by Lexi C. Foss
My body continued to operate on its own, my hand drawing out a wand—one I recognized, yet didn’t—and waved it over the gargoyle outside of the Death Blood Education Building.
“Nahni Haki Aldukhi,” a deep voice said.
Everything inside me froze at the sound because it came from my throat. But it wasn’t my voice at all. However, I recognized it. Sort of. From long ago, a song—
The doors opened with a flourish, distracting me from my thoughts as I stepped unwillingly into the building. I ducked immediately into the shadows, creeping along the walls and pausing with every shift of magic around me.
A glimpse of a mirror caught my eye, but my head refused to turn toward it.
Wait…
I caught a glimmer of a shoulder that was far too wide to be my own.
Then I heard the voice speaking again, this time in a low hum of musical energy I recognized. It reminded me of my mother’s ballad, only different. Darker. Deeper. Hypnotic. I swooned a little, the power warming my veins, the sound a reverberation against my throat.
It’s me.
I’m humming.
No.
Not me.
Him.
My eyebrows shot upward. I’m trapped in someone else’s body!
How? How did this happen? And what were we doing here?
Had I uttered the spell wrong? It’d been a rock, not a person, so why…?
Oh… Oh, Fae… No!
Fire ignited around me, my wand the source of the power. I paused to listen, then more of that ballad hummed from my lips as I whispered enchantments to urge the students to flee. There will be no casualties today. Just a warning. A message. To let the Council know it’s time.
I tried to shake my head to clear it, confused by the thoughts taking over my own. They were much deeper, masculine in nature, and not at all mine.
This isn’t me.
It will be, a deep voice replied, shocking the hell out of me.
Who are you?
You know me, he vowed. You’ll see.
I didn’t understand, but an inferno blazed all around me, making me hot and cold at the same time. Shivers racked me from head to toe, my lips parting on another one of those silent screams.
And then we were outside, our hand rising into the sky to script out a word I already knew was meant to be written.
“Alqisian,” I whispered at the same time as the male, our voices commingling into a beautiful song I couldn’t help but hum.
My heart began to break, memories of a past long buried tickling my mind with glimpses of my parents.
“Sweet darling flower, we love you so much,” my mother breathed, her arms tight around me. “We’re doing this for you, to ensure you survive.”
“It’s the only way,” my father agreed, his palm against my lower back. “…take care of you, baby.”
“Who?” I wanted to ask them. “Who will take care of me?”
But they were already gone, the aftermath of destruction blazing before me in a furious wave of devastating power.
A rock tumbled out of the debris, bumping my boot. I bent to retrieve it, then brought it to my lips.
“I’ll come for you soon, Aflora,” a gruff voice whispered to it. “I vow it.”
I couldn’t stop trembling, confusion mounting with each passing second as a cloud of thick smoke surrounded me from the wreckage. The rock fell to the ground and I took to the air, swirling in a cloud that reminded me of Shade.
“I’ve got you,” I heard him say. “It’s going to be okay.”
“Shade?” I couldn’t see him, but I felt him, our shared bond yanking at my essence. “Shade!” I tugged on that strand, our frail, initial link, following him through the sea of darkness to a place where his peppermint scent surrounded me in a fog of familiarity.
Tears tracked down my cheeks, my heart hammering in my ribs, my consciousness lost somewhere in the abyss, but his voice carried me to the present.
“Wake up,” he demanded. “Show me your eyes, beautiful.”
I wanted to.
But I didn’t know where to look, or which way to go, until I felt another tug, his intoxicating essence swimming all around me. I breathed him in, my mind working through the trickery and blackness left behind by the other entity, my heart racing against my ribs.
“That’s it,” Shade coaxed. “I’m right here, little rose. Come get me.”
“Shade,” I whispered, my voice sounding hoarse but finally coming through my own body. I’m me again. Only, I couldn’t see.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he replied, his lips brushing mine.
Mmm, I felt that.
I yearned for more.
But I needed to see him, to know this was real and not another game or spell gone awry.
“I’m right here,” Shade promised, his warmth seeping into me and drawing me out of the stillness of my mind and into his arms. “There you are, gorgeous.” His thumb drifted across my cheek. “You had me worried for a moment.”
I stared up at the sun, then at him, and finally at the tree behind him. “Our meadow,” I breathed, my throat sore and scratchy. “How?” Am I dreaming? Am I still trapped inside that man?
“I shadowed us here to get you away from that rock,” he replied, his lips curling down. “What happened, Aflora? What did you see?”
“Destruction,” I told him, shuddering at the images flashing behind my eyes. “He destroyed the education building after making sure everyone got out alive. Then he kissed the rock. He… I was him and he was me. And then I destroyed the building. But I didn’t. He did. Except it was me, Shade. I was… I was him.”
I sat up abruptly, only then realizing Shade had been cradling me in his lap. But he let me move, his gaze guarded as I jumped to my feet and spun around the familiar field. “Is this real?” I demanded.
“Yes,” he replied, standing up as well. “This is the meadow I took you to a few weeks ago, after the recording incident.”
