My hand moves before I fully decide. It lifts from my lap and finds his thigh, fingers curling into the solid warmth of muscle beneath soft fabric, magnetized to his form.
He watches the motion, every sense on high alert.
“Aura,” he says softly, like a question and a warning all at once.
“My body is humming, Darial. All I can think about are your mouths and your hands and…”
“Cocks?”
He smiles, and I swat him with my hand, flames of embarrassment reddening my cheeks. His breath leaves him in a slow, careful exhale.
“It is natural to want us.” He tucks a strand of my hair behind my ears. “As we want you. You’re precious,” he says. “To us all… and desired more than we could ever explain.”
Kelan turns slightly at the window, his silver eyes sharp and molten in the firelight. “You’re the blood in our veins, Aura.”
Ronyn’s knife stills in his hands, his attention fixed fully on me. “The flesh over our bones.”
“Our strength and heat and fire,” Darial says.
They speak with quiet intensity, their warm attention settling on me in a way that’s impossible to ignore.
But I find myself moving toward Darial, guided by both instinct and how close he is.
I climb into his lap and keep my eyes on his. His hands pause at my hips, holding back, waiting until I lean in and place them where I want.
My palms move over the firm lines of his chest, relishing the warmth and muscle. I wonder what it would be like to touch him with magic instead of just my skin. What could I give him if that power moved through me? What would it be like to let go completely, with magic rushing through me while he responds just as strongly under my hands?
I shut down that train of thought before I stumble. If he discovers my magic is free, maybe he’ll find a new way to contain it.
Darial groans softly at the contact, his fingers tightening. My breath hitches.
“Mate,” he whispers, kissing the corner of my mouth.
His hands move slowly up my back, over my ribs, mapping me as if he’s learning a new language by touch. When his mouth finally finds mine, it’s warm and coaxing, a kiss that opens rather than devours.
I melt into it. My body tips forward, pressing against him, and he catches me easily, one arm braced around my waist. His other hand slides along my spine, into my hair, holding me gently in place as he deepens the kiss.
Everything else fades away as sensation takes over.
His tongue. My breath. The ever-rising heat between us.
Somewhere beyond us, Kelan adjusts his weight, and Ronyn exhales roughly, but they don’t step forward to join in. They watch, and the awareness of it sends a shiver down my spine.
I break the kiss first, my breath coming in shallow gasps. “Touch me.”
Darial’s eyes darken. “Where?”
“Everywhere.”
He smiles softly and a little wickedly, and his hands obey. They slide along my sides, over my hips, beneath the hem of the shirt, until his fingers find bare skin. I gasp as he traces the runes there and the symbols glow faintly under his touch.
“They respond to pleasure,” he murmurs.
I rock instinctively against him, seeking friction and chasing connection. He groans again, his head falling back briefly before he looks at me with that same careful patience.
My hand slips between us, finding his cock already rising beneath his clothes. He inhales sharply, eyes closing for a heartbeat.
“Aura,” he warns softly, but he doesn’t stop me.
