Nexus appeared at the window with a soft meow. Rune narrowed his eyes on the horned Vareth, which looked much bigger now. It blinked back at him indifferently, tail flicking.
“Be gone.”
The black cat ignored him. It leapt lightly onto the bed, circled once, and nestled into the pillow beside Alora’s head, purring contently as the shadows curled over its fur.
Rune glowered at the small beast. “You knew this would happen, didn’t you?”
Its eyes gleamed faintly in the firelight like moons from another universe. From another time. The thought sent a cold wash of dread over his shoulders.
He knew exactly what had answered Salvia’s wish.
And it was no mere god.
CHAPTER 41
Alora
Shadows curled around Alora like a blanket of black smoke when she woke, warm and gentle, rippling faintly before retreating into the corners of the cottage as she sat up. Nexus purred beside her, stretching on her pillow. He’d grown. He looked up at her with a lazy blink, tail flicking contently.
She offered him a small smile before turning her attention to her hands. Her fingers flexed. Human, yet tipped with white claws that retracted when she willed it. Shadows coiled around her arms like threads, curling up her bruised wrists.
Then her body reminded her before her thoughts did.
A slow, warm ache nestled low in her belly, a tenderness between her thighs that made her breath catch. A flush climbed her neck as memory unfurled.
Rune’s mouth on her skin, the glide of his fingers inside her, histongue.
Seven help her, what he did with his tongue … the feeling had been maddening, making her arch into him with unrestrained abandon. Shadows had wrapped around her like silk and sin, and she’d let them.
Even when Rune had strung her up, keeping her helpless against what he deemed punishment, she had…enjoyed it. The surrender. The ecstasy that had drowned her body. The demon, who no matter how feral and violent, knew exactly how to touch her with the utmost care.
She’d never felt unsafe, even with his fangs grazing her core.
There was enchantment on his lips. Had to be. He said so himself.
There was power in his kiss … so much that he’d seduced her into almost giving herself to him last night. The thought made her body tingle. She could still feel him between her legs.
Large and warm.
Alora pressed a hand to her flushed cheek, mortified and… yet not. Not entirely. The shame warred with a bewildering shimmer of pleasure, a treacherous tangle of longing and desire that refused to be quiet since the moment Rune first kissed her. And she wanted more.
But what did it mean now?
For him.
For her.
For whatever strange, impossible bond lay thrumming between them like a second heartbeat. It was an experience she didn’t know how to feel about.
But she had also gained something else last night.
Now new magic stirred in her veins, simmering with something ancient. She turned her hand, watching the shadows gently swirl like ink spilled in water.
They felt like a naturally part of her.
Even if they werehis.
Her gaze drifted to Rune in the shadowed corner of the cottage. He sat with one long leg crossed over the other, elbow propped on the arm rest as he read from one of her books, half-veiled by the dim gloom where the morning light didn’t reach. The curtains were drawn tight against the dawn, sealing him in his chosen darkness.
