Chapter 7 Twilight
TWILIGHT
Lumi-
I'm running through the forest as twilight bleeds behind the trees in long streaks of violet.
He's chasing me.
I can't see him, but I feel him getting closer with every step I take. Branches snap somewhere behind me, sending a flash of fear rushing through my body. But beneath the panic... is heat. I glance over my shoulder, but I don't dare stop. My foot catches on a root—
I stumble, but strong hands catch my waist before I hit the ground. His fingers sear through the fabric of my nightgown, leaving tingles in their wake. Everywhere he touches me feels branded by ice. I spin to look, but there's nothing there.
My pulse thrums in the silence. Goosebumps rise along my skin.
A breath grazes the back of my neck. Heat settles heavily in my hips.
A single clawed finger drags slowly from my wrist to my shoulder.
My breath catches. His touch is as possessive as it is gentle.
My lips part on a soft gasp. I lean into his touch, desperate to feel more.
But as quickly as he appeared, he's gone, and the heat vanishes.
The weight behind me disappears, but my skin aches where he touched me—like ice licking nerves that had only just begun to bloom.
I spin again, searching the trees, my pulse pounding loudly in my ears.
“Please,” I whisper to the dark. “Come back.”
But the wind is the only thing that answers, stirring the hem of my nightgown, spreading chills across my skin.
A branch sways to my left. My eyes snap in that direction, and this time I see a tall silhouette peeking out from behind a tree. And although I can’t see his face, there’s something achingly familiar about him.
I squint my eyes, his shape flickers, slipping through my mind before it can fully form. He’s watching me.
“Why won’t you come out?” I ask, my voice sounds so small in the vast distance between us.
A shimmering blue thread appears, and suddenly I feel it— the pull. I take one step forward. Then another. The thread stretches straight from his chest to mine, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.
It tugs again, and something in my heart aches at the phantom pull connecting us.
I don’t understand.
I take another shaky step forward, but with each one, his shadow begins to fade.
“No—wait!”
Just as I’m about to reach him, the mirage shatters, and I’m left alone once again.
“Why are you doing this?”
I turn to leave the forest when a cool hand presses me face-first against the nearest tree, claws biting softly into my skin. His hand snakes around my body and grabs my throat.
Fangs trail down my neck as his knee nudges my thighs apart. Icy breath fans over my heated skin.
“Sael?n, I have waited so long for you,” he rasps behind my ear.
His scent fills my lungs as my head falls back to rest on his shoulder.
Arousal courses through my body like wildfire.
His other hand settles low on my hip, and my knees buckle like gravity forgot me the moment his body found mine.
He holds me up like I weigh nothing at all.
His fangs drag lower, grazing the curve where my neck meets my shoulder.
I reach for him, but he catches me before I can touch him. He pins both of my hands above my head against the rough bark.
His fangs sink just a little deeper, and a moan slips free. A low purr rumbles from his chest, vibrating through mine like a secret only our bodies know.
“Do you want me to bite you, Sael?n?”
Please.
But all I can get out is a whimper.
His hips rock into mine lazily, and I feel him—thick and hard pressing exactly where I ache most.
His hand slides down my body and hooks beneath my knee. He lifts slowly, until my leg is bent and spread wide, splayed against the bark. My nightgown hitches above my hips, leaving me completely exposed to him. Wetness drips down my thigh as he settles closer between them.
“Please,” I arch into him. “Please touch me.”
“Is that what you want, Sael?n? You want your mate to touch you?”
Mate. The word flickers through my mind, but I can't focus on that right now.
“Yes.” I pant.
A growl fills the clearing. His hand slides between my thighs, and the first brush of his fingers makes my entire body jolt.
I shamelessly grind against his hand, trying to find more friction.
“Thrak’kai, Sael?n. Etra’ven.” He snarls beside my ear. (Ride my hand, Soulbond. Take your pleasure.)
Andrik
She stirs in her sleep. Just a small movement at first. Barely more than a breath against my throat.
