Claimed by Desire Read Online Free

don’t need to hash it over, least of all with you. How long until our first stop? Didn’t you say Queen Elixa arranged somewhere to stay before we trudged into werewolf territory?”
    “Stop,” he said, holding her back with his arm. He dismissed her anger, and listened carefully. “We’re close.”
    She didn’t flinch away from his touch. Just stared up at him with big, hazel—and very skeptical—puppy dog eyes that peered straight through all his bullshit.
    “Down there.” Still holding her back, Rafe lifted a big ass limb, revealing a sheer drop into Timeless Gorge, the oldest and widest canyon in Feralon. In the twilight, Misty’s hair was a brilliant shade of crimson. It flowed around her shoulders like rippling waves of fire.
    “It’s beautiful,” she said, peering down at the river snaking below.
    He was thinking the same thing, though his eyes were glued to her.
    “Is that… music ?” she asked.
    “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he groaned. Heavy drumbeats rattled the ground, flew through the canyon, swirling on the night air. “Of all nights Queen Elixa arranges for us to stay, she picks tonight. Just my luck.”
    “What are you talking about?”
    “They’re having a Draco claiming ceremony. We’ll get to watch a dragon claim a rider. Only happens once every couple years. Should be quite the party.” He should’ve tried harder to conceal the disdain in his voice, but he couldn’t. It wasn’t fair that dragons could claim whatever rider they wanted…that riders had no say in the matter.
    And it wasn’t fair that he was going to die in two short days because he refused to choose one….
    Kneeling on the ground, Rafe closed his eyes, feeling the dragon inside him burning to be set free. He couldn’t shift…not yet.
    “The ceremony’s down there? At the bottom of Timeless Gorge?”
    “No.” Rafe took off his boots and shoved them in his bag, then picked up a handful of dirt and let it slip through his fingers. “The Dracos have carved out the inside of this mountain. Can’t you feel their energy building beneath your feet?”
    Misty used to be good at sensing Draco energy. The best. On second thought, maybe it was just his energy she could feel as if it was her own…
    *
    “All I feel is anxiety,” Misty said, trying hard to feel beneath layers of earth. It was the truth. Her insides were humming in anticipation. She was a bundle of nerves, ready to spring into action…wait… Rafe .
    He was still kneeling on the ground, letting dirt run through his fingers. When he looked up at her, the emerald specks on his cheeks were blazing. The change had begun.
    “Are you ready?” he asked, his voice too gravelly. Too sexy.
    Her own body fired with sexual pulses as his muscles clenched and tightened, preparing for the shift. Her body responded to his on a primal level Misty couldn’t explain. She needed to touch him, ride him, feel the power of his body surging beneath her. God, she would’ve given anything to be claimed as Rafe’s rider. She’d never felt closer to another. It was more than sex…more than pleasure…it was as if her heartstrings thrummed in time with his.
    It had always been Rafe….
    The longer Misty was with him, the more she realized that it didn’t matter how he’d pulled her close, then pushed her away when they were young. It didn’t matter that she knew better than to let their physical chemistry override her logic. She couldn’t help but be drawn to him.
    He stripped out of his clothes and shoved them into his duffel. Misty looked away, studying the wrinkles of bark on the trees, the lush green canopy above them, anything to avoid drinking in the hard lines of his body the way she wanted.
    “Hold this,” he said, and tossed the bag at her. It hit her in the side and fell to her feet.
    She didn’t realize she’d been shaking her head, answering his question. Or maybe she was trying to tell herself she couldn’t have what she really ached for.