Page 53

The ash continued to drift as silence pressed in against me, as suffocating as the heat.

I forced myself upright, breath uneven as the power within my chest receded like a tide dragged mercilessly back by the moon.

I froze the moment I looked at him.

Dishevelled hair. Chest heaving. Muscles rigid. Jaw clenching.

His eyes burnt into me. But they weren’t his. The amber flecks within them moved, alive and writhing. Spreading like wildfire through the dark grey until there was nothing left but flame. I skidded backwards, every instinct in my body screaming at me to create distance between us.

His eyes squeezed shut, his head tilting sharply to the side as if fighting something clawing its way up from within. His nostrils flared, dragging in a slow, unsteady breath.

A low groan tore from his chest, and his gaze snapped open again. It locked onto me with something far more dangerous than anger. Something hungry.

I reached for the song rising in my chest—and found only silence where it should have been.

The heat drains you faster, the Fire Fate’s words echoed in my head.

His dimples flashed in a knowing smile.

“Run,” he rasped.

Every nerve in my body ignited. I didn’t think—I moved.

I scrambled to my feet, boots slipping in the ash as I spun and bolted. My lungs burned instantly, breath tearing in sharp, broken bursts as I ran.

His footsteps were right behind me. Gaining on me.

I cursed under my breath as I stumbled over a gnarled tree root, twisting to glance over my shoulder.

Helion was hunting me and his fiery eyes burned with the determination of a predator hell-bent on claiming its kill. Ash exploded beneath his boots as he tore through the forest like something unleashed from a cage. Those burning eyes never left me, glowing between the grey trunks like twin embers.

Terror clawed up my spine. I needed to lose him. But the forest stretched endlessly around me. Grey-barked trees twisted toward the blackened sky like skeletal hands, ash coating the ground so thickly it swallowed every direction whole. My pulse thundered in my ears.

A branch snagged my sleeve. I ripped free and kept running.

The golden bond pulsed violently in my chest, flooding me with a primal desire. Heat unfurled low in my stomach, pulsing with every frantic step.

A sound tore through the forest behind me—a low, ragged groan that barely sounded human. It was as if he could sense my reaction.

I pushed harder, dodging trees as my lungs screamed. The heat in the air thickened until every breath felt like inhaling smoke. Sweat slid down my spine as I darted between the trees, boots skidding across loose ash, a hand caught my waist. I gasped as my body was violently yanked backwards.

My back slammed into a tree hard enough to shake the breath from my lungs. Helion crowded me, pressing his body against mine to trap me against the rough bark. Heat engulfed me.

One arm braced beside my head, the other locked around my waist, pinning me against the rough bark as he fought for breath. His chest heaved against mine. Dark strands clung to his forehead, dusted in ash. But it was his eyes that stole the air from my lungs.

Flames. They burned inside him, molten and wild, like something ancient and starving had finally clawed its way free.

His nostrils flared as he inhaled against my throat. A shiver wracked my body.

Fear. It should have only been fear. But my pulse betrayed me, hammering violently as his grip tightened on my waist and heat flooded my veins.

“You should have run faster,” he rasped against the sensitive column of my neck. His hand slid to the small of my back, tugging me against him.

“Get off me,” I said breathlessly, hating how weak I sounded.

He pressed his lips to my skin, slow and deliberate, before dragging his tongue along the sensitive curve of my throat. Heat unfurled through me instantly, molten and dangerous, spreading beneath my skin like fire racing through dry timber.

A ragged breath left him as he pulled back just enough to look at me, those burning eyes dark with hunger.