Fate's Edge

and what fun differences they were. And at a different time and in a different place, she might even consider exploring them, but not now.
    Kaldar leaned over her. His whisper touched her ear. “The difference is, I don’t need a Taser.”
    He turned, his mouth so close to hers, the distance between them suffused with heat. He looked at her, drinking her in, his gaze sliding over her eyes, her cheek, her mouth...
    She felt his breath on her mouth, the first light, teasing touch of his lips on hers, then the stronger, insistent pressure of his mouth, and, finally, the heated touch of his tongue. She let her lips part, and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. They met, and his taste washed over her—he tasted of toothpaste and apricot and some sort of crazy spice, and he was delicious. He chased her, teasing, seducing, and she pretended not to like it, then teased him back again and again, enticing, promising things she didn’t intend to deliver.
    They broke apart slowly. Her whole body was taut as a string stretched to its limit, and just before she took a step back, one of those differences he mentioned earlier pressed hard against her stomach.
    Audrey looked straight into his smug eyes and slapped him. It was a good slap, too, loud and quick. Her palm stung.
    Kaldar let her go and rubbed his face. “Really?”
    “I told you no, and you still did it.” And it had been glorious. When she was old and gray, she’d remember that kiss.
    Kaldar looked at her, amused and slightly predatory. All of his smooth polish had vanished, and the part that was left was dangerous, reckless, and very much up to no good. Audrey had heard about the Mire before. It was a savage place, and Kaldar had grown up there, which made him both savage and crazy. Now all his sleek manners had sloughed off, and the real man emerged. And he was hot.
    He must’ve been a feral terror at eighteen, especially with that face. Now he was older and wiser, and he hid his crazy better, but it was still there, buried deep under the surface, and he had let it out for her benefit. Well, wasn’t she privileged.
    Kaldar winked at her. “You enjoyed it. It made you feel alive. You were looking kind of green.”
    You bastard. “Oh, so it was a lifesaving kiss.”
    “Well, if you want to put it that way . . .”
    Arrogant jackass. “Do me a favor: next time you think my life needs saving, just let me die. I’d really prefer it.”
    He laughed.
    She shook her head. “I’m going to the front with the boys. Don’t follow me. You and your paramedic kisses need time to cool off.”
    Audrey swiped Ling off the floor and marched to the front of the cabin.
     
    THE wyvern dipped down, banking above the clearing, which felt only slightly less thrilling than plunging down a drop in a roller coaster. Audrey clutched on to her seat. The front of the cabin offered only two seats, and the boys had graciously let her sit next to Gaston and the enormous windshield, which she now sorely regretted.
    “It will be fine,” Gaston told her. “The wyverns are difficult to stop, so we’re just going to spiral down for a minute. Landing is actually kind of fun.”
    Jack bared his teeth at her from his perch on top of a trunk. “He just says that because he isn’t human.”
    Gaston laughed.
    Audrey tried to look anywhere but at the rapidly approaching trees. “Not human?”
    “His grandmother had sex with a thoas,” Jack told her.
    “Why thank you, Jack.” Gaston showed him his fist. “You’re so helpful.”
    “I like to be helpful,” Jack told him.
    “I have strange teeth, and my eyes glow, while you turn into a lynx and run around spraying your spunk on bushes. And you’re calling me not human? That’s rich.”
    George cleared his throat.
    Gaston looked at him. “What?”
    George nodded at Audrey.
    “What is it?”
    George heaved a sigh. “We have a lady in our company.”
    “I’m aware of that. I am not blind.”
    “He’s telling you to watch the crude language,” Kaldar said, emerging from the cabin. He stopped between their two chairs, leaning on the backs with his arms. “How does it look?”
    “Looks good,” Gaston said. “We’re in the clear.”
    “Take him down.”
    Gaston leaned forward to a complex, polished set of levers and knobs and pushed several switches.
    “So how does the wyvern know what you would like him to do?” Audrey asked.
    “He’s wearing a receiver device over his spark glands, just under his chin,” Kaldar told