Chapter 19
NATALIA
“Whoo-hoo!”
“Awooooooo!”
Star’s howl echoed my shout while André and I swept over the Origin Forest, his wings taking him even higher.
I followed… only, I accidentally veered right, losing my balance.
Oh shit. The forest tumbled below me, and I instinctively threw my arms out as if to catch myself.
“Use your left wing to steady yourself,” he reminded me from above.
“I got it!” I assured, even though my heart was almost beating out of my chest with adrenaline, excitement, and a tiny bit of fear. Not that I’d admit that to anyone.
Lowering my left wing, I readjusted my bearing and shot forward, laughing when I left my Vampir mate in the dust.
Chuckling, André caught up with me effortlessly, reaching for my hand while he gave me that naughty, bad-boy crooked grin of his.
“Can you ride him in the sky? I think it’s time to jump him again.”
Returning André’s grin, I surrendered my hand to him, and he intertwined our fingers, helping me stabilize while we flew hand in hand.
It was nice flying like this with him. It was a bit tricky keeping our wings from bumping each other but I had it under control.
“Shit!” His sudden hissing made my eyes snap back to him, and dread instantly gripped me. I had flapped a little too close to his wing, and my blue flames singed the cartilage.
Maybe not.
“I’m okay,” he reassured, cringing at the same time the silvery venom rushed over the damaged cartilage, healing it and spreading over it for protection… against me.
“Not you, just your fire…” Star corrected.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Want to turn around?” he gripped my hand tighter when I nodded. “Incline your right wing about forty-five degrees, and—”
I arched a single brow. “Do I look like I know what forty-five degrees should be?”
Laughing, he began to angle right. “Just do as I do.”
Following his lead, I lowered one wing and lifted the other toward the right, my body mimicking the slant until we began to loop back. It was still challenging to wrap my mind around the fact that literal fire formed my wings, allowing me to fly, but I was enjoying every second of it.
Briefly closing my eyes, I let myself enjoy the breeze that sifted through my swaying hair, caressing my skin in the process. I wasn’t quite sure I would ever be able to describe the feeling I was experiencing right now. Not even to myself.
A strange emotion expanded through my chest, and my eyes opened in time to catch the sun rays shining through the clouds on the majestic ReinheitWolfe Castle and its forest. The place where the Wolf Shifter race had originated thanks to the Moon Goddess.
I had to admit, even though I wasn’t Star, I could appreciate how incredible this place was and the way it felt to be here. My eyes roamed the land below me, admiring the beauty of the snow-capped hills, the crystalline lake, and the sky-reaching pine trees that never seemed to end on the horizon.
It was easy to understand the love that inundated Hannes’s eyes when he spoke of his homeland, I hadn’t even been here two days and I was already falling for this magical place, I couldn’t even imagine what it felt like for him who had grown up here.
The silent exchange between Hannes and I as we looked into each other’s eyes returned, and so did the emotion that had captured me. I knew the hunky lumberjack/Wolf Shifter wasn’t meant for me—he was Star’s, or whatever—but in that moment, I’d wanted him to look at me like he did this forest.
As if I was the passion that kept him going, the one thing that held his heart.
“We need to start descending now.” André’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I swerved a little, losing my balance again.
“Sorry. I’m fine. I got it.”
His gaze became slightly suspicious like he was trying to decipher what had distracted me, and I was ever so glad he wasn’t in my mind.
“Are you ready?”
“Ready,” I assured.
“Tilt your body forward and slow the flapping of your wings.”
Letting go of my hand, he did it first, beginning to descend toward the clearing. I followed his example, finding it surprisingly easy… until I bounced three times before my feet kept their grip on the ground. I tumbled forward and almost ate the frosted grass.
Ugh. Way to make me look bad wings. Assholes.
“That was amazing for your first flight!” Dante offered, kissing my lips after my wings retracted. All flames gone.
