Compose yourself. You cannot allow the mortal to see you in this state.
He’d already been caught off guard by Ember. He could allow himself no further slip-ups, could display no further weakness. She was a human, a witch who knew nothing of magic, and he was the embodiment of the night.
Whatever the terms of this binding, Nyte held the power. The situation was his to control, Starling be damned. He would not allow this mortal witch to?—
The privy door opened, and Ember stepped out wearing nothing but the large blue towel wrapped around her lush body.
Fuuuuuuuuck.
Nyte stared at her, unable to look away. Her silver hair was twisted up and clipped high on her head, with damp, loose strands sticking to her neck, and her pale skin was rosy from the heat of the water. All he needed to do was rip that towel away and she’d be bare for his eyes to feast upon.
What color were her nipples? What did her cunt look like? What did ittastelike?
Heat flared deep inside him and spread through his body, brightening the stars shining through his skin. The magic that fueled him, that formed him, roiled and gathered at his groin, threatening to take shape. Pressure built, thrumming, agonizing pressure, and he knew that if he allowed his cock to form, he’d be lost. He’d take this witch, take everything he wanted from her, and give her everything she wanted in return.
Was he really willing to submit to this lust just for a taste of her?
Ember stopped a couple feet away and smiled as she toyed with the tucked-in corner of the towel, securing the cloth around her. “If you want to see me naked, you only need to say so, Nyte.”
Fuck, the way she said his name, caressing it with her soft, sweet voice, would be his undoing.
With a growl, he spun away from her, giving her his back. “Beguiling witch.”
His tail swished back and forth behind him. He reached back and caught it, clutching it tight and wishing he could strangle the misbehaving appendage into submission.
Ember chuckled, and he heard her footsteps padding away from him. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Glad for the distance, Nyte drew in a deep breath to calm himself, only to be struck by her fragrance. Enticing gardenia, warm vanilla, and something beneath those notes that was wholly her. He bared his clenched teeth, squeezed his tail, and dug his toe claws into the floorboards as her scent flooded him.
There was a softthumpof cloth hitting the floor. The towel.
Ember was unclothed behind him, begging for his hungry gaze, tempting him, torturing him. Beckoning him to turn and behold her. Licks of heat coursed up his spine and through his wings, as though she were a fire giving off the warmth he so desperately needed.
He refused to turn. He would not give in to that urge, would not indulge these base desires.
Movement in front of him drew his eye. Everything in Nyte stilled.
A vanity stood against the wall, and Ember’s reflection was in profile in the tall mirror attached to it. If he thought he’d been suffering already, it had been nothing compared to what he felt at seeing her curvy body on display.
As she pulled open the top drawer of her dresser, Nyte’s gaze raked over her, from her bare feet with their gray painted toenails, up her legs, and along those delectable thighs to her shapely hips and rounded ass. Nyte gritted his teeth as hefought back the urge to bite it, to mark it. His eyes continued upward, stopping on her large breasts, which were tipped with pink nipples. He craved to draw one into his mouth, wondering what sounds he might wring from her as he teased it with lips, tongue, and fangs.
She turned, and before she bent over to draw on her lacy underwear, he glimpsed the slit of her bare cunt.
His nostrils flared as he tried to maintain control and remain in place. It would be easy to overcome her, to shove her onto her back and spread her thick thighs to see the delicate flesh between them.
The fire within him blazed hotter, and the ache in his groin intensified, railing against his restraint.
When Ember drew on another lacy garment that covered her breasts, he mourned the loss and found himself battling a new impulse to stride over to her and tear that fabric away. Somehow, he kept his feet rooted.
His tail, however, battled fiercely, tugging at the hand still wrapped around it with more force than seemed possible.
Infernal thing.
But the distraction it provided proved just enough for him to finally pry his attention away from the mirror, away from Ember. He swung his gaze toward her bed, staring instead at the window over it. Sunlight bled in around the edges of the curtains. Perhaps if he stared long enough, it would blind him, and he wouldn’t have to endure such visual temptation again.
Then there’d only be her bewitching scent, her warm, soothing touch, and the delightful sound of her voice to taunt him.
He heard her open a door, heard cloth rustling and whispering against her skin, and he forced his eyes shut, not that it could block out the visions of her now etched forever into his memory.
