He shuddered. Awareness of her filtered in through his shadows: the silky warmth of her skin, the smooth glide of shadow over the slopes of her legs, even an impression of the salty-sweet taste of her as they curled around her limbs to squeeze possessively.
He was rarely taken by surprise, but it seemed to happen every few minutes in Petra’s presence.
Silas had been through many ruts before. He knew the power of instinct, the senseless urge to breed. He understood the demonic urge to seek out a mate and hoard them close, to fuck them well and often enough that they wouldn’t seek out another.
And yet the sight of Petra, glowing faintly with her own precious light, nearly swallowed by his seeking shadows, inspired such a blistering wave of desire in him, he was forced to take his cock in hand and squeeze hard enough to hurt. It was the only way to beat back the release that screamed down his spine.
He liked the idea of coating her bed in his come, but not when he had her within arm’s reach.
Still holding himself with punishing force, Silas rumbled, “Come here. Now.”
“I can’t move!” She waved her hands over her body, her eyes wide in her striking face. “It’stouching me.”
“They’re learning you,” he explained, though he was only moderately certain of that himself, “but if you don’t start walking toward this bed, they’ll bring you to me. I’d start moving. Now.”
She didn’t move as fast as he would have liked, but Petra did make her way over to the bed. The shadows clung to her like long sheets of cobwebs, a cloak of hungry darkness that couldn’t decide if it wished to protect her or consume her.
Bit of both, I imagine.
Chapter Sixteen
Petra didn’t quitescurry under the covers, but she wasn’t exactly relaxed, either, as she slipped between the sheets and laid down as far from him as she was able.
Not that it mattered. His shadows were a second mind, a second body. They draped over her, molded to her lush shape, as she lay rigidly beneath the blankets. Through them he could feel her racing pulse, the tremble of her thighs as they squeezed together, the pucker of her nipples against her nightgown, and the intoxicating buzz of her magic just beneath her flesh.
A new hunger roared in him as he sensed that deep well of power just beyond his reach — not for the power itself, but for what it represented. That magic washersoul, just as the shadows were his, and it chafed to realize it was hidden away from him.
They both lay there in the dark for several long minutes, their breathing harsh in the quiet. Outside, beyond the thick walls of the cathedral’s living quarters, cars rushed by.
He thought he would feel more content with her in the bed, but the opposite was true. Silas was more tightly strung than before. His erection throbbed angrily in his rigid grip and hisinstincts spun in a dizzying circle, unable to settle on what they wanted him to do.
Eventually, one need won out over all the others.
“Relax,” he snapped.
Petra’s voice took on its own sharpness when she replied, “A bit hard when I’m being smothered to death by shadows.”
He traced the tense profile of her face with his gaze. She lay stock still beneath the sheets, arms at her sides and legs straight, near enough to the edge that any small nudge might send her off the side.
Not that his shadows would allow that. No, she was anchored to him now, though he doubted she knew it, and until he worked up the desire to release her, she wouldn’t be going anywhere.
But her clear discomfort made the oily, squirming feelings reappear, tempering the sharpest edge of his lust.
“What do you know about a demon’s shadows?”
Petra’s eyes swung in his direction. He wondered what she could see in the blue-black darkness. Did he look like a monster or a man? Silas couldn’t decide which he wanted more.
“I know they’re an extension of a demon’s will,” she answered, a bit tart.
Finally feeling like he wasn’t going to spill at any moment, Silas slowly eased his grip on himself. “They are. Mostly. They have their own magic, though, and are connected to our instincts more than our higher minds. That means sometimes they act independently of what we want.”
“Are you trying to say you aren’t controlling this?”
He shrugged, though he wasn’t certain she’d see it. “Right now, it’s a little of column A and B.”
It was a good thinghehad no trouble seeing in the dark, otherwise he would have missed the absolutely withering glare she sent his way. She wriggled a bit under the sheets. “Was that supposed to make me feel better about this?”
“No,” he answered, shuddering anew at the sensations the shadows fed back to him, “but you might be interested in the fact that a demon’s shadows are almost indestructible. Right now, you’re basically wearing full-body armor. Not even a bolt gun shot could hurt you.”
