by Amelia Jade
At the same time he curled his head out to the side and screwed it up as much as it could. Cassi felt him hit her, her head turning around to see him, at which point she shrieked and dove for the ground in mock terror as fast as she could.
Blaine, on the other hand, simply extended his wings again and continued to glide through the skies, roaring with laughter as Cassi cursed at being “gotten”.
A cone of Frostfire shot by him, far to the right, followed by a giggle from Cassi.
Blaine sobered immediately.
“You couldn’t know,” he rumbled, his sudden seriousness getting Cassi’s instant attention. “But in Cadia, that is considered an act of aggression from one dragon to another. I would be fully within my rights to attack you right now.”
The smile on her face died abruptly.
“Really?” she asked, sounding stunned, and slightly afraid.
Shit. Had he just scared her?
That hadn’t been his intention, but Blaine knew he was a good size larger and more powerful than her, despite her own strength. If he decided to go after her, Cassi would be hard pressed to escape alive.
“I didn’t.” He assuaged her fears. “I just want you to know that someone else might have taken it that way. We are very strict with our use of the dragon weapons. Generally only in practice situations, or pre-approved mock-combat.”
“I see,” she said, still sounding somewhat shaken. “I’m sorry, Blaine.”
He smiled. “It’s okay, you didn’t know. But you might want to add that bit of info to your dossiers on Cadia,” he told her with a wink.
Cassi sputtered a reply as he leapt ahead, powering himself through the air, flying aimlessly through the sky.
“You know, I’m kind of surprised that’s not in there already,” he mused as she came alongside him.
“It might be,” she admitted. “I, uh, just sort of skimmed them. I didn’t expect to be doing much here.”
Blaine laughed. “Well, sorry to drag you out from the comfort of your expected routine.”
She shot him a glare, but there was no venom in it. “I should probably be going now anyway.”
He cursed to himself. His actions had killed the mood, and thus the night.
Cassi was craning her neck around. “Where is, ah, I mean…”
“You’re lost,” he supplied.
“Yes,” she said at last, shaking her head. “I got caught up in flying. Where is the Fenris Consulate?”
Blaine looked down for a split second to get his bearing and then dipped away and down to the right. “I’ll take you there,” he said, without leaving room for negotiation.
“You don’t have to do that,” she protested, but he was already heading in a downward spiral toward where she was staying.
The pair of them landed on the stone circles and again their elements surrounded them as they reassumed human form.
Blaine walked over to where Cassi was standing at the edge of hers, once again looking beautiful, her purple dress somehow managing to catch the moon’s light. It sparkled in the dark in a dazzling display that encouraged his eyes to roam over her figure.
He took in her thick, powerful legs and lovely curves of her waist. His eyes traveled upward past the swell of her cleavage visible through the triangular cutout and across her shoulders, tracing the outline of her plump, kissable lips. Then they went up to the laughing, intelligent glacial-blue orbs framed by the utterly foreign and completely intoxicating platinum-white hair.
She drew him in like no other, and he had a hard time stopping himself from bending over and fiercely pressing his lips to hers while his hands ran over her body. The urge behind that, powered by his dragon’s desire, was growing more powerful by the minute. He needed to say his goodnights and leave.
Cassi waited until he came to a halt just a foot or so away before she stepped forward.
“Thank you for a wonderful evening,” she said, her voice thick like honey to his ears, making him practically quiver in anticipation.
Warm hands cupped the side of his head and pulled him down to her.
Blaine swallowed hard, unsure of what to expect next. He nearly jumped as Cassi pressed her warm lips to his cheek and kissed him softly.
“Goodnight,” she whispered in his ear, her warm breath washing over his skin, followed by a wave of goosebumps down his spine as she delicately dragged her fingernails across his cheeks before turning and striding into the Fenris Consulate.
Blaine stood rooted to the spot for several long minutes, his hand gently touching where she had kissed him. Had that really happened? He’d expected a hug at best. This, however… this opened up so much more than he’d been prepared for.
His feet eventually started shuffling him from the yard and back into the streets of Cadia as he made his way, still replaying the soft touch of how her lips had felt against his skin, and the way her scent reached up and invaded his nostrils even as her fingers ran through his hair.
Such a powerful moment. He wondered if she’d felt it too.
And he was going to see her again tomorrow.
A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth as he walked, eventually becoming a full-fledged grin.
Chapter Five
Blaine
The next day came sooner than he’d prepared for, and Blaine made his way to the Fenris Consulate with a bit of trepidation in his step.
What was going to happen today when he dropped her off? Would he get a chance to finally kiss her? To feel her lips pressed firmly against his? He ached to find out what she tasted like.
Gritting his teeth, he shook his head and continued his walk. First there was the date to consider. He desperately hoped she enjoyed the activities he’d picked out. Cadia wasn’t exactly like the major human cities were, so finding things to do often came down to improvising. He was lucky in that Cassi had never been to Cadia before, but if he was going to keep her entertained for the entire afternoon, that was going to take some work, though he did feel up to the challenge.
