“If you unleash her shifter side,” Daire says, passionately, meeting Lanlin’s gaze, “I will make any deal you wish.”
My breath catches that Daire would offer that for me.
“I already have what I wish.” Lanlin’s gaze drops to the healing bite marks on Daire’s neck.
Daire licks his dry lips. “Then let’s unleash our wild Omega.”
“Hold up.” Joy is welling in me; my eyes are wet with tears. “This is really happening, right? I’m not dreaming.”
Lanlin drops my hand, cupping my cheek instead. “Shall we call it a wedding gift, dearheart? It is only four nights until our marriage and your heat on the Blood Moon. I shall cherish our bonding. Before then, I have been thinking hard about what gift would be worthy of you. You have helped me to see that no one’s savage nature should be tamed. I wish to offer that to you as well.”
My heart is beating too fast.
I can’t breathe.
While I have been on a mission to cage Lanlin, he has been thinking of ways to free me.
My gaze darts to Daire, as a tear chases down my cheek. “I can’t?—”
“She means that she can’t thank you enough,” Daire interrupts, resting a warning hand on my lower back. “What do you need?”
Lanlin wipes away the tear with his thumb, studying me in concern. “Your consent, my dear. I wish to try to use my Power to control the animal side within you that has been suppressed. It is part of my magic. Now that we are as firmly linked as we are, even as bat and rider, I believe that it should work.”
I hesitate.
This is what I have dreamed about.
How different would my life have been if I wasn’t a non-shifter?
Yet I need a moment to prepare myself for this change.
I turn my head and kiss Lanlin’s palm. “You have my consent. Thanks for trying, even if it doesn’t work. If it does, then you’ll have given me something that’s priceless: A part of my soul back.” My lips quirk. “You know, you’d both better get ready to run once I transform. A wolf that long trapped is going to want to hunt.”
Daire grins. “Primal play. My favorite. Although it is dark, and I can’t see where I’m going. I love being chased, but you two have the advantage. I will fall, aye?”
“Then you will be chased,” Lanlin’s voice is low and sultry, “and caught.”
“And after that?”
“You’ll have to find out.”
Lanlin tugs me away from Daire, placing his hands on either side of my forehead. “Now, time to come out and hunt, whilewehuntyouback. Join us as the equal predator that you always should have been, my fierce Omega. Queen.Beast.”
As Lanlin hisses the last word, I can sense the command layered underneath each word.
Every word of his speech is laced with a building mesmerism, which sinks into my subconscious.
My breathing speeds up. My hands compulsively open and close at my sides.
I’m panting.
I can sense something stirring inside.
My inner wolf.
Hunt…
Lanlin’s voice is inside my mind now. His red eyes are all I can see in the dark, as I collapse into his arms.
