by Lexi C. Foss
She shook her head, her cheeks glistening with fresh tears. “Zeph killed her.”
Her? I thought, frowning. I hadn’t gotten a good look at the falcon, but Aflora would know better than I would. Just as she would be able to sense that the bond still thrived if she went looking for it.
Night flew off my shoulder to perch on her nightstand, taking my mental cue through our connection.
“Aflora,” I murmured, sliding my arm around her shoulders. It was an awkward angle with her legs tucked partially beneath her, but she melted into my side, her body curling into mine as a single tear slipped from her eye.
“I thought the squawk...” She trailed off, her shoulders beginning to shake.
I followed her train of thought. “You thought Night was your falcon.” I didn’t bother pointing out that falcons didn’t sound the same at all. Her heart didn’t know the difference because Zeph had broken it with his cruelty.
“I’m sorry. This is... I’m being...”
“A familiar creates an unbreakable bond with its host,” I whispered, my lips brushing her temple. “That’s why you felt the pain from your falcon, sweetheart. But I promise you he, or rather she, is fine. A familiar can’t die unless his or her owner dies. Zeph was an asshole for not telling you that.”
Well, he was an asshole for a lot of things.
I gave her a reassuring squeeze and added, “Our familiars are created with the protector spell, meaning your falcon was born from the incantation. She’s tied to your existence, so she’ll always regenerate for as long as you’re alive.” Which, if I had it my way, would be for a very long time.
I swept her hair over her shoulder to palm the back of her neck and forced her to meet my gaze once more.
“Say Ahaminee,” I told her. “You don’t need your wand, just the spell.” It was a more advanced phrase than the one her textbook would have taught her initially, one I only knew because of my unique upbringing.
Becoming King of the Midnight Fae required a certain amount of defense instruction early on in my life. While I learned some things at the Academy, I mostly attended as a formality or a rite of passage.
Aflora studied me for a long moment as if debating whether or not to put her faith in me. I allowed her the time to consider her alternatives. She either believed me or she didn’t.
“There’s only one way to know the truth,” I whispered, catching the distrust in her gaze. I couldn’t blame her for being wary. While I might have gone out of my way to help her these last two months, it wasn’t all out of the goodness of my heart. I wanted her to survive for a multitude of reasons, one of which existed in my pants.
Hence our frequent dream sessions.
Which worsened my cravings for her rather than satisfying them, as tasting her only made me want to experience reality with her that much more.
“Ahaminee,” Aflora said, incredulity written into her tone and features. But there was enough power tied to it for the incantation to work. I felt the spell shimmering over the air, reaching out for her creation and beckoning her to join us.
When nothing immediately happened, Aflora’s gaze narrowed in suspicion. “It’s not a trick,” I promised her. “Just be patient.”
Her jaw clenched, but she gave me a stiff nod, choosing to believe me for a little bit longer.
I released her neck to stroke my hand up and down her back, lending her my strength in the process and caressing the energy vibrating around her aura.
It was a dangerous game to allow my power to mingle with hers. An intimacy I shouldn’t grant her. One that would infuriate the entire Council if they ever found out. Yet it came so naturally to me that I couldn’t stop it, my connection to dark magic thriving when in her presence because of our mating potential.
She relaxed considerably, her expression softening. “What are you doing?” she asked, her pupils dilating.
“Something I shouldn’t be doing,” I murmured, my fingertips trailing up to her throat to brush her quickening pulse.
She leaned into my touch, her eyes falling half-closed. “Why does it feel so good?”
“Because it’s meant to soothe you.” My thumb traced her jaw, my gaze tracking the movement. She had such soft skin, reminding me of a flower petal. Her lips were soft, too. Or I imagined them to be in our shared dreams. They looked soft now, plump and ripe. I licked my own, my mind wandering to a place it shouldn’t as I increased the intimacy of our connection.
She shivered, the power humming between us in synchronization. It’d be so easy for her to reach out, to take a sliver of my access to the source, but she didn’t. She merely basked in the glow, her eyes now fully closed in contentment.
Until a cooing sound caused them to spring open in surprise. Our link weakened as her focus went to the falcon swooping in from the hallway, her expression opening in excitement and pure joy. “Clove!”
Aflora’s familiar landed on the bed and shook out its feathers before peering menacingly my way.
Night cawed out a warning, but I sent a blast of security through our link, calming the animal before it picked a fight with the much larger bird. I wasn’t concerned about Night’s success—I knew he would win, as he always did—but I just didn’t want a repeat of the experience outside.
The falcon shifted closer to Aflora, its black eyes on me the entire time.
“I’m not a threat to your fae,” I informed the bird, lifting my hand for inspection. Not that it helped.
Familiars were resolutely protective of their owners, refusing to submit even to a Royal Fae of my caliber.
“The first rule you need to learn is how to communicate with your familiar via the bond you formed at the time of creation,” I said softly, careful not to provoke any emotions from her that might inspire retaliation from her new pet. “For example, I’m currently reassuring Night that you and Clove are not a threat to us. You should do the same for your falcon.”
