Renegades (Hotbloods #3)

He smiled. “Focus, girl,” he chastised. “I want you to think of your wings like muscles. Think about what you want to move, and move it.” His hands strayed along my back to where the wings had emerged.

I did as he asked, picturing the new lines of muscle and sinew that had been created and focusing on getting them to move. To my surprise, the left wing flapped slightly. I shrieked in delight, trying it again. This time, it gave a full flap that almost encompassed the two of us entirely. Focusing even harder, I flapped the right, then the left, before bringing them both together, giving me my first sight of both wings together. They were dark and sleek, though not nearly as leathery as regular coldblood wings. Mine had an almost green sheen, like the feathers of a magpie whenever they caught the sun in a certain light.

“Good. Now I want you to try soaring on an air current,” Navan said. He held my waist and flew me toward a pocket of warmer air. He paused as he felt out a suitable current, before holding me over it. “Open your wings and let the current push you upward.”

I obeyed, feeling elated when my wings caught the rush of air, my body shooting upward. It was only when the current ebbed that I began to panic, as I started to plummet to the ground. I flapped frantically, but I couldn’t get both wings to move at the same time, causing me to jolt from side to side. Navan swept down and grabbed me before I got too close to the ground, his laughter sounding sweet and comforting in my ear. He turned me around in his arms and held me close.

“Not bad,” he whispered. “And I have to say, now that I’ve gotten used to it, there’s something about Winged Riley that is incredibly sexy.” He dipped his head and kissed me full on the mouth, one hand locked around me, his other holding the back of my neck.

“Likewise,” I managed. There was something about being so close to him, in such a dangerous setting, that made me want to tear his clothes off.

I hadn’t thought about the prospect of sex with Navan in too much detail since Bashrik’s interruption just over a week ago, but right now it was something I couldn’t ignore. All I could think about was his body against mine, his lips exploring every inch of my skin, his hands discovering every secret I held. It wasn’t really something Navan and I had spoken about, though our bodies had said plenty on the subject.

“How much longer do we have to stay out here?” I asked, breathless. There was only thin material between us as we hovered in the air, clutched against one another.

“As long as you want,” he murmured, dipping his head to kiss my neck.

“Maybe we shouldn’t… We might have an audience,” I gasped, little shivers of electricity rippling up my spine.

Navan grinned. “Then think fast,” he chuckled, before dropping me out of his arms.

I yelped, my stomach turning as I fell. I forced my mind to focus, and, to my surprise, my wings flapped in unison, stirring up gusts of wind beneath them that carried me safely upward, keeping me away from the ground below. I giggled delightedly, my cheeks still hot from Navan’s kiss, and soared through the cold air, feeling the rush of it against my bare skin as I swept this way and that.

“You’re doing it!” Navan cried. He flew in underneath me, wrapping his arms around me so we began to corkscrew through the air. I had never been so exhilarated in all my life. Together, we flew across the sky, racing one another, twisting and turning in each other’s arms.

We flew until I felt an ache beneath my shoulders, telling me that the serum was wearing off. Not wanting to risk being in the air when it happened, I flew downward, landing with a thud on the ground. Walking off my less-than-graceful touchdown, I felt a rush of wind as Navan landed beside me. I could already feel my wings receding, their magnificence fading away, though the pain of their disappearance was nothing compared to the pain of their arrival. It was a dull ache, followed by a few sharp jolts, then nothing more.

“Are they gone?” I asked sadly.

“For now.” His hand slipped into mine, and we headed toward the back entrance of the training center. On the way, I picked up my fur coat and put it back on, shivering against the Vysanthean cold, the heat from my wing serum all but gone. Instantly, I felt warmer, especially since the fur covered the two holes that had been torn in the back of my shirt and revealed the bare skin of my shoulder blades.

“Do you think we can get back to our chambers without being interrupted?” I wondered, flashing him a knowing look.

He smiled, staring at me with such desire I thought I might burst. “I think we can try,” he whispered, his voice low and thick.

Still holding hands, we sprinted through the hangar and into the main hallway of the training center, our minds on our chamber and the bed that beckoned to us. We tore across the gap between the center and the palace, feeling smug that we had managed to get away without anyone noticing, or anyone calling us in to do something else, when a sight in one of the windows of the gleaming building distracted my attention. I skidded to a halt, knowing it wasn’t accidental. There, written on a rectangle of paper stuck in the pane, was the word LIBRARY, written in big, bold letters.

“Rask,” Navan muttered.

“Rask,” I concurred.

It looked like the promise of some alone time would have to wait.





Chapter Six





We hurried toward the library, knowing the note had to be for us. It was written in crude, bubbly lettering that I couldn’t imagine a Vysanthean using. I had seen Lauren use it before, though, as she sprawled over school textbooks and secret journals.

Reaching the familiar door, I knocked. Lauren answered a moment later, ducking her head out into the hallway before yanking the pair of us inside. The armchair Queen Brisha usually lounged in was empty, though the fire was still roaring in the grate. In fact, it was absolutely roasting in the library, and beads of sweat started to form on my forehead. Realizing the thick layer of fur wrapped around me probably wasn’t helping, I shuffled it off my shoulders, putting it to one side.

“You got my message, then?” Lauren asked conspiratorially as she led us through a network of bookshelves, heading for the back of the vast room.

I nodded. “On the window.”

“Good. I was worried you might miss it. I didn’t think it was big enough, and when hours passed and you still hadn’t arrived, I figured you hadn’t seen it,” she explained rapidly, pulling us down a long passageway of particularly tall stacks filled to the brim with dusty tomes. At the end of it stood a strange circular nook, which appeared to be hewn from the inside of an old tower. There, a circular banquette hugged the nook’s outer rim, and a table sat in the center, though both things were difficult to make out, given the quantity of books scattered across every surface. Lauren had certainly been a busy bee.

“Nope, we saw it,” Navan muttered, flashing me a look of remorse.