Mine. My inner phoenix wants the world to know that he’s staked his claim on the unsuspecting omega necromancer. The perfect man with golden brown eyes.
Now that I’m finally in a body that matches who I truly am, who I’ve always been, I wonder if he feels it too. That same invisible thread tugging, tightening, and drawing us closer. I almost tested it in the garden, but he was too distracted by the flowers growing out of my ash. Which, fair, is hard to compete with. It’s not every day you see glowing marigolds radiating a smug energy.
I exhale and push myself up from the couch. I walk up the stairs to the loft above the living space. No walls or doors, just open air. The bed sits in the center of the room. The cedar bed with charcoal sheets is massive. This is not a solitary man’s bed. This is a bed built to be shared.
I stop at the edge of it and make a mistake. I imagine him here, Sunshine, sprawled across the dark sheets like he belongs there. Chocolate brown hair, a mess, and face soft with sleep. One arm thrown over his eyes, the other loose at his side.
My breath quickens.
Fourteen minutes.
That’s all that separates us.
Fourteen minutes, and he could be here.
Fourteen minutes, and I wouldn’t have to imagine. I would have the real thing in my bed, writhing in want for me.
That thought settles low in my belly, stoking itself like an uncontrolled blaze. I drag a shaking hand through my wild hair and inhale deeply, but the air feels thin. Charged.
I take the stairs two at a time and flip on the bathroom light. I strip down quickly, catching a glimpse of myself in the mirror. My tan skin is flushed, and my muscled chest is rising and falling with breaths taken too fast. My eyes are glowing with my phoenix’s inner fire, stoked with thoughts of my mate in mybed. That’s a little concerning. I don’t want to burn my house down and set off another reincarnation.
I turn the water hot out of habit, steam rising quickly and curling through the air. Grabbing my rut suppressants from the cabinet, I take one dry. Then another, just to be safe.
Picturing him like that shifted something inside of me.
This isn’t full rut, but it’s close enough to not fuck around with.
I step into the shower and let the water hit my shoulders, run down my back, and pool at the bottom before going down the drain. It should be helping, but it isn’t. If anything, it’s worse, because now all I can think about is what it would feel like if it weren’t the water touching me.
What if it were him touching me?
The way he would look up at me, eyes sharp and curious, pretending he doesn’t feel the same pull but going along with it anyway. The way his voice would sound in this space, echoing and needy.
I imagine feeling his strong strokes on my cock as he slowly takes me into his mouth.
The water continues teasing me until I have no choice. I brace a hand against the tile and grip my cock firmly, my head dropping forward as I breathe through the wave of heat hitting me. The problem is that this isn’t just physical. My phoenix recognizes something in him and is yearning to claim him as ours.
My mind is only on Sunshine. How he would look in my bed. The sounds he would make when I tasted his omega slick for the first time. Is he kinky in bed or more traditional? I’m fine with either. I’ve tasted all flavors of sex and enjoyed everysecond of it. I know sex with him will be the best sex I’ve ever had.
The heat builds, tight and coiled, as I picture him cuffed, blindfolded, and begging for my knot. I picture biting him. Mating him for life. No longer alone for eternity. Forever standing next to my golden ray of Sunshine.
That thought sends me hurtling over the edge into oblivion. The tension snaps, sharp and consuming, and I ride it out in silence, breathe rough, body finally giving in.
Afterward, I stand under the water as it cools, steam thinning around me. My pulse steadies and my mind clears, but the feeling doesn’t go away because the truth is, it wasn’t enough. It’ll never be enough. Not like this, alone without him.
I tilt my head back, eyes closing as the last of the heat drains away.
Fourteen minutes.
I don’t think I can stay away. Not for very long at least. Not when I’ve finally found him. Not when I know, without a doubt, that Sunshine is mine.
Chapter Nine
Sunshine
Ihave handled grieving widows, dramatic sons, and one time, an undead woman who attempted to climb out of the casket and refused to believe that she was actually dead. Not once did I panic, sweat, or question the choices in my life that led me here.
Unlike now.
