Amid the Clouds (Brave New World Book 1)

Chapter 16

The gargoyle king had one arm draped across my waist, a hand resting on my abdomen, and a tail falling across my right hip.

Way to go, me! I had found the perfect time to succumb to a deep sleep I hadn't allowed myself to get for weeks. A sleep so deep that I had been moved from the chaise lounge to the bed without feeling a thing. I hadn't even felt falling asleep in the first place.

So much for my great and only plan of escape.

"Mmm..." a husky voice said, a puff of warm air tickling the back of my neck. "The best first night with a female in my bed ever. Thank you, little human."

I remained frozen in place, since he hadn't made a move himself. Not that I could achieve much by moving, given that my army knife was no longer in its sheath.

And it wasn't like my body minded being pressed against every hot and hard inch of his.

"Um... You're thanking me for what?"

"For surprising me like no other has done before you. I expected to find you still in the tub. Or dressed for me and enjoying the view from the balcony. Or wearing nothing but your alluring self whilst splayed on the chaise lounge. Perhaps even trying to pleasure yourself, having lost patience in my return."

"Someone actually did that?" Crazy. All of them women who'd come here - crazily crazy.

Me? Crazy and dumb.

"Never did I expect to find my little blessing curled like an unborn pip on the chaise lounge, sword in hand. My great-great-grandfather's sword, to be exact."

"Can I have it back?" I asked in a desperate attempt to fix the situation.

"You do not have to sleep armed anymore, little human. You are safe now. In this palace and in my arms."

He underscored the last bit with a tighter hold around my waist, which brought me even closer to him.

His firm chest was so warm against my back even through my top that I wouldn't need a blanket to sleep anymore, either. Just his naked skin on top of mine, our bodies intertwined–

I quickly brushed that disturbing thought aside. Along with my curiosity about the very long and very hard shaft I could feel against the small of my back.

"I needed that sword to protect myself from you," I said firmly. "Since you kept ignoring my nos, I was hoping a blade to the throat would curb your enthusiasm more effectively. Or would one to the groin work better?"

A laugh followed that being plastered against him, I felt reverberate through my body.

Great, I was amusing him again. And getting hot and bothered in the process.

"You really know little of my kind, little human." He patted my abdomen. "You wielding a sword would have turned me on more, were that even possible. I told you I love challenges. They are but another chance for me to prove myself worthy of your claiming."

"Then give me back the sword," I hissed.

What he did was wrap his tail around my leg from thigh to ankle.

"Maybe tomorrow night, little blessing. My self-control is too thin already." He nipped my earlobe like he'd done in the war room. "I was planning to just sleep next to you and claim you in the morning, not wanting to disturb you in your deep and peaceful sleep in my arms. But then you woke up and... I am awake, too. Every single part of me, all ready to pleasure you."

"You know what you actually love, you horny jerk?" Horny being the word that best described how I felt right now, after all those small touches and ardent statements of his. "It's not challenges: it's rape."