But then a small whimper falls from her lips.
It curls around my ribs like smoke and leaves fire in its wake.
Her body is tucked tightly against my chest beneath the furs.
I haven’t moved since I noticed the blue tinge to her skin.
She arches against me with a quiet moan.
Her thighs fall open, and her hips roll slowly.
“Sael?n,” I rasp, barely audible—my hand hovers near her hip. Kael’thurin ves, thal?n, I won’t survive this. (Gods, have mercy.)
She’s still dreaming so peacefully, and her scent is drenching my fur, bleeding into every breath I take. Thrahk veyr’kael ves thal?n ar’ven. (Fuck, her scent is carved into my bones.)
Her hand reaches behind her, gripping onto my fur. “Varkh… please Sael?n,” I whisper through clenched teeth.
I bite down on a groan, forcing it back into my throat. Nai’thar veskae
My claws punch straight through the leather cushions beside us, digging deep. I drag them back slowly, scraping shallow lines into the wooden frame underneath.
Her scent is thickening with heat. I can taste her on my tongue, honey and need. Her head tips back against my shoulder, and her lips part.
“Please,” she whispers.
My kaev?n pulses at the sound, aching to be inside her. (Cock.)
Every roll of her hips is torture. Every moan that slips from her lips makes me harder.
“Kaelrin veskae, kaelrin veskae…” I chant under my breath.
My body locks as another needy whimper escapes her. Thrahk, she has no idea what she’s doing to me. (Fuck.)
My kaev?n throbs against the base of her spine. Wet heat seeps through the thin fabric of her pants, and it takes everything in me not to tear them away. But instead I stay still… for her. I won’t risk taking this innocence; this sleep-drenched vulnerability.
Kael’thurin ves thal?n.
Little gasps start falling from her lips, her hips moving frantically, searching for friction. Beads of kaersin leak from me, staining her pants with crystalline spaltters. (pre-come.)
“You’re dreaming, Sael?n,” I murmur, pressing my forehead to the back of her neck. “Please wake up.)
Her fingers tug on my fur with a white-knuckled grip.
The last thing I expect to hear fall from her lips does.
My name. She says it like she wants me. My resolve nearly shatters.
My hips twitch involuntarily, and the friction has my vision going white.
I shift behind her, trying to ease the pressure, to give her space, but the scent of her—the way she whimpers and moves—is waking something I’m not sure I can control.
If I were a better male, I would move. But godsdamn it, she’s mine. Every part of me recognizes her as such. She’s bound to me.
“Veyl?n ves’tharae. Ael’torin ves skar,” I breathe, voice cracking. (My soul was carved for yours. Nothing else fits.)
Her breath stutters. She presses her ass back against me with a broken moan. Vaeliss?n is soaking through her pants so heavily that it coats my fur with her intoxicating scent. I hiss between my teeth. My body shakes involuntarily, muscles straining to stay still.
“Virae’nai ves kai’mor?n…” (I ache for the place you haven’t let me touch yet.)
My hand hovers over her waist. I want to claim her… to flip her onto her stomach and bury myself so deep that when I spill into the hollow of her, she remembers nothing but the shape of me.
Veyr’kai ves tharin. Thrak’kai ves saev. Vraskai ves thalin. Ves’kai narh veyr?n, Kaemorin. (The gods will remember their choice. What fools they were to give you away. Let them watch, and bleed for what is mine.)
I press my lips to her shoulder and let the ache bleed through me. My fangs drag softly along her skin, not yet piercing, only tasting. My jaw tightens, and thraev?n begins to pool beneath my gums, heat trickling down my throat. (Venom.)
Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
I have to pull back before her pulse draws me deeper. Every part of me is wound tight enough to split.
Her small hand reaches between us, trailing her fingers slowly along the length of my shaft. A growl tears from my throat before I can stop it. She goes still in my arms.
I sense the moment awareness floods back into her, her body going rigid in my arms.
"Oh—" The sound barely leaves her lips, but I catch it.
She’s not sleeping anymore.