Ribbons of cool air flicker around us, forming swirls of sparkling mist that cloak us both.
“Drink from me,” I say, and he goes still, as if he’s sure he misheard.
Because in all our time together, I’ve never asked for this. Never invited it.
“Are you sure?” he finally asks, his breaths coming faster, his voice tight with restraint.
I reach up, tracing my fingers along the perfect, strong lines of his face. “Like you, I never say anything without being sure. And I want this,” I tell him. “I want you.Allof you.”
Something shifts in his expression—surprise, maybe. Or wonder.
“You continue to amaze me,” he murmurs, and then he lowers his head to my neck, heat and cold intertwining in my veins when he bites down.
The cool swirl of his magic tightens around my legs, and my body arches, wanting every last part of him. Because this is nothing like the other times he’s fed from me. It’s far more intimate and consuming, as if he’s claiming more than just my blood.
But all too quickly, he’s pulling back to look at me again.
“That’s all I’ll indulge myself with for now,” he says, and it’s a command, not a question. “We can’t have you weak for what’s coming next.”
“And what’s coming next?” I give him a small, knowing smile, my heart pounding wildly.
“Everything,” he replies, and then his wings close around us, shutting out the orange glow of the hearth and the shadows dancing around the room. “Because you’re mine, Zoey Madison of the Night Court. And I will protect you—no matter what—for as long as you live.”
My heart leaps at his confession.
Because now that I’ve given in to being his, he’s mine, too.
Another stroke of the base of his wings confirms it.
“You have every single part of me, Aerix Nightborne. Forever,” I say, and as we join together, the remaining tether to my old life—that last part of me clinging to who I was before coming to the Night Court—finally snaps free.
