9. Nine
Nine
The air in the bathing chamber hung thick with steam as Nova soaked in the tub, dark hair floating on the surface of the water.
Limbs heavy, she stood, stepping out of the tub and slipping into her robe.
She swiped a palm across the cloudy surface of the mirror and immediately stumbled backward, the backs of her thighs striking the hard edge of the soaking tub.
Peering out at her from the strip of exposed glass was her human face. A face she hadn't seen since she crossed the Boundary into Aemoria. Heart sprinting, she stared wide-eyed at the once-familiar features.
Cautiously, she stepped forward, slowly turning her face from side to side, examining the glossy black hair and gray eyes.
Running her fingertips over the curved shells of the ears.
A flicker of movement drew her gaze to the floor where the black mist pooled at her feet, expanding and contracting as if it breathed.
Moons had passed since it last haunted her dreams. Tendrils extended from the dark mass, twining around Nova’s bare legs like climbing vines.
Her mind ordered her to run, but her feet remained rooted to the floor.
Fear gripped her, her lungs seizing as the mist climbed over her thighs, her hips, her chest, the icy cold consuming her bit by bit.
Her gaze flicked back to the mirror, where the last remnants of the steamy haze clung to the edge of the glass, and she choked on a startled cry.
In the reflection staring back at her, she had become one of Omen’s Enchanted.
Her hair was the same matte black, but her skin was dull and colorless.
Her eyes, empty black pools. Though terror rioted in her veins, her expression reflected in the glass remained vacant.
Devoid of emotion even as the inky mist rose to her chin.
Even as the fear gathering in her throat threatened to strangle her.
Nova awoke with a start in the darkened room, gasping for air.
Shoving the suffocating fur blankets to the side, she sat up and slid her feet down to rest on the floor.
A sheen of cold sweat clung to her bare skin.
She glanced over her shoulder at Callan, who shifted on the bed, reaching out for her in his sleep, his brow smooth and untroubled.
The fire still burned steadily on the hearth.
The room was stifling. Nova rose from the bed and crossed to the window, twisting the hook latch and easing it open a crack.
A brisk breeze blew in, caressing and tempering her heated body.
Closing her eyes, she let her head fall back, her skin prickling with goose bumps in the night air.
“You glow in the moonlight.”
Nova flinched at Callan’s voice behind her, low and rumbling, heavy with sleep. She latched the window and turned toward him. The firelight danced across his features, illuminating his expression, a combination of awe and desire, as he drank in the sight of her bathed in the silvery light.
“Can’t sleep?” He extended his arm across the bed, beckoning her to return to him.
“I had a nightmare.” She perched on the edge of the mattress and took his hand, lacing her fingers with his.
“Do you wish to speak of it?” He rolled onto his side and propped himself up on one elbow.
Nova drew in a steadying breath. “I was looking at myself in a mirror. At first, I saw my human face.” She reached up unconsciously, tracing the tapered point of her ear.
“Then, the darkness was there. Black mist gathering around my feet, consuming me. When I looked back into the mirror, I was one of Omen’s Enchanted.
My eyes, they were empty. Like bottomless black pits. ”
She stifled a shudder, suddenly desperate for the comforting weight of the blankets she’d found suffocating only moments before. She dove under the furs beside Callan and pulled them up to her chest.
“I will never let that happen to you,” he murmured reassuringly, stroking her hair, fanned out on the pillow. She tilted her face to him and gave him a thin smile, a lingering twinge of fear still caught at the back of her throat.
“I’ve lived most of my life like one of them. Cut off from my emotions. Behaving as if nothing could cause me pain. So unwilling to let others see my fear and anger that I smothered my joy and happiness as well.” She shook her head. “I never wish to live like that again. It wasn’t living at all.”
Nova shifted on the bed, turning away from him and lowering the blanket to her hip, exposing the plane of her back to him.
An invitation. Callan’s warm hand glided naturally along the curve of her side until his fingertips gripped her hip, dimpling her soft skin.
The solid sensation pulled her out of her thoughts and anchored her in her body.
The remnants of her fear ebbing at the hunger in his touch and how her body responded to it.
A pleased hum rumbled in Callan’s chest. “You’re very much alive now, Starlight.”