“And it’s real?” I asked again, needing to know if I was somehow trapped in my mind.
He grabbed me by the waist, yanked me to him, and pressed his mouth to mine.
A zing of energy zapped through my system, my eyes widening at the unexpected power.
Then his tongue parted my lips, forcing me to feel him. To see him. To be with him.
I wrapped my arms around his neck to better align our bodies and allowed him to ravage me with his mouth.
This, I thought. This is real. So, so, so real.
“Mate,” I whispered, recognizing the fervor burning between us. “I need you.”
He walked me backward into the tree. I glanced around, shocked by our new surroundings of wood and leaves. A secret house with windows that overlooked our meadow.
“What is this?”
“Our place,” he whispered, continuing to walk me backward. “I enchanted it just for you.”
His lips met mine once more, drowning me in sensation and lust and yearning. I moaned, needing this more than I needed to breathe.
We’d yet to truly explore each other, all the dreams leading to a few orgasms that he usually inspired without even really touching me. At least not with his hands or mouth.
Well, sometimes with his hands and mouth.
But it didn’t count. They were fantasies of the mind.
This was real.
Our bodies touching, the mattress meeting my back as he pushed me onto the bed, his groin settling between my splayed thighs.
Yes, yes. This was my ultimate craving, the forbidden yearning I hated to admit. He was the one who tricked me into this entire mess, the one to bite me without permission, and while I should hate him, deep down I couldn’t.
Because I felt connected to him.
That connection was what drew me out of my nightmare and into our dream meadow. Then he’d pulled me into this house. Oh, how I adored this house! Flowers scented the air. Fresh cypress trees, too. And, mmm, something very sweet like chocolate.
“C
ookies,” he whispered against my neck, his hands roaming up my sides. “They’re cookies.”
I must have spoken that out loud, and I couldn’t bring myself to care. “I need you.”
“I know,” he said, his lips tracing a path up to my ear. “I need you, too.”
“Will you bite me?” I asked, arching my neck backward in invitation. I barely even recognized myself, this wanton energy flowing through me and captivating my every move. Yet, it felt entirely right. I wanted him inside me in all ways. “I missed you,” I realized out loud. “Please don’t leave without telling me again.”
Who am I? Who is speaking these words?
Oh, who cares!
I felt high on life, our bond thriving inside me and pulsating with an intense craving.
Shade kissed me instead of answering, his tongue sparring beautifully with mine. My blouse fell apart, his hand ripping it from me in an eagerness to expose my breasts. I followed his unspoken suggestion and tried to tear his own shirt off, but I lacked the finesse required to mimic the movement.
He chuckled against my throat, then went up to his knees and began the tedious task of unbuttoning his dress shirt. I went up onto my elbows to enjoy the show as he displayed his tanned torso one slow inch at a time.
He truly was a work of art, his lithe form lean and strong, his muscles flexing as he removed the fabric from his shoulders and arms. I admired his alluring display and eyed the trail of dark hair that led to the button of his dress pants. He flicked it open and drew down the zipper while I watched, his intentions clear.
You have a choice, he was telling me with his unhurried movements. He wanted me to be sure, to not rush into my decision, but we both knew I’d end up here with or without today’s events.
“I want you,” I told him earnestly. “I have for a while.”
“I know,” he replied, a wickedness in his gaze that lit my blood on fire. “But I need you to be sure, Aflora.”
“I am.” I meant it. Maybe it was the insanity of the moment or the very real power I felt thriving between us, but I was done fighting the inevitable. He’d bitten me for reasons I still didn’t understand, but one thing was abundantly clear to me.
Everything Shade did, he did for me.
To others, it may seem like he had ulterior motives that were self-serving, and maybe some of them were. But somehow, I knew in my gut that all his decisions revolved around me.
He considered me important.
And it was time for me to show him I felt similarly.
“I should hate you,” I admitted out loud. “And part of me does.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“But another part of me…” I trailed off, my heart beating rapidly in my chest, my mouth suddenly dry. “Another part of me needs to finish this.” And he’d ignited that part of me when he’d used our bond to draw me back to him, to save me from whatever hellish ride I’d been on through the Death Blood Education Building tour. “I want you, Shade.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Shade
Aflora was high on our bond, her pupils blown wide with lust.
It took every ounce of willpower I possessed not to take advantage of the situation and fuck her the way her body begged me to.
I needed her mind to catch up with the emotions, for her to realize what she demanded of me.
“Will you bite me again?”
Those words were music to my ears when she uttered them, but I couldn’t be sure she actually meant them. Not in her current state.
I leaned down to kiss her again, my muscles tensing with restraint as she rubbed her hot center against my groin.
Shit, I thought, my heart threatening to burst out of my chest from beating so hard. I really shouldn’t have unfastened my pants, but fuck, I needed to breathe. She was killing me.
“Aflora,” I whispered, fighting for control. She bucked against me in response, her skirt pooling around her hips.
“Take me,” she breathed.
“I want to,” I assured her, my lips trailing down her neck to her breasts. “You have no idea how much I want to.”
