Evira Vortimer. I was aware of all power players throughout the supernatural world—and their heirs. Although I’d never mether before, she certainly fit the description I had familiarized myself with. The hair, the markings, the forthright and bubbly nature. Most noticeably, the staggering power rolling off her. And of course, that primal essence, something I felt from all supernatural beings who had animal natures like me.
I’d watched her order a spicy margarita and scrunch her nose up, then she’d gravitated toward a sorceress couple and engaged with them, talking animatedly, confidently. At least on the surface. There was an undercurrent of nervousness and anxiety that I’d discerned. Perhaps the crowded space, given how she kept looking around every now and then, where she would then blink and draw in a centering breath.Hmm.She hadn’t come into her true power yet. That was to be expected given her attending an academy. It was where most came to learn and become more comfortable in themselves and their abilities.
Although that wasn’t technically the case for me. Mine was more along the lines of a diplomatic mission. However, I did have a particular issue.
And that was why I still remained here on the periphery of this party venue sipping at my glass of cognac and not shrinking from the stark sexuality and untamed desire that was utterly stifling as it permeated the area and threatened to overwhelm my senses.
Yes, sex was my issue.
With my Basilisk nature, there were inherent dangers to others should I engage in intimate acts. Even Basilisk to Basilisk that issue was prevalent. And especially for me due to my greater power within my species as heir.
My attention drifted to the spelled acrobatic play happening just beyond the dance floor in the middle of the space. There were magic-wielders creating a vibrant magical lightshow where others like them and vampires, vampire-sorcerers and werewolves were floating in the air and performing somersaults.
There were wolves, shifter hybrids and a couple of dragons in human form leaping and hurtling through an obstacle course that several Light Fae had fashioned, pulling forth vines and raising earth to form walls.
A rush of intense power caught my attention, and I turned from where I still stood observing just a few feet from the cavern entrance to see the True Celestial sauntering in. She was a golden beauty, no doubt. However, that sort of power didn’t interest me. It was rooted in too much purity. And given my people’s history with Celestial beings, I obviously had some issues where their kind was concerned as well.
That said, the being she was walking in with certainly did interest me. In ways far beyond just his power set.
The Wraith-Necromancer, Winter Nox.
He was a true beauty also. His rugged handsomeness and his impressively broad and muscular frame that was delightfully appetizing to me was merely the tip of the iceberg.
He had been little more than a myth fused with unobserved reality until the last few days that I’d spent here watching him.
To some,stalkingwould be a more appropriate term. To those favoring dramatics, actually. I was merely… cataloguing.
He wasn’t wearing his hoodie for once. Instead, a cobalt-blue muscle tee stretched over his glorious body, leaving little to the imagination when it came to the marble-carved lines of his chest. He was tugging at it uncomfortably as I got lost in the way his jeans pulled taut across his posterior as he turned slightly while addressing the Celestial.
“You look good, Win,” she was telling him. “At least give it a try before you conjure your usual overly casual look.”
“Comfy,” he rumbled.
“It’s a party. Feel the fun.” She gestured the length of herself in a skin-tight golden dress that had cutouts in strategic places.The color very nearly matched her wavy hair. “Look at me dressed for the occasion.”
His gaze bounced off her, making it clear they were solely friends. That made sense given that one of his fathers had been her teacher and mentor for many years at Haven Initiative. They’d grown up around one another in a strictly platonic environment. And now it seemed she was trying to assist him, encouraging him tolet loose.
She, like many, couldn’t see that a being like him couldn’tlet loosein this way.
It wasn’t possible for him. He stood apart.
I understood that deeply.
And he had my utmost respect.
Although, he also had a side that I didn’t quite understand.
He was constantly assisting others. Even when they didn’t realize it.
Strangers to him.
His empathy was beyond anything I had ever seen.
I’d witnessed him rescue a sorcerer who’d been on the verge of being knocked to the ground when a crowd of rambunctious students led by the aggravating Zayn Riene had rushed through the halls. With a flick of his shadows, he’d stabilized the poor soul without the being even realizing where the assistance had come from.
Winter had also used his shadows to prevent a student from dropping their tray in the Cafeteria, resettling everything before then turning back to eat his oatmeal.
I’d seen him also assist somebody he clearly did have a personal connection to. The lovely dragon princess. That predatory—and I meant that far from any innocent, primal, animal way—Keuric, who clearly had his eye on her, had attempted to corner her in an alcove outside the main building. Winter had sent his Wraith frost crackling along the stoneworktoward Keuric, which had trapped his hand in a makeshift cuff long enough to prevent him from reaching Evira. She’d walked on by freely, talking on her phone, none the wiser that he’d even been there. With her dragon senses, she should have registered him there, but she seemed to get far too distracted in whatever she was doing at the time and often blocked out her surroundings inadvertently.
