Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Ember and Maggie stuck their lower lips out in exaggerated pouts as they looked at one another.
“I miss you already,” Maggie said.
“I miss you too.” Ember hadn’t wanted this night to end. Seeing her friends, spending time with them, and laughing with them had been wonderful. She’d missed such carefree moments.
It had been even more special with Nyte sitting beside her.
He’d opened up with Levi and Maggie. There had been no animosity, no antagonism, no air of superiority. His smiles and laughter had come easily as he’d conversed with them, and Ember was sure he’d enjoyed himself as much as she had.
No one had suspected there was a demon in their midst.
But she’d known. She’d been hyperaware of Nyte all evening.
The heat of his thigh against hers, the way his tail stroked her calf beneath her skirt, sending tingles through her, the wicked intensity in his eyes as he stared at her mouth, and the way he bit on his bottom lip with a fang. She’d noticed it all.
After they paid the check, Levi helped Maggie out of the booth.
She stumbled against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you so much.”
Levi held her close. “And I love you. Now let’s get you home.”
Heart squeezing with a pang of longing, Ember subconsciously rubbed at her chest. She was in no way jealous of Maggie.
She was and always had been happy that her friend had found a loving and adoring partner, but she couldn’t deny that watching them hurt sometimes.
They proved to her that love like that did exist.
But that didn’t mean it existed for Ember.
Maggie waved as Levi guided her toward the exit. “Goodbye, lovely!”
Ember wiggled her fingers. “Bye!”
Nyte stood, straightened his coat, and offered a hand to Ember. “Shall we then, witch?”
Blinking, she looked at that gray, star-speckled hand with its long, claw-tipped fingers before slowly lifting her gaze to his. Nyte’s cosmic irises were a pair of violet-blue stars blazing in the abyss, unwavering as they held her gaze.
Her heart thumped, and her belly fluttered.
Maybe it was her mind playing tricks on her, or maybe it was the alcohol, but she could’ve sworn there was a gleam of lust in his unearthly stare.
Smiling, she scooted toward him and slipped her hand into his. “Let’s.”
His fingers closed around hers, and with his aid, she rose, wobbling slightly. He didn’t let go of her hand until she was steady enough to walk, and she noticed his hesitance before he withdrew.
When they stepped outside the restaurant, the wind was blowing, carrying a chilly bite and the scent of rain. Ember’s skirt whipped against her legs as they strolled along the sidewalk, and hair flew about her head in a tangle, making her laugh as she tried to pull the strands out of her face.
Nyte chuckled.
Ember peered up at him as she gathered her hair in one hand and held it to the side. “What?”
There was a small smile on his lips. “Maggie was right.”
“About what?”
“You’re lovely.”
Warmth suffused her cheeks, chasing away some of the cold. She ducked her head and tried to hide her own smile.
They hadn’t made it far before the first drops fell. It started in a sprinkle, a few sporadic raindrops here and there, but those were merely the heralds of the downpour that followed.
“Oh no!” Ember cried out as she threw her hands over her head in a vain attempt to shield herself.
As abruptly as it had begun, the rain stopped pelting her.
Ember’s brow furrowed. She could see sheets of water falling in front of her, hitting the ground hard enough to spray back up, but none of it was coming down on her.
Just as oddly, the wind seemed to be flowing around her without touching her.
Slowly, she lowered her arms and looked up.
Ember’s breath caught.
Nyte’s wing was extended over her, shielding her from the storm. She could see the stars shining and twinkling amidst the shadows, could see the rain falling upon his wing from above, but not a drop broke through.
Reaching up, Ember brushed her fingertips against his wing. The shadows were as solid as his flesh.
His wing shuddered, and Nyte drew in a sharp breath, which was barely audible over the rain.
Touched by his thoughtfulness, she leaned toward his dark form, clutching her hands together with a grin. “Awww, you do care!”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye. “Silence, witch.”
But the softness in the way he said those words shifted them from a command to a caress. An endearment.
Ember smiled, sidling closer to him as they walked. No one looked their way, so she could only assume he was keeping his wings hidden from other mortal eyes, but none of that mattered to her. All that mattered was Nyte.
She longed for him. She had since she’d first seen him. With each passing day, with each passing moment, with every new thing she learned about him, that longing had grown. Yes, there was lust, but this felt so much deeper. And it was getting considerably harder to hold back what she felt for him.
She didn’t even want to think that in a little over two short weeks…he’d be gone.
The storm had only strengthened by the time they reached her house and stepped inside, and Ember fumbled in the dark along the wall for the light switch. When the lights came on, they were near blinding, causing her to flinch.
“Blazing hells, some warning please,” Nyte growled.
“Sorry,” Ember giggled, looking his way.
He stood with his eyes slitted and a hand raised to shield them from the light, his expression rather disgruntled.
And she couldn’t help but notice that he appeared to be completely dry.
From the dark, unruly locks upon his head to his dashing attire, not a single drop of rain had deigned to land upon him.
Or he’d just…magicked them away.
Whereas Ember’s boots and the hem of her skirt were soaked.
Holding the wall for balance, she tried to toe off her boots, but they were being particularly stubborn, with the side zippers keeping them firmly in place.
Stupid boots.
She took a step away from the wall, meaning to bend down and undo them, but the toe of her boot caught on her wet skirt, pitching her forward and tearing a gasp from her.
Though what happened next occurred in an instant, it felt like slow motion for Ember.
Her stomach lurched with the certainty that she was about to faceplant, but the space in front of her darkened.
Wisps of shadow licked at her, shadows she could feel, and the air thickened.
