Page 16 of The Hidden
I watch her hurriedly weave through the people and out the door. I look back at Ryn who’s now wearing a cheeky smile and, once again, feel unsure of exactly what I’ve agreed to. I shrug, I guess I’ll find out soon enough. If it’s something I can’t do, then no pants for me. I’ll just have to deal with these two dresses. I look down at the strips of fabric barely covering me and cringe. I don’t know what the other dress Tysa made even looks like. I just hope it’s not more revealing than this one.
Please let whatever Tysa wants to be fixed be like a toaster or something,I plea silently.
A breeze sneaks in through the window we’re standing next to, and white strands of my hair tickle my cheek and neck. Ryn reaches out and catches one between his thumb and index finger and rubs it gently. It reminds me of when he was running his hands through my hair yesterday, and goose bumps rise up on my arms. I slap his hand away again, and evidently, he finds that amusing. He takes a step toward me, and my breathing picks up. I feel panicked and excited simultaneously, and I don’t know what that fucking means.
“Come, Falon Solei Umbra,” he practically purrs, and the way his lips and tongue caress my name feels naughty and inviting. “I’ll show you around,” Ryn tells me, and he turns on his heel and starts to saunter through the thinning crowd.
I watch him for a beat as he weaves his way toward the doors. He doesn’t even look back, he’s so certain I’ll follow him. I feel eyes on me, and I scan the room to find Loa and Zeph’s stares both fixed on me. Zeph’s eyes start to dip down my body, but they snap back up suddenly like he just realized what he was doing and put a stop to it. He glares at me like I’ve wronged him in some way, and I bristle against the vitriol seeping out of his golden honey gaze. I flip him and Loa the bird and then follow in Ryn’s wake, eager to get the hell out of this room and start figuring things out.
9
“So what was all that about?” I ask, gesturing behind me with one of the rolls I just jacked from the kitchen tour.
With all the stairs in this place Ryn has me trekking up and down, I need all the calories I can get at this point. Ryn gives me the side-eye as I swallow down another chipmunk-cheek inducing bite. I ignore his judgement; I’m starving. It’s like the plate of food Tysa already fed me was just an appetizer and now I’m ready for the main course. As soon as Ryn finishes showing me the courtyard or wherever he’s taking me right now, I’m headed back to the kitchen and camping out there until this gnawing need in my stomach is sated.
“What waswhatall about?” Ryn queries as we hike up several flights of stairs until I’m winded, and the sound of the waterfall that pours off the cliff castle pounds through every surface around us. I can barely hear past my deep gasps for air, let alone him, so I wait until we start making our way through some cave and things are a little quieter to elaborate.
“The alarms, armored gryphons, and the mysterious explosion? What was that all about?” I clarify as I scan the rocky ground in the dim light for anything I might trip over.
“We were just running a drill. That happens from time to time here. We can never be too prepared for anything and everything the Avowed may throw at us,” he tells me matter of factly.
“Yeah, Tysa was telling me about them and the Oh-f,” I try to say, but the word is a jumble of wrong in my mouth.
“The Ouphe,” Ryn corrects me, and I say it over and over again until it feels natural against my tongue and lips. I smile when I get it right and look over at Ryn like I’m expecting a cookie or a gold star or something. His eyes jump up to mine from where he was just staring fixated at my lips, and then he quickly looks away, refocusing on his path through the cave. I’m getting the distinct impression that Ryn is DTF, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me as he was all about the hate yesterday.
“Uh...anyway,” I continue. “Tysa made it seem like all the evil, enslaving Ouphe were all dead. What happened to them?” I press and proceed to finish the last of my roll stash.
“The warring tribes of Ouphe killed each other off, for the most part. Some groups escaped through the gates, and we hunted the rest that stayed behind.” Ryn states all of this very casually as we make our way closer to the light-filled exit. The brutality of the wordhuntstands out to me and gives me the chills. I’m not sure why it makes me feel uncomfortable; I don’t know the Ouphe or the Gryphons really. Who am I to judge their history and how it was handled?