“How do I do that?” she asked.
“Here, I’ll show you.” I slowly covered her hand with my own and opened our connection to begin a new tutorial on familiars and how to control them.
We covered a variety of spells all meant for calling our familiars to us. I also gave her some hints on how to properly defend herself and Clove when needed and even went into a handful of offensive incantations.
A hint of danger niggled at the back of my mind throughout our entire exchange, the notion that the method of my instruction posed significant risk to the crown, but Aflora never once tried to push, only using our link to learn and improve her own skills.
It took several hours, our familiars watching and bonding the entire time.
By the time we were finished, Aflora had propped herself up against her headboard, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles, with me right beside her. She wore the most satisfied grin, her blue eyes sparkling with life once more and confirming I’d more than completed the task of improving her mood.
She sighed in contentment as her falcon preened between us, its large wings feathered outward in a display of black and white. Aflora stroked the tips, her lips twitching. “You know you’re pretty, don’t you?”
“I do, yes,” I replied, fully aware she meant the compliment for the bird but accepting it for myself as well.
Aflora laughed and shook her head. “You’re so modest, Kols.”
“Extremely.” I waggled my brows at her. “We both know I’m attractive.”
“Do we?” She scratched her jaw, her gaze appraising me slowly. “Hmm, I guess you’re all right.”
“All right?” I repeated, arching one eyebrow. “Is your vision failing?”
She snorted, her carefree attitude warming me inside.
Because I did that.
I put that smile on her kissable lips.
I improved her day.
And it pleased me to no end to see her resulting happiness now.
She held my gaze, her smile slipping into something more heated as she considered me with a
growing seriousness. “You’re more than all right,” she whispered, her tongue slipping out to dampen her lips. “You’re very much more.”
“More what?” I asked her, aware of the risky tightrope we both stood upon and daring to take a step forward. “Much more what?”
She angled toward me, her palm falling to the small space on the mattress between us. “Handsome,” she whispered, her glimmering blue eyes falling to my mouth.
“Just handsome?” I asked, leaning into her magnetic pull.
She swallowed, her hooded gaze lifting to mine. “More than handsome.” She brought her hand to my cheek, her opposite one still situated between us. “You’re gorgeous, Kolstov.”
“No.” I cupped the back of her neck, angling her head to the exact place I wanted it, my lips very nearly brushing hers. “You’re the one who is gorgeous, Aflora,” I corrected her. “Fucking irresistible.”
She shuddered, her sweet breath a kiss I could no longer deny. I captured her mouth on her next inhale, my tongue sliding in to duel with hers a hairsbreadth of a second later, and our worlds came crashing down together in unison.
I felt the intrusion deep inside, the rightness of our embrace locking us together in an intimacy that would never end.
She was beneath me in the next moment, my hips settling between hers as I pinned her to the bed. Months of foreplay between our minds led to this, our bodies coming together like two magnets that had finally removed the barrier between us.
That barrier was a reality I felt slipping away.
Cascading us both into a dangerous oblivion neither of us could deny.
“Aflora,” I murmured, my teeth skimming her lower lip.
I should stop this.
Should roll off the bed and walk out the door.
But fuck if my body would listen to my mind.
There’d been ample opportunities for her to access my power. Why would she do it now?
Because you’re distracted, a dark part of me reminded.
Only, she appeared just as distracted beneath me with her eyes closed, her body arching up into mine, seeking more.
I kissed a path down her neck, my incisors achingly close to her seductive pulse.
No, I told myself, quivering deep within. That’s not for you.
Oh, but the rest of her I could taste. Could lick. Could nibble. Could explore.
“Tell me to stop,” I whispered, my hands on the hem of her shirt, clenching harshly against the fabric. “Tell me to leave.”
She shook her head, her little pants of need music to my ears. “I’ve dreamt of this so many times,” she admitted, her voice breathy and so fucking sexy. “I want you, Kols. I know... I know the risk. I know this is wrong. I know we shouldn’t.” She groaned, her nails biting into the back of my neck as she caught my gaze. “But I need to know this. Please.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kols
Aflora’s grip tightened as she yanked me downward, her lips reclaiming mine, causing me to lose myself to her all over again.
Only this time, I welcomed the forbidden nature of our embrace.
I reveled in the sweet danger brewing between us.
Allowed it to seduce my senses and jerk me into the licentious promise of pure sin.
Her shirt disappeared, allowing me my first real glimpse at her pale skin. “So beautiful,” I mused, kissing a path downward to the lace of her bra. Her blue eyes burned with passion and need, eliciting a smile from me as I licked a delicate path along the crease of her breast. Her nails dug into my scalp, her breaths quickening as I drew the fabric aside with my teeth to reveal one stiff, rosy tip.
I gave it a tentative taste, a groan catching in my throat at the pure lust dilating her pupils in response.
“More,” she begged.
“More what, sweetheart?”
“Just more.” She writhed beneath me, her sweet body primed and ready from all our nighttime flirtations. I could almost feel her need inside me as if we were connected in an intimate pool of thought.
