“I think I like this tradition.”
Delaney barked out a laugh, her cheeks flushed. She pulled back, still grinning, and returned to the box of ornaments.
He followed, unable to stop watching the way she moved.
They worked in comfortable silence for a few moments, passing ornaments back and forth. She seemed very focused on assembling everything in a specific way. His eyes caught on some wooden ones that seemed different from the glass. He picked one up, studying it. It was shaped like the house they were currently in.
“This is beautiful carving work,” he murmured.
Delaney blinked, her eyes focusing on it with a sad smile. “Oh, my grandpa made that for Grandma. He would make one each year. It was a tradition around here.” Her eyes misted with sadness. Grief.
His chest tightened. He gently set the ornament down. “It’s beautiful work.”
She nodded.
His fangs ached as he watched her, that chemical building behind them. The bond wanted to complete itself. He swallowed it down.
Not yet. She doesn’t understand yet.
His eyes caught on the string of plastic and glass bulbs—similar to the ones that hung from the house. He frowned, lifting them. “What are these?”
Delaney turned and chuckled. Good. Best to distract her.
“They go around the Christmas tree.”
His brow furrowed, and an idea struck him. “It reminds me of that rope you utilized to dispatch me with…” He smiled deviously. “Shall I return the favor?”
Delaney frowned and took a step back. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
He lunged forward and playfully wrapped his human in the lights. She stood tangled in them, glaring up at him. He gave the string a pull and chuckled.
“This looks much better than on the tree, I think.” His brow quirked up.
“They aren’t even turned on.” She snorted, seeming less annoyed than she wanted him to believe.
“Turned on?” He blinked. He noticed the metal prongs at the end of the string and it clicked. “Oh, how rudimentary.”
She rolled her eyes. “Just plug it into the wall. You’ll see.”
He did and turned back to look at her.
All the air seemed sucked from his lungs. His coremata surged painfully.
The lights pulsed—red, blue, green, orange. He couldn’t swallow the groan.
The first night. The lights on her dwelling. His mind flashed back to stumbling from the wreckage, disoriented and fevered, catching sight of those glowing colors through the snow. His biology had recognized them instantly—mistaken them for a female in heat. Driven him straight to her door like a moth to flame.
And now she stood before him, wrapped in those deceptive lights, and his body couldn’t tell the difference between instinct and reality.
“Woah, what’s going on? Your eyes are doing that thing again…” Delaney asked, startled.
“Astara…” He panted, doing everything in his power to hold still and not lunge. He could feel the pheromones pouring from his lumin glands in response.
“Female Artaisans’ wings glow when in heat. And this… it’s like you’re presenting for me. My body can’t tell the difference.”
Delaney looked less startled than he expected. She smirked up at him. “Oh, so you’re going into rut?”