Approaching the gate to the Consulate—more for decoration than security, most shifters could leap it without issue—he noted that it was closed.
Well, Cassi had said she’d meet him out front, so he supposed she just wasn’t ready yet.
Pulling up just short of the gate opening he leaned his back against the wall, slipping his phone from his pocket to see if she’d texted him.
Nothing.
Yet even as he began to put it away, it buzzed with a message from Cassi. He glanced at it.
Look up.
“Huh?” he said aloud and began to crane his head backward.
A figure leapt down from the wall above him with a shout.
Blaine jumped.
High.
“Dammit!” he swore as Cassi burst into giggles, laughing hysterically at how badly she’d managed to scare him.
“Hey,” she said at last, straightening up and easily linking her arm with his.
Blaine looked down at that, then back at her. “Oh, you think after treating me like that I’m just going to let you cozy on up to me, do you?”
“Yup.”
“Damn, am I that transparent?” he asked with a laugh.
“Right now, yes. You’re as pale as a ghost.”
He feigned anger at her poking fun of him, but that didn’t stop him from guiding her along the sidewalk, taking control of her through their linked arms. “Well, you’re under my control now,” he said, winking at her.
“I’ll behave,” she all but purred at him, snuggling in even closer, if that was possible.
“Somehow I doubt that,” he muttered, dodging away from the elbow she delivered to his side.
“You don’t know me at all,” she protested halfheartedly, but they were both laughing. “All right, fine. You got me. Now that you have me though, where are you taking me?”
He frowned. “You want me to ruin the surprise?
“Oooh, a surprise? I love surprises.”
“U
h-oh,” he chuckled.
“What?” she asked, looking up at him, playful blue eyes dancing with laughter.
“Now you’re probably expecting some sort of elaborate plan!”
“Of course I am! Now, where’s our first stop, captain?” she asked, peering around.
“Just around the corner actually,” he said slyly.
Cassi eyed him suspiciously, but he didn’t say another word until they’d turned the corner and he pulled open a door seemingly at random in the shops that lined this particular corridor.
“Ice cream,” she said with a nod of approval. “This is a good start.”
He winked at her, which only made her eyes furrow more as she continued to try and work things out.
The line was short at that time of day and they made it to the front swiftly.
“I’ll get a triple scoop of Trail’s End,” she said.
“I’ll get the same, but make both of them singles,” Blaine said to the young man behind the counter.
French vanilla ice cream with chocolate stripes and caramel. He liked the sound of that.
“No, make mine a triple,” Cassi said.
Blaine waved the man behind the counter off. “Trust me, make it a single,” he urged.
The white-haired woman shook her head in confusion, but relented and signaled to the server that a single scoop—in a cone of course—would be acceptable.
“Care to explain what that was all about?” she asked when they were outside of the store. “I’m quite capable of deciding how much ice cream I feel like.”
He smiled, tugging her free arm along. “Come on, just eat your ice cream and enjoy. I wasn’t trying to be controlling, okay?”
Cassi wasn’t fully convinced, but a single scoop for each of them disappeared shortly.
Which was good, because not thirty seconds later he pulled open another door.
Now she was looking at him with intrigue.
The sign above the door read Quicksilver Mountain Ice Cream.
By the time they hit the third ice cream parlor, Cassi was catching on, and only ordering single scoops. In a cup.
“How many more?” she asked after the seventh place. The ice cream was disappearing at a much slower rate now, and they had slowed their walking to accommodate it.
“Only eight more,” he said with as much energy and excitement as when they’d first started.
Cassi looked up at him. “And we’re doing all of them?”
He nodded.
“Challenge accepted,” she said fiercely, and the rest of her ice cream disappeared precipitously quickly. “Come on, slowpoke,” she urged, now pulling him along.
Blaine grinned and they quickened their pace together.
The Ice Cream Round Tour was a favorite pastime of Cadian youth, and he was well aware of just how much ice cream fifteen scoops was in the end. But he was a large active dragon shifter. It would be burned off in no time.
Cassi, on the other hand, had never been through such a challenge before. It was the perfect way to spend an afternoon, and learn a lot about each other. At least how deep their competitive spirit went.
“Two more,” he said as they finished number thirteen nearly forty-five minutes later.
The walking was helping, but even Blaine was beginning to fade. It had been a long time since he’d done the full tour, and he vowed that it wouldn’t be so long in the future. Cassi, on the other hand, seemed to be speeding up as they went.
“Where do you put it all?” he asked as she bounced along, dragging him after her. “It’s not fair. It’s like you use it for fuel or something.”
She grinned. “I’m just not going to let myself lose to you.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said.
Number fourteen was a dead tie, and at last they walked into the final store.
Crème d’Cadia.
It was, in his opinion at least, the best place in town.
By this point, Blaine was more than ready to be done with ice cream for at least three or four days—he was full, not insane after all—but he wasn’t going to quit.
Neither was Cassi. She walked right up to the counter. “I’ll take your most popular flavor please,” she said. “Single scoop.”
“Cup or cone?” the server, a young wolf shifter with purple hair, asked.