“It’s rumored that some small tribes found shelter up in the Quietus Mountains, but they know better than to cross paths with us. And really, it’s all probably just a rumor; those lands are practically uninhabitable.”
I nod in agreement and then chuckle at myself. I have no fucking clue if it’s true or not, so I have no idea why I’m just agreeing with him.
“Now, I heard the sirens, but what explosion were you talking abou—” Ryn starts, but my gasp cuts him off as we exit the cave and step out into the sun.
I look around me, wide-eyed, taking it all in. It’s so green and beautiful I don’t even know what to stare at first. The short grass looks soft enough to sleep on. It’s some kind of mix between pillowy looking moss and the bladed green stuff that exists back home. The wind blows a cool mist over me from the river that leaps off the edge of the cliff and thunders down the side of the cliff castle. I close my eyes and revel in the feel of it as faint shouts reach my ears. I open my eyes and take in the deep periwinkle of the water that stretches as far as I can see.
“Is this an island?” I ask, curious and not able to contain it.
“No, we just kiss the Talle Lake in quite a few places,” Ryn offers, and he makes his way toward some trees to the right.
This is a lake?I question as I stare past the top of the cliff we’re on and take in the expanse of water.It’s the biggest lake I’ve ever seen.I move to follow Ryn and have to bite back a moan as I step out onto the soft grass. It feels like a layer of cotton against the sore pads of my feet, and I have the sudden urge to roll around in it. The wind picks up, making my hair and the fabric of my barely there dress dance about, and I almost flash nipple when the sneaky air tries to get randy with the gathered part of the dress covering my boobs.
Note to self: roll around in the soft grass when Tysa gives me pants and tops.Until then, try to keep the girls covered and the sideboob in check.
“So you thought you were a wolf?” Ryn asks over his shoulder, but I’m distracted by my nipples’ attempts to escape.
“What?” I ask as I position things back where they’re supposed to be. I slam into something hard and bounce back unbalanced. Ryn grabs my hips to keep me from introducing my ass to the soft grass.
“What are you doing?” he queries as I expel the last of theoomphthat escapes me from crashing into his back. There’s a twinkle of something in his storm-gray eyes, and I’m suddenly aware of just how pressed up against him I am. I can feel the texture of the scaled and braided leather he’s wearing against my stomach and hardening nipples.
“Playing with my boobs,” I blurt, and Ryn barks out a laugh and tightens his grip on my hips. My very bare hips, I observe, as the rough skin of his palms lights up a plethora of sensations in me. His laughter snakes through me, keying me up like it’s my favorite song. My clit pulses with anticipation as I clench around emptiness. I start to breathe through the shit ton of need that just tsunami’d through me. I want to fuck him. I want him to snap the two chains holding this poor excuse for a dress together and then slam me up against the tree and make me scream. I want a back full of bark, blood, and scratches from how hard he fucks me.
The need to know if he tastes like the rain clouds that are in his eyes drives me to rise up on my tip toes, and I lick my bottom lip in invitation. Ryn leans down, as transfixed by the moment and—judging by his dilated pupils—as driven with need as I currently am. His full lips are just a hair’s breadth away, and I can feel the promise of pleasure and the need to own and dominate in his grip and on his breath as it caresses my mouth. A pained shout reverberates through the trees around us, and Ryn suddenly blinks and then pulls away from me. Like a desperate dumbass, I lean forward chasing his retreating lips for a second before coming to my senses and realizing what I’m doing.
His hands release my hips, and the tips of his fingers skate over my now heated skin as he pulls away. I try to clear my head of the lust clouding my every thought right now.What the fuck am I doing?My red alert alarm sounds off in my head about three minutes too late. I push away from him, disconnecting any part of me that’s still touching any part of him, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d say he almost reaches out for me before he fists his hand and drops it back by his side.
Another shout slithers through the trees to find us, and I expect Ryn to hurry off in its direction, but he doesn’t. He just stands there.
