Emmeric lounged on a luxuriously soft blue velvet couch with a large tome in his hands. The room he had claimed as his was pleasantly warm, a fire roaring in the hearth. His eyelids continued to flutter closed despite a good night of sleep. The book startled him awake by hitting him in the face. Scrubbing his face with a hand, he tossed the book onto a nearby table; thethunkwoke up the leopard sleeping on the rug. She shifted—still naked from the night before. Emmeric’s lip curled into a small smile. Kaz really was gorgeous. If he wasn’t carrying such a torch for a certain Aztia…
Kaz crawled across the floor towards him on all fours, still in human form. She climbed onto the couch, straddling Emmeric. His hands automatically found her waist, where his thumbs rubbed against her smooth skin.
“You look like you could use a break from studying,” Kaz purred.
Emmeric agreed. They had been at the library for three days already, and nobody really seemed to know what they were searching for. Everyone would grab a book, head somewhere secluded, and see if there was any information on the Aztia and Kanaliza or the astmina. So far, they had found nothing. Nothing at all.
Kaz was not interested in helping, instead only wanting to fuck or sleep. Altair had been keeping to himself since his episode on their first day, and they didn’t see him much. Emmeric normally wouldn’t mind his absence at all, in fact would have rejoiced in it, but the star was the oldest of them and could be useful in this hunt for information. Just more to add to the list of reasons not to trust him.
Iyana had been trying to catch Emmeric alone, and he was ashamed by how much effort he put into avoiding her. He still had their fight in the forefront of his mind. If he didn’t keep himself busy, then he was ruminating over it—things he could have said or done to change the outcome. How much he missed her. It also triggered the dreams again. Those had taken a brief vacation since he started sleeping with Kaz, but they were back full force. And they had changed. Emmeric would have several per night now, when before it was only one. He would wake up panting and sweating, then fall back into a different dream scenario. Without exception, he and Iyana would start off happy and content, then something would shift, and she would leave him. But now, sometimes, Emmeric was the one leavingher, and those were the ones which dismayed and confused him the most.
Kaz was still in his lap, and although he was hardening underneath her delicious body, there unfortunately was still work to be done. Emmeric sighed, then lifted her off him. She stuck her lower lip out in a pout.
“As much as I would love that, there’s an entire library still to search, and we don’t have unlimited time.”
“Fine, I’ll come with you,” Kaz said, sauntering towards the door.
Emmeric cleared his throat. “Kaz, clothes.”
“Do you really want to cover up this work of art?”
“DoI?” He grinned. “No. But I also don’t need you scaring off everyone else.” She rolled her eyes, but did as he asked, getting dressed.
Not long after, they were in the stacks of the fourth floor, mindlessly searching for anything remotely relevant. Well, Emmeric was searching. Kaz was reading a romance novel. Occasionally, a giggle or sigh would wrap around the bookcases to find Emmeric’s ears. He shook his head, a small smile on his face. The shifter really was one of a kind—even if she was currently not helping at all.
Emmeric became absorbed in his task, flaggingMagical Mugwort and Its PropertiesandPhaedros and Dyuna: A Love Story to Die Forto evaluate further later. If they were anything like the other books he’d read, they would be useless, but the titles involved magic and a god, and it was the best he’d come across so far.
Suddenly, a force shoved him against the books in front of him, his forehead slamming into the shelf. One of his arms was pinned behind his back, the joint groaning at the overextension. Dust flew into his nose, and he held back a sneeze.He hadn’t even heard anyone approaching. But he’d been in this situation before and fought his way out. He bent his knee slightly, ready to throw his attacker off balance, when the soft hands and smell of jasmine registered.
“What’s a guy like you doing in a place like this?” Kaz asked.
“Kazmira,” Emmeric warned.
“Not my name,” Kaz taunted.
Emmeric grunted as she pulled his arm further. “I know Kaz is short for something.”
“Tell you what, you guess my name correctly and I’ll let you go.”
“Tellyouwhat, Kazelle, let me go now and I won’t hurt you.”
“Wrong.”
“Kazpolina Romatera the Third.”
She gasped. “Shit, how did you know?” The pressure on his arm relented ever so slightly.
“Really?” he asked, shocked.
“Gods, you’re gullible,” she said, laughing and yanking his arm even tighter. “No, but it was closer than your other guesses. Not even remotely near the area of correct, but closer.”
“I’m going to figure it out at some point.” Emmeric used his weight and height against the smaller woman, spinning her to the side and pinning her to the bookcase instead. He held her wrists over her head in one of his hands. Kaz rolled her hips onto his while biting her lower lip. His gaze dipped to those lips, plump and inviting. He leaned forward to give in to temptation.
Too late, he heard her soft footfalls and his name, a question on her lips. Emmeric dropped Kaz’s arms as fast as he could, but Iyana still noticed their proximity as she rounded the corner. Her vision flicked between the two of them as Emmeric took a step back.
“Iyana, I—”Can explain.
She held up a hand to stop him. “I’m sorry if I interrupted, I need to talk to you about something.” Her sweet, caramel eyes pleaded with him. “But I can find you later…” The sentence ran out of steam and Iyana lowered her gaze to the floor.
