Goddamn it.
When Aurora glances down the hall, she notices Louie and me face to face in her living room. Her dark green eyes meetmine, and I’m certain she knows exactly what she’s doing in that skimpy towel.
Such a naughty little thing.
“Are you two done being dicks to each other? I don’t need you to be friends, but I’d feel better if you called a truce. Both of you want to keep me safe. Can’t you work together?”
She readjusts her towel, which allows me a brief glimpse of her tempting thighs.
Holy hell.
She’s the woman every painter and sculptor tried in vain to capture. And after seeing her powerful, ancient femininity peek through that towel, I’m convinced they were all fucking failures.
Aurora is right, though. Louie and I need to push aside our negative feelings so we can keep her safe.
I suppose this means I’ll have to drag myself back into underborne and erevald society. Grovel for backup. Smile at parasites. Pretend I don’t want to slaughter half the room.
Thank the collapsing stars that I’m a charming bastard.
And lucky for them, the little goddess has me on a short leash.
Louie’s tail thumps against the floor, her grin sharpening to something wicked.
“You’re right, Aurora. We were just talking about a truce. Weren’t we, Ezra? Actually, he was just saying something interesting about … holes?”
I wonder what Louie would look like with her throat ripped out and her insides on the outside. But I shove that violent impulse into the back of my mind.
I want to get this day over with so I can spend the evening discovering how Aurora’s body responds to my touch, my tongue, my lips …
“A truce. Of course. And the hole Louie mentioned is the one in my heart since you left.”
“Ezra. Shut the fuck up,” Louie growls while Aurora loudly giggles.
“A few hundred years ago, that line would have gotten me laid,” I grumble.
Aurora walks over to me, grabs my chin, and brushes her lips against mine before pinching one of my cheeks.
“Poor, sweet Grim. Now you have to work for it.”
She has no idea how hard I would work for it.
The smile that spreads across my face almost hurts as we stand nose to nose. All I want to do is grab her hips, pin her down, drown in her warmth, her scent, her soul …
Screaming stars! Pull yourself together, Ezra.
“Right,” I say, “now that we all know who or what we are, we have a few things to take care of today. First, I think we should get these spells removed. There’s a wrakh who lives right outside of town who might help us for the right price.
“They might have information on the Disciples and the Daughters, too. Wrakhs are notorious hoarders, and this one lives in a house packed full of books, spells, and artifacts. Who knows what kind of shit is hiding in their piles of trash?
“Afterwards, I thought we could go to my house to continue our research. I have a small library of reference books that might provide more information about what could happen when you finally claim your power.”
My voice wavers as the words tumble from my mouth, rushed and uneven. Aurora’s scent, her wet skin, that flimsy excuse for a towel—fuck, it’s cock-achingly distracting.
“There’s a witch in Lorewood?” she asks with wide, curious eyes.
“Yes, darling. There are several, but only one I trust enough with something like this. Now, if you could get dressed, Aurora, I’d appreciate it. Because all I can think about is that towel.What’s underneath it. And how badly I want my mouth on every inch of you.”
My eyes drag over her perfectly curvy body as I palm my cock through my pants. “Do you want to come over here and sit on my lap, little lupine?”