“It was fun,” I admitted, setting my sights back on Hannes. “I hope you are ready for me,” I announced, cracking my neck to show him I was ready.
“Let’s throw down!” Star hollered, and he bit his lower lip, trying not to laugh.
Damn. I loved it when he did that.
“Hotness alert!”
Shaking his head Hannes began to transform back into the Beast, until I lifted a finger, stopping him.
“Not necessary, Beasty boy. I don’t need to use my fire to kick your ass,” I assured, cleaning imaginary lint off my shoulder. “I can do it all by my lonesome.”
“Hey, I can also kick his ass… Can I slap it too while we are at it?”
Laughter erupted from him at that, and Dante and André finally caught on to it.
“Not fair!” Dante protested. “Why does he get to be in your mind, but we can’t?”
“Because he cheated,” I grunted. “He connected to Star through their pack link and now I can’t get him out.”
“In her defense, I am really good at cheating,” Hannes admitted, polishing his half-shifted crystal-like claws against the fur on his chest. He had paused mid-shift.
“Why would you ever need to cheat?” I asked, perplexed.
“You grew up in a literal fairytale castle that sits on a magical forest, with a family that adores you and would kill for you without questions or remorse. Let’s not forget the fortune and the private plane.
And you are literally, an honest to the Goddess prince who will one day rule a very powerful race.
What could you possibly need that you don’t already have or that wouldn’t be given to you before you even finish asking for it? ”
“Don’t forget he’s also invincible and super steamy hot.”
“Are you calling me a privileged white man?”
The guys laughed while he grinned at me, seeming completely unfaced.
“I’m kind of serious though.”
“How dare you, Bitch? I thought you were just messing with him.”
Sighing, I couldn’t help but remember my life growing up, or André’s story, even Dante’s. “I’m not trying to be a bitch but any of us would have killed for a sliver of what you had growing up, and I don’t mean the money.”
A pensive, almost sad look entered Hannes’s eyes.
“I know. I don’t deny that I’ve been very lucky.”
Stepping closer, he let his beast go, and his hand reached for my jaw, gently caressing my neck.
“But you’d be surprised how many places I’ve found my way into that I was never meant to be in… I have more than many, yet I’ve also felt the hollowness of that which I would never know simply because of who I am.”
My heart constricted with the sudden weight his words carried, filled with true need, sorrow, and somehow even relief.
I wasn’t sure what caused it, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that he was talking about me.
“Stupid, Bitch.”
“Starlight…” he warned, his gaze still on mine.
She didn’t answer.
Hannes’s hand fell from my neck, and I instantly felt the emptiness the absence of his touch left in me.
When his smile returned, he crossed his arms over that broad chest that felt so good against my body and lifted a thick brow. “Now, are you going to kick my privileged white man’s ass or what? You promised me pain, and I don’t see anything.”
He was daring me now.
Giving him a look that promised hurt, I took several steps back, adrenaline coursing through my being. “I promise not to be too hard on you.”
His grin became seriously swooning with my words. “I’ll return the favor and close my eyes for you.”
Oh hell no.
“He didn’t…”
Running forward, I jumped and spun in the air, sending a deathly kick towards his face.
“Nooo!” Star bellowed but his body arched all the way back, easily avoiding my flying boot that swept dead air over his head.
The asshole’s eyes were still closed.
I sent a swift punch left, but he swerved right, avoiding it. My next attack came from the right, and his arm naturally swung, pushing it away so my fist flew clear off him. It was like he knew exactly what I would do.
With the glorious purpose of kicking his ass, I advanced on him, trying to force him backward with each attack, but Hannes didn’t even miss a beat.
Every blow I sent was effortlessly stopped or avoided.
Even when I used my famous punch, jump, scissor kick combination, he astonishingly spun out of the way, successfully eluding it.
“Famous, really?”
“Shut it.”
What the fuck was going on? No one could be this good.
Additionally, I was excellent at sparring; Isis had trained me.