Her whimpers were music to my ears, encouraging me to suck her nipple deep into my mouth. “Kols!” she cried out in response, tossing her head backward on the bed in a rapturous wave.
I nibbled the tip before repeating the action on her other taut peak, my palm cupping her opposite breast and giving it a tender squeeze. Fuck, she was responsive, her entire body vibrating with desire beneath mine from barely any attention to her tits.
All those fantasies taught me what she enjoyed.
But they also gave her insight into my preferences as well, which she proved by hooking her fingers into the waistband of my pants and shoving them downward in a bold move. That exposed my cock.
She didn’t apologize.
Didn’t look to me for approval.
Just used her foot to guide the fabric down my legs, leaving me bare below the waist. “Fuck, Aflora.”
“Yes,” she replied, her hands moving to my shirt to tug it upward. “Yes, please.”
A growl morphed into a groan in my throat, my forehead falling to her collarbone. “Don’t say that unless you mean it.”
She trembled, her grip tightening in the fabric still wrapped around my shoulders. “Please, Kols.” Her legs wrapped around my waist, placing my shaft right against her heated center. I could feel her warmth and dampness through the fabric of her black stretch pants, her need seeping into my skin as she rubbed herself shamelessly against me.
I cursed.
My dick throbbed.
My balls tightened.
And I nearly forgot how to fucking breathe.
Because I wanted her. Badly.
Take her, a dark voice whispered. Fuck her raw.
Just the image of it nearly had me coming all over her.
That I could sense her own mounting need only intensified the experience, urging me to take what I wanted, to indulge in the forbidden fantasies lurking between us.
Her heels dug into my ass, demanding action. My lips hovered close to her breasts, my forehead still against her collarbone.
And then she moaned.
The sound went straight to my groin, wrapping around my cock and giving it a figurative stroke that removed reason from my thoughts.
I wanted her.
She wanted me.
We were consenting adults.
This is going to happen.
A forbidden blanket swathed us in a cocoon of lust and illicit cravings, my mind running rampant with all the ways I wanted to take her. But first, like this, with my cock buried deep between her thighs.
I kissed her again, my tongue spearing her mouth, my resolve crumbling into dust.
She welcomed me with a sweet, needy noise.
And the rest of our clothes disappeared with a muttered spell under my breath.
“Oh,” she marveled as the magic shimmered over her skin. She arched into me, her hot pussy welcoming my dick in a wet kiss.
“Last chance, Aflora,” I warned her, my shaft sliding through her damp folds.
“Fuck me,” she demanded, just as I’d taught her in our dreams.
Because I loved those two words from her lips.
She made them sound so inappropriate, thus serving as a reminder of how wrong this was between us and inviting my darker instincts out to play.
I wanted to do wicked things to her.
Teach her how to fuck in the best ways.
Explore every inch of her.
Degrade her.
Claim her.
Fucking mark her.
Fuck, I was so hard it almost hurt. Every part of me ached to finish this, to make her mine, to claim her so resolutely that no one else could ever satisfy her again.
“Please,” she breathed. “Take me, Kols. I need this. I need you.” The plea in her voice sliced through the final barrier between us, snapping my control in half.
I slammed home inside her, a jolt of electricity zipping up and down my spine. Fuck, I’d never felt so connected to a woman. He
r sensations were mine and mine were hers, only heightening the experience and spurring us onward into a wicked dance between skin and spirit.
She screamed as I plunged in and out of her, driving us both into a frenzy of pants and ecstasy that I felt sure everyone on campus had to feel. Because our powers were mingling once more, her gift weaving with mine in an intoxicating manner that I couldn’t escape from.
Dangerous.
Must. Stop.
Can’t.
Oh, fuck.
Mine.
I fought that last thought, my body tensing against hers, only to be sucked back into her web of delirious energy as her thighs tightened around me. This was wrong. So, so, so wrong.
Ugh, fuck, I can’t pull away.
More.
Less.
Destruction.
Beautiful.
My name fell from her lips in a sound of worship that heated my skin, her gorgeous form glued to mine as I fucked us both into a state of oblivion unlike any I’d ever reached. She screamed as she tumbled over a cliff of darkness, yanking me down with her into a rapturous sanctuary of insanity and bliss all mingled as one.
Her pleasure rivaled mine, her mind open to me in a way I didn’t understand.
I could sense her earth.
Could smell the trees and flowers she adored from home.
Could feel her safe haven welcoming me home.
What’s happening? I wondered, delirious with pleasure and confusion, my cock pulsing on another orgasm inside her and taking me under once more. “Fuck,” I breathed, my head falling to her shoulder.
She quivered, her own ecstasy rupturing as a result of mine, our joining so much more powerful than any dream ever allowed us to experience.
Only, it left me feeling cold at the end, my soul instantly sensing a disturbance, a foreign presence that shouldn’t be inside me. I immediately locked it down, terror screeching through me at the thought of another woman using me so horribly.
Yet my powers surrounded me completely, the energy signature normal and untouched.
Except that unknown essence remained, clinging to my life source and locking around me in a way it shouldn’t.