Chapter Ten
Terra
I don’t question why the Wizard Daddy has stylish hiking boots and a sleek jumpsuit in exactly my size. For all I know, he magicked them from a bottomless purse. More likely, there’s someone in his castle who fits my height and build, though I haven’t run into any staff yet.
“Privacy, please.” It seems a bit silly, but both men readily agree, leaving me to change in the silence.
We’d gravitated back to the bedroom where I’d first arrived.
I’ve visited some fancy houses before. I prefer attending parties where I can vet the hosts beforehand, usually leading me to rich folks who like to have clean, dirty fun.
All of the richy-rich homes I’ve visited combined could not compare to this mansion.
Crystal everywhere, sometimes soaring so high it gets lost in the clouds.
Very few rooms bother having ceilings. Snowflakes paint the glass like an ethereal collage.
Floors reflect the sunlight like polished pearl, shimmering with the colors of the aurora, just like Azuran.
A bit chilly, the perfect temperature for snuggling up with the resident wolf.
I could get used to it here.
The boots and jumpsuit are similar to styles I’ve worn, but the fabric feels different.
It falls loose on my shoulders and hugs my waist, easy to move in while accentuating my curves.
The green hue is brilliant against my skin, the neckline plunges to reveal the new gold stardusting my shoulders and chest like a sumptuous tattoo.
Even with antlers half my wingspan, I look sexier than ever.
“What the fuck,” I mumble at the mirror. Is Chad on the other side? Does he even wonder where I am? He wouldn’t believe I’d spent the night with a werewolf and an elemental god. Well, maybe he would, but they were right; he never deserved me. Especially if what they claim is true.
A light rap sounds at the door. “Wildflower? Are you ready?”
I smooth the silk-like fabric and practice a smile. It’s tentative, but it comes more naturally than the one I’d forced back in Chad’s dirty apartment.
“Ready.”
This world is beautiful. Once I get used to the peculiar means of travel, I can’t stop marveling at the ever-changing landscapes below.
Perched on a cloud, Azuran lounges behind Vulf and me, the werewolf’s arm secure around my hips, my own hands clutching his. Floating on a fucking cloud! But not just floating. Occasionally, we zip from one area to another on a spark of lightning like a goddamn roller coaster.
This place is insane. Four interconnected territories, all sharing borders with their opposites.
It’s like something straight out of a picture book, but with sexy werewolves and shiny gods that look at me like I’m the secret ingredient to their elemental sandwich.
A sea of lava that winds past a solid ice mountain range.
Backwards waterfalls that aren’t waterfalls at all, but steam, so think it rises in sheets.
High above the clouds, crystals hang like raindrops suspended in time.
I flick one. It tinkles like wind chimes as it collides with others in its path.
We share the airspace with bird-like creatures shaped like manta rays, whose call sounds like putting auto-tune to a goose. Tiny fucking dragons the size of hummingbirds, with gossamer butterfly wings.
“What’s that?” I point to a wall of black fog at the edge of the horizon. It looks like a glitch, the way it rises into the sky like a solid wall.
“The world’s end,” Vulf supplies, his ominous tone sending a shiver down my spine. Or maybe it’s his warm breath on my neck and the way it reminds me of how he felt between my legs. “Azure can see through it.”
I twist on the cloud. Vulf gazes at Azuran in that way, the way they always seem to look at each other. When their gazes both land on me, nothing fucking changes! Well, except the heat level between my thighs.
“What’s on the other side?” I ask, voice raspy for no good reason.
“Elements this world cannot comprehend. Colors we have never seen. Aberrations of nature’s laws.” His tone suggests this should be awe-inspiring, but I glance at the impossible landscape floating below our cloud and snort. Azuran’s brow quirks. “This is funny, Wildflower?”
“I mean…” I grab a handful of cloud. It fizzles in my hand like a bubble bath.
His moustache quirks. “I concede.”
Ripping my gaze from Azuran’s glittering eyes, I snuggle back into Vulf. “What land are you from, Wolfie?”
“A trick question, my sweet doe.” A faraway look clouds Vulf’s expression. Instinctively, I smooth the fur of his neck. “For the first years of my life, my clan raised me on the outskirts of Umber, a hub in Lande.”
“Raised is a questionable term,” Azuran scoffs.
Vulf’s ears flatten. “They did their best.”
“Alas, fate will not allow us to agree on this one, my love.” Azuran pinches the hair at the tip of Vulf’s ear, who nuzzles into the touch.
“They didn’t know what I was,” Vulf explains. “No one understood why I had no magic. A powerless werewolf is unheard of.”
“Not understanding something isn’t a good reason to treat a cub—” Azuran begins.