It physically hurt not to bite her, to not finish our bond, but everything else had been forced upon her. I wanted this final step to be because she truly desired it, not because she was lost in our connection.
The only way to ground her was to give her an outlet for the power mounting inside her.
And I knew just the way to do that.
Her bra disappeared with a snap of my fingers, revealing her pert tits to my mouth. I took a nipple between my teeth while I palmed the other one.
She hissed, her arousal perfuming the air in a luscious scent of need. I’d only ever tasted her in our dreams, not in reality. And I longed to rectify that now.
My palms slid down her sides to her skirt, my fingers finding the zipper and dragging it down. When it hit the end, I ripped the rest of the fabric away from her, earning me a moan from my little mate.
Her fingers threaded through my hair, holding me against her breast. I responded by taking her other stiff peak into my mouth and twirling my tongue around the tip.
“Shade…” She uttered my name like a plea, her skin heating beneath my touch.
She wasn’t cold now, but hot.
Energy sizzled beneath her skin, seeking an escape. She didn’t seem to notice, too lost to the sensations and drunk on the way they made her feel.
I continued my path downward with my lips, stopping to dip my tongue in her adorable belly button before situating myself between her thighs. Her lacy white panties were soaked through, leaving nothing to the imagination. I took the bands on either side of her hips and yanked on the fabric, snapping it with ease and leaving her naked on the bed.
Well, mostly naked.
She still had those adorable ankle boots on.
Her fingers tightened in my hair as she tried to guide my mouth to the place she wanted it, causing me to smile against her slick folds. “You’re in a demanding mood, aren’t you, pet?”
“Please, Shade,” she whimpered, her limbs trembling with the electricity humming through her veins.
Whatever had happened with the rock, coupled with me yanking her out of the enchantment, had awakened her Quandary Blood with a vengeance. That paltry collar around her neck would do nothing to help her now.
But I would.
“I’m going to make you come, Aflora,” I told her softly. “I want you to give me everything and let it all go, okay?”
“Yes,” she groaned, her nails digging into my scalp.
My cock pulsed in response to her throaty moan, my mouth aching to taste her. I needed this almost as much as she did, but for entirely different reasons.
She was mine, and I wanted her to know what that meant.
So I showed her with my tongue, licking her deep and thoroughly and fully introducing her intimately to my mouth. She sucked in a surprised breath and released it on a sound I wanted to hear from her again and again and again.
I hummed in approval against her slick flesh, then slid two fingers inside her. She bowed off the bed on a cry of pleasure, her cerulean flames glimmering across her skin.
Beautiful, I thought, adoring this unrestrained side of her.
No concerns.
No distrust.
Just lost to the heat of the moment and allowing her mate to take care of her in every way. I fucking loved it and wanted to stay in this place with her forever, but I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. She needed her mind back, and there was only one way to return it to her.
“Come for me, Aflora,” I whispered, laving her throbbing clit.
She whimpered, her grip tightening in my hair as she chased her pleasure against my tongue. “Shade!” she cried out, her power erupting in a hot wave of energy that illuminated our bond.
I growled at the onslaught of electricity thrumming through my veins, my incisors aching to bite her and absorb as much of her as I could.
Not yet, I told myself, my
muscles tensing in protest.
Our bond was on fucking fire. Her other mates had to feel it, but I couldn’t think about them right now, not with her quivering with rapture beneath my mouth. I feasted on her essence and vitality, driving her to the edge again with a few clever swipes of my tongue and groaning with her as she came again.
Glorious, I thought, marveling at her display of ecstasy. She reminded me of a goddess with her blue-black hair spilling across the pillows and her creamy skin highlighted by enchanting blue flames. Aflora didn’t seem to notice, too lost in her oblivion to realize she’d lit herself on fire with her outburst.
I crawled up and over her, reveling in the heat pouring off her and into me, and took her mouth in a passionate kiss underlined in possession.
She owned me as much as I owned her.
Fate put me in her path, and duty forced me to remain despite the rocky course ahead. And this moment made that all worth it.
Every secret. Every choice. Every dark doubt. All of it disappeared beneath a cloud of rightness as I parted her lips with my tongue and devoured her.
She wrapped an arm around me, her opposite hand still in my hair. “More,” she whispered. “Give me more.”
“Aflora,” I replied, my voice harsh with my necessary restraint.
But she seemed oblivious to it, her mouth trailing along my jaw to my neck in seductive little caresses I couldn’t ignore. I palmed her cheek, then slid my hand back into her hair, intending to pull her lips back to mine, when her teeth pierced my skin.
An inferno blazed across my conscious, my heart thundering in my chest.
Aflora had just bitten me.
Tasted my blood.
And swallowed.
Her moan of approval shattered something inside me, spurring me into motion. My fingers tightened around her dark strands, holding her to my neck as she ingested more of my essence.
It was so fucking wrong yet felt too damn good to stop.
I’d never been bitten before—the action was typically reserved for mates during sex—and damn, I was glad I’d waited for Aflora. She could sink her teeth into me anytime she wanted.