I stepped forward, setting my hands on her shoulders. “You have a very strange and contradictory sense of your worth and what draws people to you.”
Lilith opened her mouth to argue, revealing that pink tongue and those white teeth, and I couldn’t hold back. I dipped my head and kissed her, reveling in the warmth of her soft, plush lips.
“Mmmph,” she got out, and her body went lax and soft. She leaned into me, and my cock immediately noticed her lush curves and breasts pressed against the hard planes of my body. The stupid cloak was difficult to maneuver in, or I would pull her closer and wrap her legs around my hips.
Lilith broke the kiss, a dazed look in her eyes, her cheeks flushed and her breathing unsteady. “What was that for?”
“Because I wanted to,” I said simply. What other reason was there?
“Not…not because you like the way I look? Or because I’m here helping you?”
“I do like the way you look,” I admitted. “But I also like your cunning mind and your pride and even the way you’ve learned to shield yourself against the world because no one else would.”
Her eyes turned glassy.
Oh, fuck, was I about to make her weep? That was always bad with women.
She spun away from me so fast the wisps of her golden hair flew through the night air. “Let’s get back. It’s getting late.”
I sighed. “Right.” I resisted the desire to nuzzle the back of her neck, where she’d be soft and sweet and perfectly Lilith, pulled back the cloak, and took off into the air.
Lilith glanced up at me, eyes wide. “You lifted straight off the ground? That looks difficult.”
I grinned down at her. “It is. But you forget I’m a leading warrior in an elite sedge.”
She rolled her eyes. “Why do I bother? You already have an inflated sense of your worth.”
“I know you like me,” I teased. “And my feathers.”
She whipped her head forward again, refusing to look at me. “Let’s go.”
The traffic at night had finally slowed, and I could dip through the streets a few feet above eye level in the dark without anyone noticing me. I followed her like she was a lodestar, my true North. Every shift she made I noticed. Every movement I copied. My heart, which had pounded in my chest for days, settled in a slow, softer rhythm. The ayim that had boiled through my veins pooled and thickened, making my body languid and my mind calm. All the pain in my chest vanished when I was near her, and I knew if I left her without completing the mating bond the pain would grow excruciating before the bond atrophied and died. Then I’d be numb for years, and likely avoid any romantic entanglement for decades at least.
I’d seen a warrior who found his mate and yet didn’t complete the bond. His mate was from a much higher echelon, a seer in training. The seer wasn’t as sensitive to the potential bond, like most male seraphim were. The warrior hadn’t wanted to settle down with someone until he’d finished his time in the military, nor could he imagine mating with someone from a higher caste.
The seer, once they found out about the bond, had avoided all contact with the warrior because they, too, wanted to pursue their studies before bonding with someone. The echelon difference had been a shock to both of them, for to marry and mate across echelons, the mate of higher status had to let go of their identity and join their spouse in the lower level.
The seer, who had the gender of alton—neither male nor female, but a third—suffered less. The warrior took to his bed sick with the shriveling bond, and when he emerged from the barracks several weeks later he was as cold as ice.
Not consummating a mate bond once the mates found one another was possible, but painful. And rare. Few seraphim would turn away a gift from the universe like a mate.
Bah, I was worrying again. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt, if my mate was a human. Perhaps we could consummate the bond and then part ways. Perhaps if I left right now the bond wouldn’t begin to grow. Perhaps…Perhaps she would want me, too.
Humans loved dearly, desperately, with wild abandon at times—perhaps due to their short lifespan. A whole life had to fit within a measly eighty years or less. I couldn’t imagine it.
If I explain the mate bond to Lilith, perhaps she’ll be pleased. Perhaps she will want to live in a cottage outside Mirkwold around strangers. Angst and stifled desire made my stomach clench.
Just focus on tonight, I reminded myself.
Below, Lilith’s head jerked and she turned to the side as if catching sight of something.
My entire body went on alert. Nothing would harm her. Nothing would frighten her. Not when I was around. I dropped a few feet, hovering above the edge of a cobblestone street empty of people. Gas lamps flickered in the murky night, creating pools of misty light here and there. A temple stood to the left, its spire rising high, and a row of shops took up the space on the right.
Movement caught my attention—someone lurking in the shadows.
Lilith gasped and ran toward the temple.
“Wait!” I called, my hand going to my hip as I dropped onto the ground. Fuck, why did I come without my sword? My wings snapped shut, giving me space to fight, and I charged after Lilith.