“Enough.” Vulf’s tone is like ice sharpened into a dagger, but there is only compassion in his stormy gaze.
“None of that matters. Since the first drop of rain the day Azuran and I met, there’s nothing else.
I claimed my identity and my pack. I didn’t make a great werewolf, but I’m a damn good were-rainwolf. ”
There’s no subtlety in the suggestion. My hand drifts to my antler. I’ll admit, it’s a nice thought.
“Especially with the wind at my back.” He casts yet another loving glance at Azuran, whose anger had dissipated.
Fuck, they’re so cute it makes me a little sick. And horny. Mostly horny.
“Down, boys.” Both sets of panty-dropping eyes fall on me.
I sigh, squeezing my thighs together. There’s something I have to do before I let these sentimental hunks split me down the middle—literally, hopefully.
“I get your drift. Take me to Aevium. After you show me what the fuck being a rainwolf even means.”
When Vulf smiles, there’s a glimmer of sharp teeth.
Vulf releases me, placing me in the care of Azuran, who eases me into his lap. Fuck. The way they pass me around, so sweet and careful…ugh, it makes me want them to do it in another, much less gentle way.
One moment, our little white cloud floats on a calm breeze. The next, thunder booms from all around. Dark, fat storm clouds box us in from every angle, wet to the touch when they brush my shoulder.
Vulf explodes in a spiral of raindrops, bands of wind whipping the droplets like a miniature hurricane. I shield my face, blinking away the rain.
When I can focus again, there he is.
Rolling clouds with orbs of lightning for eyes. A tail that undulates with waves, sending curtains of rain to the ground with every swish. Wherever his feet land, thunder roars.
“Holy fucking shit,” I breathe.
“Indeed.” There’s nothing but deep, gut-wrenching love in Azuran’s tone, as boundless as Vulf’s ever-changing form.
Vulf opens his roiling cloud jaw and looses a thunderous howl. Lightning reverberates down his spine, tracing his ribs.
Azuran chuckles. “He’s showing off for you.”
My cheeks burn. How could it be possible that these two elemental creatures want me? They’re fucking magic! I’m just a cock-hungry human. Kind of.
“Ah,” Azuran breezes. “We’re here.”
The wind picks up, whipping my hair around my antlers. The ground comes for us quickly. Way too quickly. This is nothing like the lightning bursts Azuran had used to zip through the sky.
Vulf reappears at my side in werewolf form, and the slight brush of our shoulders sends electricity splintering through my veins. “I’ve got you!”
I barely hear Vulf’s shout over the sudden clap of thunder and my own screams as the cloud carrying us bursts. We careen toward the ground in a torrent of rain. Over my shoulder, Vulf laughs. We’re hurtling toward our death, and he’s cackling.
“Release your fear, Wildflower!”
The mirth in Azuran’s voice reminds me: these hunks aren’t only sexy. They’re magic.
The realization hits me just as the ground grows impossibly near. My tummy whoops, and my scream transforms into shrill laughter.
We land in a puddle on an otherwise barren land.
“What the fuck! What the fuck!” I cry, chest heaving. My giggles clog in my throat as I notice our surroundings. “What the fuck happened here?”
The forest isn’t a forest at all. It’s a cemetery. There are no rabbits or deer or strange, otherworldly animals. Nothing like what we observed in the sky.
“Aevium has remained uninhabitable for three decades. In the past, its forests would simply regrow after a wildfire, but without the Vitalis, it was only a matter of time.” Azuran’s wisdom is laced with sadness. “A devastating loss for all of Eldrunna.”
My chest aches, like at any minute it’ll cave in and I’ll crumple to the ground, another log on the charred soil. It makes no sense for me to be so emotional about a place I never knew existed, and yet, I’m helpless to stop the tears from falling.
Vulf’s rumbling purr offers refuge, his hand appearing on my lower back.
I swipe at my cheeks and lay a hand on the blackened, broken tree trunk before me, and make a promise.
I pour my promise into the brittle wood.
An echo of my words reverberates from my toes to the top of my head, like the land itself accepting me, trusting me, welcoming me.
I never made a very good human, and I don’t know how to be some kind of forest nymph, but this land needs a voice. If not me, then who?
“Azuran.” There’s a rare urgency in Vulf’s hushed tone.
Azuran’s replying hum is full of awe.
I open my eyes. A purple-thorned vine rapidly sprouts along the bark, a lilac bulb growing and blossoming before my eyes like a time-lapse video, petals expanding on petals, growing toward me like I’m the sun.
The ache in my heart bursts. I instantly recognize this as the sense of belonging Vulf referred to.
Home, my heart whispers.
With a steadying breath, I face the two men gawking at me like I’m Persephone herself.
“All right.” I square my shoulders. “Show me how your mirror works.”