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Torque reached out to lay a restraining hand on her shoulder.
    “Rya, stop,” he growled. “We have no idea where this might take us. Or who might be waiting.”
    She turned her head to send him a frown. “You can stay here if you want. I’m going to find my mother.”
    The sapphire eyes flared with a burning frustration. “Aggravating female.”
    His jaw clenched, then without warning, he was bending his head to claim her lips in a kiss that seared through her with a shocking pleasure.
    Rya gasped, feeling her inner dragon stir with a sudden burst of flames and fury. It was the first time her beast had ever responded to a male and she trembled at the sheer force of its hunger.
    He tasted of heat. And raw male power.
    And she wanted more.
    Lots more.
    Instinctively she opened her mouth, encouraging the thrust of his tongue as he wrapped his arms around her waist and hauled her tight against his torso.
    Her hands grabbed his upper arms, savoring the feel of him beneath her palms. His muscles were as hard as granite and perfectly chiseled. Fascinated by his male form, she allowed her fingers to glide up and over his shoulders before exploring the wide expanse of his back.
    He made a sound deep in his throat and without warning a glorious fire was dancing over his skin.
    She shivered as the flames began to surround her, the sensual warmth as intoxicating as the finest nectar.
    “Torque,” she breathed, drowning in the erotic sensations.
    Time lost all meaning for Rya as he took fierce command of her mouth, kissing her over and over as his hands swept down her body with a possessive confidence.
    He touched her as if he owned her.
    Something that should have pissed her off, right? She might wear his marking, but he’d barely acknowledged her existence before she’d disappeared from the harem.
    Unfortunately—or maybe fortunately—she was too busy melting in pleasure to protest.
    Finally, it was a blast of wind that whipped across the glacier that made her push away from his heady touch, her heart thundering with a mixture of excitement and disbelief.
    “My mother,” she forced herself to mutter, unable to form a full sentence.
    The sapphire eyes glowed with a hectic fire. Lust? Need? Sheer annoyance?
    Impossible to say.
    Sucking in a deep breath he doused the flames that were swirling around him and turned to face the portal.
    “I go in first.”
    Rya bit her lower lip, knowing better than to argue.
    Torque was on the edge. She knew beyond a doubt that if she pushed him too far he’d toss her over his shoulder and haul her back to her father’s harem.
    And there wouldn’t be a damned thing she could do to stop him.
    Right now she fully understood the proverb that claimed that silence was golden.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Finn was floating in a peaceful darkness. At least it was peaceful until he was rudely slapped across the face.
    “Wake up,” an unfamiliar voice commanded. It had an accent. Was it…French? Weird. “Can you hear me, you overgrown fairy?”
    Finn kept his eyes tightly shut, hoping this was nothing more than a nightmare that would pass.
    “I’m a sprite, not a fairy,” he muttered.
    “I do not care if you are an ogre.” There was another sharp slap to his face. “You must wake up.”
    Releasing his breath with a furious hiss, Finn lifted his heavy lids, realizing he truly was in a nightmare. What else could explain the ugly gray face hovering just inches from his nose?
    Then a faint memory teased at the edges of his foggy brain.
    What was it?
    Oh yeah. Missing sprites. The beautiful Rya. And an ugly-ass gargoyle in the company of the half-dragon, Torque.
    He’d reluctantly given Rya privacy, which meant he’d been stuck with the gargoyle as he’d moved toward his favorite spot on the glacier. He’d actually been searching for a way to get rid of the tiny demon when a portal had opened in front of him and he’d been sucked inside.
    After that everything had gone black.
    Trying to determine where