Chapter 25 #2
Demon. Cursed. Sacrilegious. That’s what they’d have said.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve shifted,” Finley confessed, not sure why she was willing to admit the fact.
“How strong sorcerer blood is in our line is the most well-guarded secret in my family. People suspected of course, and rumors spread throughout our city. The fact that we still had dedication ceremonies and I can draw magic from my tattoo helps keep the secret. If people knew the truth, Father’s business would have sun faster than a ship in a hurricane.
Not even Ai has seen me in my sorceress form. But I can try to show you.”
Rafe gave her a single nod of understanding and encouragement.
Finley stood still before him and closed her eyes to try to connect with that deep and dark part of her she avoided touching.
It was always there, a dark shadow within that always wanted to come forth.
It existed, somewhere deep in her chest, stirring and waiting.
Little by little, Finley connected with her sorceress side, and her skin prickled as it started to shift and change.
When she opened her eyes once again, Rafe was still staring with a slight tilt to his head.
The glimmer of her small scales across her body reflected in his yellow eyes and the tiniest hint up an upward tilt played in the corners of his mouth.
The expression would have been undetectable to most people, and Finley realized how much she’d looked at him and gotten to know his face over the last few weeks.
Oddly, she wanted to smile too, and she warmed all the way from her toes to her fingertips in the most delicious way when he had this look on his face.
It was the face when she was the only thing his focus was on, and he liked the view.
She lifted her arms and moved them side to side to see what they looked like.
Her body didn’t completely transform and become covered in scales the way it would for a full-blooded sorceress like Amelia.
Instead, she had a peppering of them scattered across her skin.
They shimmered under the moonlight as though they were tiny blue and teal stars.
If she had changed in the daylight, she might have glowed.
“Well, there you go. Evidence enough for you?” Finley asked.
The shifter stood. He approached her with supernatural silence, as if he believed making a sound would cause her appearance to vanish. He reached out and grasped her extended arms and looked at them with careful turns. “You’re beautiful,” he said.
Finley blinked a few times and looked up at him. She knew the scales weren’t hideous, but this wasn’t the response she’d expected. Confusion, anger, frustration, maybe. Not fear, Rafe didn’t seem like one who would be afraid of sorceresses. But awe wasn’t it.
“What?”
Rafe stepped even closer and cupped her face in his palm then let his thumb rub against one of the scales on her cheeks.
“You’re beautiful. I hate that you feel like you have to hide this part of yourself.”
“They are kind of pretty, aren’t they?”
Rafe chuckled. A low and sensual sound that made Finley’s stomach flip. “You make them that way.”
The best kind of shiver ran through Finley’s body and it wasn’t from the cool of the night air.
There were only a few inches between them, and Finley closed the gap and pressed her lips against his.
In all the times she’d kissed him, she had never gotten over how soft his lips were and the way their touch sent waves of heat through her regardless of the situation.
Rafe didn’t take any time in responding, tangling his fingers through her hair as he kissed her back.
There was an intense meeting of peace and urgency as the kiss grew deeper and Finley grew more and more desperate for him.
Something about Rafe always kept Finley in this odd duality that didn’t make any sense.
A lover should bring either peace or desperation.
Not both at the same time. He continually baffled and fascinated her and usually experiencing bafflement would make her want to walk away, but with Rafe, it only made her want him more.
And now, within a single moment, her desire for him had ratcheted to new levels. It was inappropriate and terrible timing. Good people didn’t tear each other’s clothes off on a roof only hours after they witnessed a deathly battle. Yet here she was wanting to do just that.
But Finley would never consider herself or Rafe particularly “good.”
Thankfully, Rafe appeared to be in the same mindset as his mouth trailed down her neck and he grasped and pulled her blouse off her shoulder.
He placed hot and soft kisses on each shimmering scale across her skin and pulled her shirt down, ripping part of it along with the undergarment beneath.
With a small nudge of his hand her breast pushed up and over the fabric, her nipple puckering in the cool air, and he rubbed his thumb over it as he kissed her neck.
Finley moaned and clung to him, desperate for more, pressing herself against him as he grew harder with each passing moment.
He placed his mouth over her nipple and began to suck and bite at it until both sides were rough and tender, making her cry out at the mix of pain and pleasure.
“Do you have them everywhere?” Rafe asked as he crouched farther down and licked at one of the scales perched on her tit.
“You should see for yourself and refresh my memory,” was her answer.
It was all he needed to continue farther down and a few tugs later her trousers pooled at her feet.
Rafe adjusted her long blouse to reveal her to him.
Clutching her rear in his palm he ran kisses up her thigh until his mouth reached her womanhood and placed his mouth against her clit.
She gasped and grasped at his hair, pushing herself even closer.
Diar bless it, he knew how to use his tongue.
They lowered themselves, kissing and ripping clothes off until they were both lying naked on the castle roof. Finley was wet and desperate. Rafe grasped her rear and flipped them so he was on his back.
“Let me see you shine,” he said.
Finley straddled his hips, taking her time and pushing her hair to one shoulder to let him watch her body as she moved.
He licked his lips and rubbed her thighs as she settled over him.
She leaned down, letting her breasts hover over his body and pressed kisses against his chest before rising again.
Between her legs, he was hard against her and she rubbed his cock against her wet pussy before guiding him inside.
The way he filled her and how her body molded around him stretching and quivering was always one of the best parts of fucking Rafe. He almost pushed her past her limit while also fitting perfectly.
Shimmers from her body reflected against the castle walls as they moved together.
She relished every grasp of her breast and slap of her rear.
His chest was red with the streaks her nails left on his skin, and when he lifted himself, he grasped her tit and bit and sucked at her already raw nipples.
He would leave marks there, she was sure.
Then, as his thumb rubbed against her clit again Finley thought she would explode and yelled his name.
When they’d both come, they collapsed to the ground and Finley lay across his chest, both of them gasping and chests heaving for air.
Every battle should end with a good fuck, Finley decided.
As they finally caught their breath again, she rolled off him and lay on her back against the cool roof.
“I can definitely say I’ve never had sex on a castle roof before,” she mused aloud.
Rafe turned to look at her and when their eyes met, they burst into laughter.
“I’m glad to be your first.”
Which only made them laugh even harder.
It felt good to laugh. Which then made her feel awful. This wasn’t the time for laughter and sex and joy. They should all hate her if they didn’t already.
Rafe must have sensed Finley’s change of attitude and squeezed her hand. “Don’t feel guilty for having some pleasure. We need to take it as we can right now because I feel like soon it’ll be in short supply.”
Finley nodded. “I know. It’s just odd. I’m not used to feeling guilty.”
“Understandable.”
“We should tell the others, shouldn’t we?”
“They’re all asleep.”
Right. Because it was still the middle of the night. They each had excellent stamina but even they couldn’t have sex until sunrise. “First thing in the morning then. You’ll tell them about how to kill Amelia.”
And Finley wasn’t sure if she wanted morning to come.