Cassi looked at him, determination flashing through her eyes.
“Cone,” she said, while staring directly at him.
“Oh, it’s going to be like that?” he asked as another server stepped up to take his order. “Same flavor, cone.” He paused for dramatic effect. “Two scoops.”
Her eyes blazed with icy anger as he one-upped her.
“Make mine a triple,” she said without tearing her eyes from him.
“Match it,” he said out of the side of his mouth, meeting her stare and letting it slide off him as he sent it right back at her.
The challenge was on now. Neither of them was going to let the other be able to claim they had more ice cream. They waited patiently for the server to scoop the chosen flavor into two triples in cones. Knuckles cracked, tongues flicked out and dampened lips. Eyes narrowed and necks stretched.
Blaine rolled his shoulders.
Cassi worked her jaw slowly.
“Uh, here you go?” the young wolf shifter said, her voice wavering nervously as she looked back and forth between the two contestants.
Blaine put a bill down without looking and waved off the change, taking his cone into his hand. His eyes never strayed from hers; pure jade versus ice-blue locked in a contest of wills.
Cassi slid her tongue from her mouth and slowly licked up her cone, spinning it slightly as she did. As she reached the top, she gave it an extra seductive little flick with her tongue. Her cheeks dimpled when she gave him a sultry smile, well aware of what she was pantomiming.
Blaine opened his mouth.
And took a huge bite off the top.
Cassi’s eyebrows shot up.
Just like that, it was on. The pair of them dug into their triple scoops, teeth plowing through the soft chilly treat with abandon as they raced for the finish line. Blaine, by virtue of being bigger, began to pull ahead.
So Cassi cheated. She reached out and pushed up on the bottom of his cone just as Blaine was going in for another bite. The extra force smeared ice cream all over his face as he missed his mouth, covering his upper lip, nose, and even one of his cheeks in the caramel-infused, birthday cake-flavored mix.
“Cheater!” he roared, digging in with abandon, refusing to wipe his face. He took huge bites, not even bothering to chew or let it melt a little.
Brain freeze set in, but he set his jaw and powered through it, determined to catch up.
But the damage had been done, and Cassi popped the last bite of her cone into her mouth a split second before he followed suit.
“Victory!” she crowed, both arms shooting up into the air. He glared as she spun in a circle, pumping them up and down to the assorted cheers and clapping of the dozen or so other patrons and workers who’d stopped to watch the spectacle.
Blaine felt melting ice cream dripping down his face.
“You gonna clean up your mess now?” he asked, trying to remain stone-faced.
Cassi reached out and snagged a handful of napkins. “Here you go. Try to stay clean next time, okay? I don’t want to have to buy you a bib just to bring you out in public.”
Blaine sputtered, melted ice cream going flying with the motion. She giggled and reached up with the napkins, cleaning the worst of it off his face with a gentle touch that was rather unexpected.
“Thank you,” he said as she finished her work.
She pressed a finger to his lips. “Don’t mention it.” Cassi was close to him now, their bodies almost touching, with only the barest of inches between them. “Now go wash up,” she finished, giving him a somewhat serious shove in the direction of the washroom.
Blaine laughed and did as he was told, wiping the drie
d food from his face with some warm water, so that the stickiness faded.
“So,” he said, emerging from the washroom and gesturing to the front door, even as he demonstrated his clean face for her. “All clean, right? Nice and kissable?”
Cassi glanced up at him sharply. Her eyes roamed over his face.
“We’ll see,” she said mysteriously and pushed through the door.
He laughed, following her outside.
***
Cassian
Kiss him?
She’d be lying if the idea hadn’t crossed her mind yet. It had. Many times if she were to tell the truth. Cassi had envisioned a multitude of scenarios for their first kiss.
Admittedly, right after piling down seventeen scoops of ice cream was not one of them. Her stomach felt so bloated and full, she thought she might burst if he even touched her.
Happiness flooded her mind, however, as she realized that Blaine had also been thinking about kissing her, if the slight extra nervousness in his voice when he’d just spoken was any indicator. So he wanted to do that, did he?
On the purely looks scale, she would absolutely be interested. His dark brown hair, always perfectly coiffed, pulled up and over to the side was just begging for her fingers to run through it. Or the lines of his jaw, visible now that he was clean-shaven once more, the smoothness of his skin almost emphasizing the vividness of his eyes, the greens within them nearly popping out at her.
And don’t forget the big shoulders, bulging biceps, powerful chest, rippling abs, or tight butt.
No, she couldn’t forget any of that either. Most definitely not. Though they were always present, so forgetting them was somewhat difficult. Even now, as he linked her arm in his and guided her down the walkway, she could feel the muscles in his forearm beneath her fingertips, flexing slightly as he held her tight to his side.
The best part of it all, though, was the way he clearly just wanted to be near her. That he wanted her physical presence close by, within his own personal space. Nothing beat feeling wanted like that. No amount of muscles, brains, or cute looks could surpass the knowledge that she was desired.
Cassi shivered.
