The temperature in the hallway left me sweating, but I could live with it. Deodorant would have been nice. But who was going to complain? Right, Mad-Dragon of flaming breath and questionable eating habits—I wasn’t going to worry about that. He began to draw back to his original size. The flicker of surprise on his face had me twisting and whirling just as a boot scraped the stone not far from me.
Guard uniforms.
I didn’t wait for whoever this was to identify themselves, I struck. Fortunately for me—yes, I said I was weird—they were also mid-strike as they swung the equivalent of a glowing billy club in my direction.
Catching his wrist as he was mid-downswing, I twisted and lunged forward, slamming the heel of my hand right at his crotch. Armor or not, the impact sent a jolt up my arm, but he still hissed, and his grip on the billy club of doom faltered. I didn’t wait for it to fall as I slid right into him. The lust wafting from him was also tinged with fear. He didn’t want me so much as he wanted desperately to contain me.
Too.
Fucking.
Bad.
As the billy club hit the floor, I clasped his face and yanked it down for a kiss. Shock turned him rigid as I soaked in even his watered down lust. It wasn’t much, more like the soggy French fry at the bottom of the bag. It filled the hole, but lacked any kind of satisfaction. The guy sagged, and no sooner had I begun to feed, then he was yanked away. I hissed, but Maddox glared at me as he snapped the guy’s neck. The man dropped without another word.
“You want to feed, you feed on me. Until then, we’re moving.”
Well. Fuck you, too.
“Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, Dragon Boy M,” I told him, but when he snagged me close to him, two things hit me in the same breath.
If I’d thought he was warm in the cell, he was a thousand times hotter in the hall. His skin should be steaming, he was so hot. The second thing? He was naked. Absolutely, gloriously, one hundred percent naked. He was definitely sexy with a capital damn.
The weight of his cock poked at the too thin fabric of my so-called uniform, and I had to tilt my head to meet his gaze. Yeah, there might have been the vaguest amount of drool involved.
Vaguest.
Possibly.
A few drops.
Fuck. Me.
Why did he have to do this now when we were leaving the enforced isolation with the very tiny bed?
As if reading my mind—or maybe my body, ‘cause it got there several seconds before my brain did—Maddox dipped his head. Laser focused on that sensuous mouth, it took me a whole extra-half a heartbeat to put my hand over it before he got too close.
He just ate someone or something.
Right.
Big crunch.
Gross. Hot.
“Gargle. With. Bleach.” At the reminder, his eyes crinkled and his smirk pressed against my palm. Catching my hand, he bit down on my palm. Not enough to break skin, but enough that the pressure of his teeth sent an answering pulse straight to my pussy.
Really not the time.
Course, now I was hungry, and he’d killed off my limp noodle of a snack. Maybe I’d make him make it up to me later.
No limp noodle here.
No sirree.
After he released my hand, he retrieved a bag I hadn’t even noticed him carrying. He had to bend for it, and let me just add, the view going was almost as good as the view of him returning.
Almost.
He dragged a dark shirt on and then pulled on some pants.
Pity.
His boots were gone, as was his belt. Didn’t do a damn thing to turn me off, though. Honestly. He looked even better all disheveled, hair askew and shirt hanging open. He slung the bag over his shoulder, and it lay crosswise over his torso.
Yeah, how had I not noticed that?
“Coming?” He gave me an expectant look, and it was my turn to smirk.
“Until I was so rudely blocked?” I let that suggestion hang out there for a minute before I slapped his chest on my way past. “Not even.”
His rough chuckle chased after me as we moved in tandem toward the door. “Grip the strap,” he ordered before pushing the metal door outward. It gave him some minor resistance, but the door buckled under the force he exerted.
Yep, that just set all kinds of things fluttering. Though brute strength wasn’t a turn on by itself. Fuck, I was hungry.
Once in the hall though, all thoughts of eating took a sharp right turn. A dozen guards swarmed toward us.
“Stay with me,” Maddox snarled as he waded in.
Yeah. Sure. No problem.
He moved hella fast, and the first jerk forward nearly pulled my arm out of the socket. Yeah, that wasn’t working for me. The first guard who tried to drag me away, however, ate my elbow in his teeth. They were mostly shifters. Not that it slowed Maddox down. I was pretty sure these were wolves. They had that eau de wet dog going on for them.
It was all fun and games until one of the bastards bit me. To be honest, when asked about it later, I had no idea what I did so much as I whirled. Letting go of Maddox, I landed on the bastard, all teeth and claws. The first drag of hot blood on my tongue, and I latched. I consumed every drop, the lust for blood he’d been simmering in along with the blood in his veins.
When this prey was ripped away from me, I whirled, intent on clawing out eyes, only to come face to face with a pair of nearly pitch-black eyes with the barest ring of gray around them, dark hair, and a face like an angel.
“Bad for the digestion, Beautiful.”
Oh, I knew that voice.
“That’s it. Focus on me.”
I was focused on him.
“You about done there, Maddox? This is a lot of fighting for the sweet baby.”
Then Maddox was there, he had a hold of my arm and turned me slightly. “Fucker tore right through her shoulder.”
Oh. Yeah. Someone bit me. I turned to go after said fucker, when Fin caught my free arm.
“Nope, he’s very dead, Beautiful. I promise. Time to go though.” Everything but the two of them seemed to be coming from a great distance.
“You’re overdoing it,” Maddox snarled.
“I can’t help it if she’s more naturally drawn to me,” Fin said smoothly, giving me a charming smile. My heart gave a distinct double-thump. He really was gorgeous, and his voice was buttery soft. I gave into the impulse to lean toward him, but Maddox’s grip on my arm kept me from going too far.
Pain lit up along my shoulder and raced across my skin.
“None of that,” Fin murmured, pressing a kiss to my wrist. “Nothing hurts. We’re going to get out of here, okay?”
I exhaled a long breath. “Okay.” That really did sound like a great idea.
“Let’s go, straight up,” Fin ordered. “Ten levels.” He swept me up into his arms, and it made Maddox release me. The poor Mad-Dragon let out a very disgruntled sound. “You first, we need to move fast. I doubt she can keep up with either of us, so let’s go.”
The world blurred past. The throb in my shoulder returned, and bit-by-bit, the foggy cloud muffling the sounds of combat around me faded. The sheer volume of bodies lying around us should have made my gorge rise, but as it was, I could barely muster the interest.
When had we gotten up here?
I vaguely remembered getting to the stairwell and the fight there. The man holding me, swung around and stared. That was it—just stared at the guy rushing us. The guard switched directions abruptly and ran into a wall.