Chapter 22
“Fire!” I shouted from the clearing while André flashed through the trees, and Natalia chased him along the sky.
A blue stream shot from her palm toward him, reaching his venom-coated skin in seconds. He turned to escape her, but the blaze licked his elbow.
“Gotcha!” Starlight shrieked, exhilarated.
“Retrieve!”
With my order, Natalia turned her hand, calling back her power. Her fingers closed slowly, each pulling back the force she had unleashed, and the threads of fire united on their way to her, entering the other hand she placed before her.
After countless attempts, we’d finally found a way for the force not to affect her when it returned to her. The more she practiced, the smoother the exchange became. Her palms were the conduit, so as long as she was able to wield her power through them, she was in full control.
“Fire!”
Natalia whirled in the air, going after Dante who used the shadows to hide him, in an attempt to catch her off guard. Unfortunately for him, her instincts were on fire—pun intended. Natalia was doing a great job at anticipating his attacks, which gave me great pride.
Dante disappeared before her fire could reach him, but the joke was on him, that shot had been only a distraction.
A wolfish smirk pulled at my mouth when she shot again, her blaze reaching the spot across as Dante materialized. Natalia’s hand had been poised to the place where she sensed he’d return.
The force hit him on the chest and sent him flying back against a tree.
“Retrieve!” My laughter mixed with the order, and Natalia winked at me, fully enjoying herself.
“You took your sweet time there, fur boy,” Dante complained, giving me the evil eye which only made me laugh harder.
“I didn’t know the Beast could laugh.” Natalia’s voice was flirty and playful, and its sensual tone made my entire body prickle, even in this form.
She landed right across from where I stood, the glint in her eyes telling me she was looking for trouble while she strutted toward me.
The swing of her hips was making me sweat.
“You know, I was wondering if maybe we could take a small break and then train in something else?” Her hands spread over my furry chest when she stopped before me, leaving barely any space between us. “We can all agree I got a good hold on my fire now, right?”
“You have,” André agreed, reaching us.
“It’s impressive,” Dante grumbled, smoothing his expensive suit.
“And I’m very proud of you for that,” I admitted while her fingers played with my fur, sending trickles of need through my being. “Considering this is your first time truly wielding it, you have exceeded my expectations.”
“So…” she began innocently, looking up at me from under long eyelashes. “Do you think that if I put my fire away, you can let Hannes come out and play again?” Her eyelashes fluttered with the question, and the guys couldn’t help but chuckle. “How about it, Beast?”
All logic left me when she pulled me down by the neck until her mouth was near my beast’s already sensitive ear.
“I really, really want to play with him.”
Fuck.
The vibrato of her whisper said that “playing with me” included pleasurable, naughty things, and hell if she wasn’t brilliant.
I still couldn’t stop thinking of the intimate way she touched me during our flight here. The phantom feeling of her hand curling around my shaft, stroking me, caressing me, and squeezing my head haunted me every night.
Thankfully, André and I had been together last night, helping me finally find release, or I would be going crazy right about now. We enjoyed each other for a while before he returned to Natalia’s side.
Feeling absolutely everything but danger capture my body, the Beast let go. My skin became soft as my arms wrapped around her back, and my mouth returned to normal when it reached her neck, stealing a kiss over her bond tattoo.
I was dying to see my moon on her skin.
A shaky breath left her with the feel of my lips in that sensitive spot and her hands roamed my back, enjoying that I was once more a man.
“Welcome back.” Pulling away, Natalia smiled triumphantly.
I mirrored her grin. “What next?”
“As I said. I think we deserve a break.”
“Sure.”
With a wink, she turned around, looking at Dante. “It’s your precious suit, okay?”
André and I chuckled while Dante mumbled something about an Italian designer.
“Can I come out for the break too?” Starlight asked, hopeful.
“No,” Natalia replied without a second thought.
“Bitch, I can take over you, you know?”
“Don’t even think about it!”
“Ladies, this needs to stop,” I firmly chided, “you are on the same side.”
“The last time she took over, she mated with you!” Natalia growled out loud, and both André and Dante raised an eyebrow at me.
“With my wolf,” I clarified.
“What a shame. I got all excited.”
“Me too. I thought we were finally about to get freaky.”
Both André and Dante mocked, making me roll my eyes.
“Is not funny!” Natalia snapped at them. “Why can she have you and I can’t?!” Her eyes widened when she realized what she had said. “That’s not what I meant. I—”
It was too late, the tension had already captured us all, even our other mates.
