Of Flames & Fallacies (The Arterian #1)

by Courtney Whims

“I’ve royally fucked up, Kat. I thought I was doing the right thing. But I see now I should have told you this a long time ago. I was just so fucking terrified to lose you again. I put my heart above telling you the truth.”

“I-I don’t know how to say this.” He shakes his head. “Can you promise to listen to me until I’m done?”

“What is it?” I demand.

“I need you to promise me to listen until I explain ev...

“Just get out with it.” My skin prickles i...

Dipping his head in defeat, he squeezes his eyes shut, as if he can’t bear to look at me any longer. “I’m…engaged.”

My world stops turning. The air is sucked out of the room, and my vision spins. Every breath is a shard of glass tearing deeper into my heart.

Stunned as if he slapped me, I mutter, “Y...

“You’re joking.” I repeat. Gripping his arm, I shake him, desperate for him to look up at me. “Tell me you’re joking, Cole!”

“Since when?” I croak.

“Since I thought y...

Dead. He can’t even say the words. But it hangs between us nonetheless. And yet…he couldn’t bother to tell me the first time ...

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to tell you. I tried so many times. I just couldn’t find the right time—”

“The right time would have been before you fucked me. That would have been the right time.”

“Kat, please! Kat, wait!” His voice is edged in desperation. “Let me explain. Please, I love you!”

“No, fuck you, Cole. How could you keep that from me? Maybe you were right. I don’t know you anymore, either. Because the Cole I knew would have told me. He wouldn’t have lied.”

“Here, you’ll probably need this for your fiancée.”

“No, wait!”

“Don’t fucking touch me. Don’t touch me ever again. Leave me the fuck alone.”

My toe catches on the side of a crate tucked in the shadows against Darian’s room. I stumble to my knees and whip my gaze at the wooden thing. A liquid sloshes inside of it, and in the moonlight, I can make out red letters plastered across the side: FRAGILE. Not sure what a crate of wine is doing out here.

I dont think thats wine girl

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” someone growls.

A hand wraps tightly around my throat. Another hand presses a dagger to my chest. Darian’s glare burns into me, his teeth bared in a silent warning. I struggle against his grip, wriggling like a worm under his pin. When I don’t answer his question, he tightens his grip around my throat.

I gasp. “You’re choking me—”

“I asked you a fucking ...

“Daeja, get out of here, get to the lake befo...

“What do you want?” he hisses again.

“I’ll sear every inch of his flesh for putting his hands on you.”

“No—go!”

My impulsive gaze flickers over to her shadowy silhouette for a split second. Darian’s eyes narrow before he turns his head to follow my gaze. There’s only one thing I know might distract him enough so Daeja ...

“You.” I b...

His grip softens around my throat, but there’s still a bite to his words. “What did you say?”

“I said...I want…” The afforded slack allows me to grab fistfuls of his hair, and I yank him toward me. “You.”

“Go, Daeja, before he ...

Darian flinches in shock. But it’s only a second before he shoves back into me and kisses me—hard. It’s taut and tight. Nothing of the gentleness, the sincerity, and the warmth of Cole. Just as we battled in the sparring center, our tangle is just as tense. We move our mouths over each other, grappling for the upper-hand. Neither of us stopping or ceasing. He presses his hard body into me, pinning me into submission against the wall. Moving away from his mouth, I kiss and suck his sinfully smooth skin on his angled jaw and throat. The tension u...

The pressure from his dagger against my chest disappears. Something clatters to the ground. His grip on my throat shifts down to seize my hips, and he lifts me off the ground. I wrap my legs around his waist instinctively, and he shifts himself right between my legs. He crushes his groin into me with a gods almighty sinful pressure.

He shouldn’t feel this good. His touch shouldn’t be as magnetic as it is. Every stupid graze of his lips on me has me gasping for air, every brush of his fingers makes my heart skip a beat.

Breaking from the kiss, he sucks on my earlobe and drags his tongue across the soft spot behind my ear—that sweet, sensitive spot never failing to betray me. I surprise myself with a moan, and his cheeks tighten into a victorious grin. My core rushes with molten desire, meltin...

His mouth travels down my neck toward the swell of my breasts. My legs squeeze tighter around his waist, my shoulders rolling back. He trails his hot tongue deliciously slow across my skin, leaving me shivering and wanting.

“I want you...take me to your room.”

“I don’t need to hide. I’ll take you right here, right now. Everyone can watch me fuc...

“Please, D...

He ghosts over to me as I lift my shirt, his deft fingers unhooking and unclasping every layer on my body. I fling my shirt off, the cool air peaking my nipples. He drops to his knees in front of me, a trail of his hot kisses snaking down my navel as he works to shimmy my trousers down. My pants collect into a puddle at my ankles, leaving me naked, and his gaze sweeps up to my face. His green eyes are hungry through the set of his deviously angled brows.

He drags his sinful tongue against my inner thigh, edging closer and closer to my center. My head falls back, and he stops before his tongue can touch me. I sway, and his strong hands grip my hips to steady me.

His breath warms the space between my legs. “Tell m...

I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut. I don’t want to say it. I can’t give the deepest, hungriest desires in me, words. Gripping his hair in my hands, I pull his face closer between my legs instead...

He snorts at my impatience. But then heavily inhales my scent before burying his face between my legs. There is no hesitation, no limitation to how easily he sucks and licks me. Swirling his tongue around my throbbing clit, he devours every inch of my wet, ...

“Mmmm.” He groans at how wet he’s made me, pulling back to peer up at me from between my legs. “Gods, you taste ...

He watches me, that sly smirk on his lips as he feasts on every bit of my pleasure. I can’t help but think of how ridiculously seductive he is. Whispering things to me between my legs even I can’t understand. He drives his tongue into my hot, wet entr...

I whimper, my legs trembling beneath me as he races me to a climax. My eyes flash open, each breath ragged in my chest. “Please. I ...

As if every waiting moment is agonizing, I sink my frantic fingers into the edge of his pants and pull down. His thick cock springs free. I gape at the naked glory of his body, pulled into touching every inch he’ll allow me. His body is carved into deep angles and lines from years of vigorous training, all the way from his chest down to his hips. The perfect set of abs sit just above h...