“Starlight?” She glanced back at him, a smile tugging at her lips. “Have I been gifted a pet name?”
Callan appeared bashful, looking away as if perhaps he hadn’t meant to say the name aloud. He met her gaze again after a beat, adoration and desire shining in his dark eyes.
“It’s been in the back of my mind since our sea voyage.
You glow like Illora. And, to me, you’re a beacon.
” He tightened his grip on her, sliding over the sheets closer to her.
His hard shaft, hot and heavy, pressed against her ass.
“A waypoint guiding me home.” He leaned down, placing a kiss over the scars on her shoulder.
A shudder rippled through her. “I want to share every part of myself with you,” she whispered.
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Callan murmured, his lips ghosting along her neck to the space below her ear. “You can trust me, my love.”
Nova rocked her hips, pressing her ass against the swell of his cock. Callan swallowed a groan, his mouth against her ear. She twisted her neck further, capturing his mouth with hers and teasing him with a swipe of her tongue along his bottom lip.
“Tell me what you want,” Callan urged. “Whatever you need, I’ll give it to you.”
Nova reached behind her, slipping a hand between their bodies.
She glided her fingertips along his length before gripping him firmly at the base of his cock.
Callan inhaled sharply through his teeth as she stroked him, her movements slow but firm.
His fingers tensed on her hip, but he remained still, allowing her to set the pace.
She continued to pump him, relishing every hitched breath and rush of air at her cheek as Callan seemingly fought the urge to thrust into her hand.
Releasing him, she rolled onto her stomach. “Show me how much you care for me.” She arched her back slightly, lifting her hips in further invitation.
Callan rose onto his knees beside her and slid a hand between her thighs, urging her legs apart and making space for him to settle himself there.
Nova closed her eyes and sighed contentedly as her mate massaged her back, her ass, teasing her as ihs hands moved closer and closer to her core.
She choked on a moan when he parted her, brushing his thumb over her clit before dipping it inside her.
Humming his approval, Callan drew his thumb out, coated with her wetness.
“You’re impossible to resist spread before me like this,” he said as he laid on top of her, the solid weight of him pressing her into the mattress. He moved his hips forward, the head of his cock sliding along her slit. “My needy girl.”
Nova whimpered as Callan positioned himself at her opening, creating a delicious pressure as he stretched her, then lowering his hips until he filled her completely.
The mattress dipped as he braced an elbow beside her head.
Slipping his other arm around her chest, he laid his hand at the base of her neck and pulled her tight against him.
She moaned as he drew himself out slowly and entered her again, her skin sparking with heat at every point of contact with his long body flush with hers.
“Gods, I’ve missed you. Missed sinking into the warmth of your cunt.” He tunneled his fingers into her hair close to the scalp and tightened his grip, murmuring promises against her ear in time with each thrust.
You’re safe with me. As long as I live. No harm will come to you.
As his pace quickened, Callan’s words flowed from his lips in a frenzied stream of consciousness, the snap of his hips and firm grip across her ribs at odds with the tenderness in his voice and the delicate brush of his thumb over the pulse at her throat.
Not while I have breath. And the power to stop it.
Nova welcomed it all: his words and his cock. The inexplicable calm that flooded her whenever he was near. She slipped a hand between her thighs, stroking her clit in time with Callan’s movements.
“You’re mine,” he murmured against her ear.
“Deeper,” Nova pleaded. “I want all of you.”
Callan grazed his teeth over the point where her neck met her shoulder.
Nova tilted her hips, opening herself further, and Callan bottomed out.
Teeth sank into flesh, hard enough to sting but too shallow to break the skin.
Nova cried out, her release coursing through her, brought on by the pleasure and pain—the possession—of Callan’s bite.
With a stifled moan, her mate came soon after, his teeth still pressed to her skin.
Several moments passed before Callan lifted his body from hers.
Nova turned onto her back. Leaning over her, he pressed his lips first to her forehead, then each of her eyelids and the corners of her mouth.
He dipped his head lower, laying kisses as soft as butterfly wings along her collarbone and between her breasts.
After tucking the blankets around them both, he settled into the mattress beside her and drew her close to his side.
Fears forgotten and mind quieted for the moment, Nova drifted off to sleep with a contented smile on her lips.