On Darc's right stood Banning, as if Darcraxis had planned on being bracketed by blondes. Banning's Blooder-blond hair—a gleaming, glossy gold—now had streaks of starlight in it from drinking Lucifer's blood. Those streaks sparkled in the sunlight, and his emerald eyes glowed. Lovely really, except that his stare was also full of anger and his fangs were bared.
Next to Banning, Declan looked positively friendly but I knew him well enough to see past his smirk to the rage it hid. I could see it in the tightness around his cerulean-violet eyes, the way he held his shining one-sleek body, and even in his auburn hair—braided back as if for battle. Beside Declan stood Torin, looking a lot like Darc, with his sin-black hair, sapphire eyes, and muscular, witch physique. But where Declan only appeared to be calm, Torin actually was. There was more resignation than anger in his gaze. Torin had reacted badly to the RS at first but when he finally came around and saw how much he'd hurt me, he vowed to never be that guy again. Torin wouldn't instantly accept Verin, but he wasn't about to start a fight over him either. At least, not yet.
Finally, there was Slate, who stood on Gage's left. He was dressed in a tailored suit as usual—worn casually without a tie and with the shirt open at the collar—and should have looked completely out of place in my tropical backyard, but Slate had a way of making the world seem as ifitwere inappropriate, not him. His hands were clasped behind his back and his head cocked as if he were trying to decide whether to be angry or not. He wore his deep mahogany hair swept back in an impeccable cut, adding to the image of a sharp businessman, but the bulk of his body beneath that suit spoke of more physical activities and his silver eyes were flashing like the razor-edge of a sword.
Verin started to growl.
“Everyone just take a breath,” I said in an ironically breathless voice.
“No. Do not tell us to calm down,” Darc said firmly. “We've talked about this, my fire. He was supposed to be temporary. Vivian says that the spell will wear off, you just need to be more patient.”
Verin grunted—it sounded a bit like “fuck you and your patience.”
“Move away from her, Verin,” Slate's tone was even and calm. “Or we will tear you away from her and possibly tear you to pieces in the process.”
“She's not yours,” Gage added reasonably. “It's just the spell making you behave irrationally.”
“I promised him that if this was real, we'd accept him.” I craned my neck to look at my men.
“Yes, but it's not real, Elaria,” Declan argued. “We spoke to Vivian and she says that the spell is still active. I mean, look at yourselves.” He waved an elegant hand at Verin and me. “It'sdemonstrablystill active. This cannot possibly be your natural response to each other.”
“You shouldn't have met him today.” Banning shook his head at me. “You know that the spell is still controlling you.”
“I gave my word,” I said, then shivered—Verin had started to move restlessly against me in a very intimate way.
“That's it!” Darc snarled as he stepped forward. “I tried to be reasonable but if you're going to assault my wife in front of me, reason can fuck off.”
Before Darc could make it three steps, Verin pulled me even closer and absconded with me. The last thing I saw before we vanished was Darc's terrified stare.
Chapter Three
I reformed with a gasp, standing instead of lying down, and clutching at Verin's shoulders. I caught the ending fade of his coral ring's glow. Lóng—those are a type of sea dragon—use rings set with coral in the color of their court to travel in a manner similar to that of a shining one traveling stone. Except Lóng rings weren't limited to crossing the Veil. Shining One traveling stones can take you anywhere you've been before but they were made specifically to pierce the Veil—the boundary between realms. If you wanted to go from one place to another on Earth, you had to first cross through the Veil to a different realm before looping around and going back to Earth. Verin's ring had no such restriction.
We were in Verin's bedroom in the Azure Palace. I knew this because I'd been there before. He'd been naked that time as well, though far less amorous. With a low rumble of anticipation, Verin drew me across a plush Oriental rug, toward an enormous bed with sin-black, silk sheets edged in gold. It looked both menacing and magical. As much as I wanted to jump in, wet dress and all, I pulled back, and Verin's rumble turned into a growl.
“Verin!” I shook him by his arm. “You need to snap out of it. We have to go back.”
The sounds coming out of him turned sinister and his eyes began to glow.
“Verin!” I slapped him across his face.
Verin shook it off like a boxer and refocused on me. He lifted me, his embrace becoming punishing, and covered my mouth with his. With the touch of his lips on mine, something snapped. I could vaguely hear the voices of RS and Kyanite—the shining one gemstone that I'm aligned with. Both sounded frantic. But there was this glorious muscular body just begging for me to touch it and the hard press of particularly interesting part of that body. Sweet stones, his tongue was magical. Verin stroked and teased and demanded, changing his amorous attack from second to second. All while his hands slid over my body—kneading, grasping, and stroking. My wet clothes slid away and my head spun.
Three months. This shimmering emotion had been growing stronger for three months. It should have been fading. Why hadn't it at least weakened? Instead, it had become this all-consuming obsession that I'd barely been able to suppress. Judging from the way Verin kissed me, it had been the same for him. And now the dam had broke—desire rushing out to drown us. It carried us far away from solid land but neither of us cared.
Then my contact charm started to chime.
Verin snarled and reached for my necklace.
“Wait!” I held up a hand. “I'll take it off.”
His eyes twitched as he watched me remove the chain with my contact charm, traveling stone, and onyx pendant. I tossed them on the carpet and the chiming faded.
Verin yanked me back against his hard body and slid his hand between my legs. He grunted in delight. “So wet,” he purred.
I cried out as he slid his finger inside me. My hips arched forward all on their own, and Verin began to pump his palm against me while his other arm cradled my back, supporting me as I arched over it. His mouth went to my throat and sharp teeth gently scraped my tender skin. I clutched at his shoulders even though he held all of my weight.
“Verin, I've just had a very alarming conver—oh, my,” King Zhavage of the Cinnabar Court stood frozen in the doorway, his jaw hanging open and green eyes wide.
