Chapter 20 #4
I could only assume the elongated teeth must have been something sexual, or maybe he was still screwing with me.
“Right.” I inhaled slowly, hoping the cold air would compose my mind.
His wings became living smoke then solidified again a breath later, captivating me all over again.
“Do my wings fascinate you, my Lady?” He quirked a hard brow.
“I… didn’t know you had them.”
“They appear when we need them.”
“Just like that? You summon them?”
“No, it’s like breathing. Your lungs open when they need to receive air.”
The explanation was simple but my mind still struggled to process it as I looked over his wings. I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing. “Your wings are… different from the others.”
His mouth curved with dark satisfaction, and goose bumps raced across my skin. “There are many things about me that are different, Ziyka. Go ahead, touch them.”
My eyes rounded and my breath snagged on the ragged edges of my curious thoughts.
Touch them?
Touch him.
No. I couldn’t.
I shouldn’t.
The last time I willingly touched him was the night he took me. Look how that turned out. And things had changed since. Things like my uncontrollable emotions.
My heart thundered against my ribs, each beat whispering new and old warnings.
“I promise I won’t bite you.” His voice dropped to a tempting whisper, a velvet purr that caressed my skin. “Even if you want me to.”
“Why would I want you to bite me?” I stifled a groan.
“Who knows? It may be your thing.”
“It’s not.”
“Then touch me.” Wolfe brought his right wing closer, the edges rippling with tendrils of night-touched magic that reached toward me like curious fingers.
I gazed at the outstretched wing for a long moment before my eyes darted back to his.
Touch his wing. I shouldn’t be touching any part of him. But what harm could come of something so minor? It was like shaking his hand, except I hadn’t exactly done that, either.
I was playing the game. That’s what I was doing. Even if I’d secretly wanted to touch him.
Clutching the book to my chest, I lifted a tentative finger toward his wing and touched it. My finger pressed against leathery skin, and the world exploded into sensation. His wing was silk and steel, thrumming with energy and heat.
I traced a line down to the vein and a subtle groan caught in his throat. Something between a growl and a purr that made my bones vibrate with unrestrained desire.
Our eyes locked when I looked back at him and he grinned at me with those canines on show. Time seemed to still, and the air between us was crackling with untamed energy until where I touched turned to smoke, leaving nothing but the air there.
“Wow,” I muttered under my breath, watching the specks of smoke floating around my fingers.
“My dragon breathes Aetherflame and smoke,” he explained.
“What’s Aetherflame?” It sounded intriguing.
“It’s fire that burns not just from heat but from the soul. The flame is blue like soul magic. When a Fae bonds with their dragon, they share the same powers.”
“The exact same powers?”
“The same. But only powers. Not natural abilities like telepathy or weather control. So, she carries my magic, and I carry hers.”
“She?” His dragon was a girl. That surprised me and I couldn’t restrain the note of intrigue in my voice.
“She.” Cruel delight flashed across his face, but his eyes remained curious and calculating.
“Is that why shadows seem to follow you? And you can walk through walls? Because of the magic you share with your dragon.”
“No, Ziyka, that’s all me. I have shadow magic with a dash of something else.”
“What’s the something else?”
“That’s a lot of questions about me.” The taunting smile he gave me told me he wasn’t going to answer my question.
“I’m… just curious.”
“About me?”
“Wolfe!” someone called to him. It was his brother.
Alaric hovered through the air not far from us, looking pissed. Pissed at me. His next words sounded like that Old Galaythian.
Wolfe snapped his head around to face him. The hard look he gave Alaric shut him down faster than a heart could beat and had him backing away.
I looked at each of the Bloodsworn dotted across the sky like sentinels. This was the first time I’d seen them all together. Garrick, Alaric, Bastian, and Wolfe.
They truly were a force to be reckoned with.
Wolfe flicked his gaze back to me and pinned me with a lulling stare. “Be sure to write about my wings in your journal, Ziyka. And anything else you find fascinating about me.”
I frowned. “The book is for important things I need to remember.”
“Exactly.” He appraised me with cool precision. “I don’t want you to forget me.”
My heartbeat stuttered before quickening to a dangerous rhythm. “That’s not how the curse works.”
“We’ll see about that, mage.” He winked at me, then he soared back up into the heavens, leaving that chaos with me all over again.
Wolfe shouted a command and they each disappeared, flickering out of existence as if they were never there.
I went back to my little barrel seat and gazed up at the sky.
Wolfe wasn’t anywhere to be seen, but his presence lingered. Like he was still watching me.
I opened the notebook and wrote:
Beware of the Fae prince and how he makes you feel.
It’s a danger you can’t afford.