talk. And I’m done with the niceties.”

He leaned in, his scent all smoke and rain, smothering me. “I want to taste you. Right here. Right now. Do you have a problem with that?”

A shiver raced down my spine. This wasn't the elegant chess game I played with Lucien. This was a predator marking his territory.

“I don’t have a problem,” I whispered, my voice defiant even as my knees went weak. “But I don’t take orders in alleys.”

He stared at me for a long beat, the tension between us a live wire. Then, a slow, predatory smirk curled his lips. He let go of my wrist, his fingers trailing down my arm in a ghost of a caress. “Good. I like it when the prey bites back.”

He gestured toward the curb where a black Harley gleamed under the streetlights. He grabbed two helmets from the handlebars and handed me one. “Pull up the skirt of your dress,” he ordered curtly as I took the helmet. “Bunch the fabric in your lap so it doesn't get caught in the belt drive. I’m not having you shredded before we get home.”

My cheeks burned as I obeyed, tugging the silk of my dress higher until my thighs were exposed to the cool breeze. I felt his gaze linger, hot, unashamed, and possessive.

“Perfect,” he muttered. He swung onto the bike, his powerful thighs straddling the machine. “Climb on.”

I slid up behind him, my bare thighs brushing against the firm line of his. I wrapped my arms around him, pressing my chest into his back. The muscles beneath his shirt flexed hard, warm, and ready.

“Closer,” he said, his voice husky.

I obeyed, my nipples tightening beneath the thin fabric of my dress as I moulded to his frame. The rumble of the Harley vibrated through him and into me, thrumming between my legs until I had to bite my lip to keep from gasping.

Kael’s hand reached back, gripping my thigh and dragging me tighter against him before he throttled forward. “That’s better. Now hold on, little witch. Don’t let go.”

The Harley roared, the vibration shooting up through the seat into my core. Every jolt of the machine was a friction that set my nerves ablaze. Kael’s hand left the handlebars, his fingers sliding beneath the bunched hem of my dress. He squeezed firmly, his thumb rubbing slow, punishing circles into my inner thigh.

“Feel that?” he growled over the roar of the wind. “Every part of you belongs right here, against me. Not him. Me.”

My breath tore out in a gasp. The combination of the engine’s rhythm and his palm sliding higher made my body quiver. I shifted unconsciously, grinding my hips against the firm line of his backside.

Kael chuckled, a dark, low sound that rumbled through his chest. “That’s it. Can’t help yourself, can you?”

His fingers grazed dangerously close to the heat at the centre of me, with only the thin barrier of my lace panties between his touch and my aching need. The Harley roared again as he pressed harder into the throttle, and I rocked against him helplessly, chasing the friction.