Seeing her cross her arms over her chest to protect herself from her sudden burst of vulnerability, I stepped closer to her, reaching for her chin and lifting it so she could hold my gaze. My lips stretched into an appreciative smile while my eyes roamed her face.
I took her all in while my thumb rested on her jaw, my fingertips stroking the curve of her neck as it instinctively stretched to give me access. The sound of her pulse racing with my nearness became a song to my ears.
Leaning in, I bypassed her mouth and placed a kiss on the edge of her jaw, below her ear. “I’m already yours…”
My whispered confession made the little hairs on her neck stand on end against my lips, and a slight shudder rocked her body.
Satisfaction like I’d never felt stirred in me, and I knew that no matter where life took us, I’d never be anything else—not the Beast, not the Prince, the Wolf, or the next Iron King…
I was simply hers.
Need made my chest tingle with the ravenous need to claim her mouth, and when her lips parted under my gaze, I knew she wanted the same. I tilted my head just as a blue gleam suddenly crossed her eyes, and the next instant, my back slammed against the ground.
“I’m going to fucking kill you!” Natalia roared as Starlight landed on me.
“Mate!” Her tail excitedly wiggled behind her while she licked my face.
The guys chuckled.
Gripping the sides of her face, my fingers sank into her beautiful snowy fur while I tried not to laugh. She could not do this.
“Starlight, this is not okay,” I reprimanded with a growl, making her step off me.
“But she wasn’t going to let me out!”
“The two of you have to find a way to respect each other, and you forcing her to do what you want doesn’t help.”
Starlight shook her head while I stood, she didn’t want to hear about it.
Huffing at me, she turned and jumped on André, licking his face too. Luckily, he’d seen her coming, so he was able to hold her weight and not get tackled like I did.
“Woah, gentle…” He caressed her sides while she licked his neck, trying to bite him. “You already claimed me, remember? You bit me.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“Hey there, gorgeous.”
With Dante’s greeting, she turned to him. His arms opened wide to receive her, probably looking forward to her licking, but she pushed him around instead, smelling his ass.
“Mine!”
“Well, I’m glad I showered this morning.”
Finally satisfied with scenting him, she jumped on him too, licking his cheek until his laughter echoed.
As adorable as this was, it was still a terrible assault.
“That’s enough, Starlight. Shift back,” I warned in my Alpha voice.
“No!” She ran for it, leaving Natalia’s shredded clothing on the ground and heading for the trees.
“Let me go, you psycho!”
“It’s not all about you, Bitch!”
“Okay, that’s it!”
Lunging forward, I landed on all fours, my wolf running faster than Starlight could and tackling her before she could get lost in the Origin Forest. We tumbled over the ground until I settled over her, pinning her to the earth.
“Are you going to stop this?!”
“Yeah…?” she answered, but I was as convinced of her honesty as I was of her shifting into a duck.
“Starlight…” I growled, and she wiggled under me.
“I will behave, I promise.”
I was going to regret this, I fucking knew it.
I wasn’t even fully off her when she jumped out from under me and took off.
“Starlight!” I snapped, rushing after her.
“Spank me, Daddy!”
“Shift back or I swear…” We ran past Dante, and I glared at him. “Care to help?”
“Not in the slightest. I’m having too much fun to stop this.”
Grrr.
“You are going to pay for this, furball!” Natalia successfully pushed through the wolf, shifting back into a woman. Propelled by Starlight’s speed, her body rolled over the snow to a stop.
“Natalia, are you okay?” I shifted back into a man to help her stand.
Naked, she reached for me, pissed out of her mind. Before she could stand, Starlight burst out of her, retaking their body.
Damn it. “Starlight!”
Ignoring me, she began to run toward the trees once more, but Natalia abruptly took over, her wings lifting her to the sky.
“Can you help?” André asked Dante too, and we watched his shadows rush toward Natalia, leaving her in a new pair of clothes when they dissipated.
“That’s what you do? Dress her?”
“What? She must be cold.” He shrugged at André. “I’m not using my magic against her. They can settle that like adults.”
He wasn’t even done speaking, and Starlight had retaken control, plummeting to the ground because she didn’t exactly fly.
“I got her!” André shot up to catch her, but the blazing wings suddenly returned, lifting Starlight out of danger.
“Holy shit,” André gasped from the sky while Dante and I stared at her, open-mouthed.
“Starlight can fly too?”
“Her fire protects all sides of her…” I took a guess, answering Dante’s question.