Those shadows solidified. Rather than hitting the floor, she was halted by a solid body—Nyte’s solid body—which had just materialized in her path.
She could feel his arms around her and his warmth seeping into her. Her fingers curled against his bare, star-speckled chest. His clothing was gone.
Slowly, she trailed her eyes up to meet his. He stared down at her, his brow creased as though in concern, the corners of his mouth curled down. His scent of woodsy incense and night air enveloped her, intoxicating her and stirring a fervid heat within her core.
Without thought, Ember rose on her toes and kissed him.
Her eyelids fluttered shut as her mouth lingered against his. She marveled at how his lips were so firm yet so pliable, and she didn’t immediately register how tense Nyte had become, or the tightness of his hold on her.
He was as still as a statue, his lips unmoving beneath her own.
What have I done?
Ember abruptly pulled her face away and opened her eyes, a hot flush of embarrassment chasing away the fog of lust and returning her to lucidity. “I’m…I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t ha—”
Fiery hunger glowed in his starlit eyes. He thrust his fingers into her hair, and his head swooped down as he dragged her mouth back to his in a hard, bruising kiss.
Ember’s eyes flared in surprise, but they soon drifted shut, her body growing lax against his as she surrendered to his kiss. He groaned, clutching her hair, holding her head captive, not allowing her any escape. Not that she would have tried. She was exactly where she wanted to be.
In his arms, her body against his, with his mouth on hers.
When his tongue traced the seam of her mouth, she opened to it readily. It swept inside and curled around her own, claiming possession of it. The unexpected taste of him was a shock to her senses. It was like the crispest, sweetest water from an enchanted, starlight-bathed spring.
He tastes like heaven.
Pleasure swirled through her body, and a heavy pulse pounded between her thighs, deep in her core. Her hands slid up his chest and neck, fingers slipping into his soft hair.
Nyte angled her head, allowing him to kiss her deeper, harder.
She moaned and returned it with equal fervor, unable to get enough of him, needing more.
And he gave it, his tongue stroking and intimately dancing with her own.
His kiss was hot and wet, sending a blaze through her, threatening to consume her.
But it wasn’t enough. She needed him to touch her, needed this gnawing, hollow ache in her belly to be relieved. She needed him inside her.
Ember clung to him, body thrumming with desire. Each scrape of his sharp fangs on her lips sent a jolt straight to her clit, and all she could imagine was those fangs sinking into her flesh.
With a snarl, Nyte broke the kiss, leaving her immediately bereft. He pressed his forehead to hers, breath ragged and body trembling. His claws grazed her flesh as his hands tightened on her. “Ember…”
Her breath caught, and for a moment, her heart stopped.
He said my name.
And he’d said it in a way no one ever had—raw, guttural, overflowing with emotion and need.
Heart quickening, Ember lifted her head and sought his gaze. “Nyte…”
His expression was wrought with savage intensity as he banded his arm around her waist, pulling her body flush against his. “I fucking crave you.”
Ember cradled his jaw. “Then have me.”
His wings snapped out, spreading wide, before curling around Ember and cocooning her in darkness. But it wasn’t total darkness, not by any means. Countless stars glimmered all around her, and their embrace was warm, solid, and thrilling.
And then the world fell away.
There was no floor beneath her feet, but somehow she wasn’t falling. She was weightless and adrift with Nyte in this endless sea of stars, floating in nothingness, and she’d never felt so protected and secure.
When gravity reasserted itself, she realized she was lying on her back with Nyte propped over her. His wings dissipated, leaving behind tiny glittering motes that faded like dying sparks around her.
Rain pelted the glass of the window beside her, through which diffused light streamed to illuminate Nyte. And as her eyes adjusted to the new darkness, she recognized her surroundings. They were in her room, on her bed.
And she was completely naked. Her clothing seemed to have disappeared the same way Nyte’s had.
The cool air settled over her, making her heated skin pebble.
A low growl rumbled from Nyte, and he lifted a hand to brush the back of a clawed finger over one of her nipples, making her shiver. He watched, rapt, as it hardened. Ember whimpered at the ache that touch produced.
“This beautiful body has haunted me.” Nyte stroked her other nipple with the same gentleness, again staring as it responded to his ministrations.
Ember curled her fingers into the bedding on either side of her head to keep from reaching for him, afraid that he might stop. “You…wanted me?”
He chuckled, the sound low and dark, as his otherworldly gaze met hers, shining bright through the shadows coalescing around him. “Ah, my dear little witch, I have yearned to touch you. To wring every sound of pleasure from you, to see you writhe in ecstasy.”
Those shadows flowed over Ember, trailing along her arms and legs, delicately caressing her skin and making her shiver anew. They swirled around her breasts and teased her nipples, and her breath hitched when she felt them slip between her thighs to brush over her pussy.
“Nyte,” Ember whispered, shifting restlessly beneath him.
Slowly, Nyte eased back and sat on his heels, staring down at her. His eyes dragged over her body slowly, their leisurely movement completely at odds with the inferno of lust aflame within them.
He drew in a deep breath, chest swelling, and growled again. “Gods, how your scent has taunted me. Beckoning me to have a taste…”
Those wispy shadows grew more substantial as they coiled around her wrists and ankles like shackles. Nyte grinned, and the shadows binding her ankles pulled outward, splaying her legs wide and spreading her pussy to his hungry gaze.
Oh God…
Her sex clenched, and she felt her slick seeping from it.
“But I will have more than a simple taste, witch.” Nyte curled his fingers around her inner thighs, pricking her skin with his claws as he guided them upward. “I will have all of you.”