When he dropped to his knees and whirled out of the way of my latest attack, I kind of cried. A tear definitely reached my eye.
It pained me to admit it, but I was almost mesmerized by the way Hannes’s body moved with each maneuver.
So effortlessly, so naturally attuned with every little change around him that may signal my approach.
It was like he was part of this place, of nature, their connection strong and fluid like the river.
At this point, I was half convicted the air was fucking talking to him.
He hadn’t even dropped his arms from his chest.
Both frustration and the exhilaration of a worthy challenge flooded my being, and I started looking forward to our exchange—this was fun.
Heat spread under my skin as Hannes’s muscles contracted with each action, and perspiration made his skin glisten. My attention went to his incredibly toned pecks, corded arms, thick thighs, and even those perfectly square eight-pack abs I couldn’t really see under the t-shirt…
Honestly, I could go on forever.
“Is it me, or is it getting hot in here?”
“It’s definitely not just you. He’s hawt,” Star agreed, throwing in a horny whine in there for good measure.
Goddess, she was right. He was hawt.
Tension thickened in the air while the guys tried not to chuckle behind us with each of my failed attempts to get to Hannes, but I could still feel their amusement dancing between us.
They were next on my list.
“I mean, they did warn you it was pointless to fight me… on the count of me being innately bad-ass.”
Oh, it was decided. I was going to kill him. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow…
“He’s right. They did warn you.” Star added.
“Keep it up, and I’ll add you to my list too.”
She chuckled, and I almost smirked. I was half beginning to enjoy our banters. I guess Star wasn’t that bad after all.
“Damn it!” The curse slipped under my breath when my perfectly executed kick-jump-double-kick combination did absolutely nothing.
Nichts. Niente. Nada.
Flashing a few paces back to gain traction, I used my Vampir speed against Hannes and launched myself at him. Successfully landing on his shoulders and wrapping my thighs around his neck, I threw my body forward to flip him against the ground and pin him under me… nothing happened.
I tried and tried again, bouncing on his shoulders like an idiot with each attempt to flip him, but this fucking man was a mountain—unmovable.
“Am I the only one horny right now?”
She wasn’t, but I’d die before I told her that. All this sparring kind of felt like foreplay for some reason.
“Seriously?” I snapped, making him open his eyes, and I immediately regretted it.
His nostrils flared as he looked at my crotch perfectly set before his face from my struggle. Hannes scented me, and his sensually captivating gaze rose to meet mine.
“If you wanted my face between your legs, Natalia, all you had to do was ask.”
Heat deepened his gaze until it began glowing blue, which made my stomach dip with desire.
“Star, stop it!”
“Is not just me, you know? You crave him too!”
Before I could reply something clever, my surroundings spun.
“Aaah!” I screeched as my back suddenly slammed against the ground.
Hannes’s sexy, deliciously ripped body slowly descended on me, and he took his sweet time too—like a predator toying with his prey.
The breath lodged in my throat as he held my wrists, lifting my arms above my head, and I watched him lower himself over me until I was firmly pinned down by his broad chest.
My breasts tingled with the contact even though there were stupid clothes between us.
Fuck.
“Can I help you?” I asked, panting from the exhilaration he’d just caused in me.
My skin prickled, feeling his large hands caress their way down my arms, his thumbs dragging over the sides of my breasts, down to my waist, and then back up to finally rest his elbows on either side of my head.
Expertly, Hannes pushed my legs open with his knees and settled between my thighs.
Desire pooled in my center, drenching my delicate skin and thong while my nipples tightened for him, his gaze falling to them right on time.
With my obvious need, the glow in his gaze intensified and his nostrils flared again. Even I could smell it.
“I would say I can help you…” His husky, half-human, half-beast voice did a number on me.
When his hips lowered against my core, letting me feel his hardness, the world spun and my center throbbed in response, upholding Star’s claim.
I craved this shifter.
He felt thick and perfect, and I was dying to have him.