Anything but push her.
I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that she wasn’t ready for this yet. Her body might be, but her mind wasn’t. Pushing things too far now would only result in her pushing me away later.
But even knowing this, I couldn’t help myself from leaning into every movement. Cherishing every moment.
The heavy scent of starlight, vanilla, and raspberry where my nose was buried in her neck, covered in the curtain of her hair.
The soft feel of her skin as my fingers ran over every exposed bit of it my hands could reach.
The stars swirled in her eyes when we pulled back to look at one another. It reminded me of Nova Falls, with all the falling stars spiraling down. One of my favorite places was reflected in her eyes.
Her arousal crept up my nose, and I inhaled it like a drug. My fingers tightened on her hips as I pulled her roughly into me once more. Her breathy gasp was like music to my ears. Her own hands explored my chest, letting them fall into the gap where my black shirt was unbuttoned and scattering across the iridescent black and purple scales decorating my chest.
With soft fingertips, she trailed from my chest to my neck, where she traced the tattoo on my neck.
“What does it mean?” She breathed into my ear, tracing the rune in the middle. “I’ve seen a lot of you with this same tattoo. Eryx, Baach, and Titan, even Harpina.”
I groaned, the sweet torture she was subjecting me to making it hard to think. “It’s the symbol for warrior in the old language of the gods. We get them when we complete our training as fully fledged warriors.”
Her mouth closed over my neck, and I moaned as she let out a hum. “Hmm. And the scales?”
Her fingers trailed from my neck back to my chest. I grunted, leaning down and nipping at her shoulder, getting a sultry laugh in return.
“Represent my dragon form.” I finally forced out. But her hands were already sliding down my arms, to where my forearms were exposed. Since my hands were still on her hips, she leaned back, hands clasping my forearms as she looked me in the eye. A dancing Aurora meeting a storm of stars.
“And these?” she questioned, raising a brow at me.
I smirked down at her, leaning a bit closer until we were nearly nose to nose. So close it would barely take any movement to close the distance between our lips.
“That, I’ll tell you later,” I promised, my voice rough with arousal.
Her eyes flared, and she leaned closer as if she might either kiss me or tell me off for not answering when starlight blasted out of her, momentarily blinding me.
Screams and shouts rang around the bar as Asteria’s magic brought everything to a standstill. The music cut out, and the concerned murmurs of those around us took over.
Asteria’s mouth was hanging open, her eyes wide and scared. I blinked at her, a little stunned by the force of her power that just exploded in the bar, and admittedly still a bit lost to arousal. Her show of power didn’t help that in the least, increasing it, if anything.
But I could see how skittish she became immediately. Pulling back from me, she opened her mouth several times, as if she might say something. But no words came, and I watched helplessly as Asteria turned and ran with all her new Fae speed. A blast of wind rushed through the bar as she escaped.
I heard nothing but my own voice calling her name as she disappeared, echoing around me.
Chapter Twelve
Asteria
I couldn’t believeI had lost control of my power in such a way last night. My emotions had been rioting through me. My confusion over the mate bond and everything that brought with it, to the uncertainty over my very life. The escape I’d found for a moment in Calix’s arms just made it worse by adding my arousal to the storm. Of course, it just had to all bubble up and escape in a blast of power that brought the entire bar to a standstill.
I ran before I could do any more damage, but I feared it might have already been done.
I could fully admit I had no idea what I was doing. Not with the knowledge of who I was. Not with my magic. Not with Calix.
I knew getting control of my magic had to be a priority. The gods were waiting on it, after all, and that seemed like a fairly pressing reason to figure out how the fuck to do it.
But my mind kept coming back to Calix anyway, like my love life was the most important issue as a war pressed down on us.
And yet, I couldn’t ignore the pull between us. I just didn’t know how much of that was the mate bond, and how much was actuallyus.
Did he actually wantmewith the passion that filled his eyes when his gaze devoured me? Or was the mate bond merely manifesting it?
