Read Wings of Fire for Free Online Page B

close once more, toward his lips. She tilted slightly and pretended to kiss him. He gasped. “What did you just do?”
    She moved in again, and kissed him.
    He put his fingers to his lips. “Did you just kiss me?”
    “Yes,” she whispered aloud into her room.
    “Parisa. Do it again.”
    She leaned forward once more. He stayed very still. She drew back. His eyes opened. “I didn’t feel anything. If you tried again, I couldn’t feel it.” He flopped back on the bed once more and threw an arm over his forehead. “Oh, God, how I miss you. I ache for you.”
    She panned back and looked at the full length of him again. He had a faint dusting of black hair over his pecs angling to his stomach. She loved the distinct line of hair that traveled his lower abdomen, showing the way. His hair was curled over his groin, a healthy animal. His cock was still half erect—it always was so long as she was near, even after he’d come. The same fine black hair covered his legs. She loved the way he looked, so masculine. She had always liked hair on a man. She wanted to sift her fingers through all of it, from his toes, up his legs, around the base of his cock, up that sexy line, over his chest, his arms … but mostly she wanted her hands in his long warrior hair.
    Long hair meant something to the Warriors of the Blood. In a ritual that went back several millennia, the warriors faced battle by binding their hair in the ritual clasp called the cadroen, symbolizing strength of will and purpose.
    Yes, Antony had told her many things during this time he shared with her. Though he couldn’t hear her, he knew she was listening so he talked.
    Antony’s voice continued softly. “Did I tell you that the first time I used my wings after my ascension, I fell flat on my back? I couldn’t breathe for a good minute, and the pain was almost unbearable. I’d crushed some of the feathers. Three healers worked for hours to put me back together. When the wings are broken like that, you can’t retract them. Remember that when you fly. Be careful.”
    She got very close and rubbed her fingers over his lips. I almost did the same thing. Do you remember? I’d ended up in a forward roll the first time I flew and Havily tugged on my feet and saved me. Later, she told me privately that you’d been watching us. She often shared things even though he couldn’t hear her.
    Havily Morgan had been a good friend to her and had saved her life more than once during the short time she’d known her. She missed Havily. She missed all of them.
    “Remember how you almost crashed that first day flying with Havily? Did you know I was watching you? When you almost fell, I dropped a plate of pasta. I was afraid for you but Havily kept you safe.”
    Oh, why couldn’t he hear her? She pressed a fingers to her lips.
    “I will always be grateful that Havily took care of you that day and taught you so much about flying. I wish I could have been the one but…”
    You never mount your wings in front of anyone.
    “… I never mount my wings except in private. I just can’t. They’d see my back. Marcus knows the truth but I trust him to be discreet.” His chest rose and fell in a heavy sigh. “When I ascended and understood how quickly I could heal in my new vampire state, I thought my back would change, but it didn’t. I’m … scarred, Parisa. Forever.”
    Parisa could tell by the way he whispered the words that whatever had scarred his back had wounded him more deeply in his mind, maybe even in his soul.
    I’ve seen your scars, Antony. Don’t you realize that? How could I be so close to you all these months and not have seen your scars?
    “Shit,” he muttered. “You’ve already seen them, haven’t you? Of course you have. Shit.” He sounded so ashamed.
    She wanted to comfort him, to tell him it didn’t matter, but she couldn’t. All she could do was keep wiping away her tears.
    She was drawn back, deep into her memories of Antony. He had comforted her