Page 24

Hannah

Severin’s voice echoes through me, setting the butterflies wheeling as goosebumps shiver over my skin.

Magic ripples in the air, potent and sharp, billowing around us so thick I can almost taste it.

“Feel the magic. Feel my intention,” he breathes into my ear. “Light.”

A glowing ball of brightness appears on his outstretched hand. He tosses it into the air, where it hangs above us.

“Again,” he growls. “Light.”

I feel the flow of energy this time, streaming from him and into the spell, growing in intensity until another gleaming ball swirls above his palm.

“I felt something!” I breathe.

“Good.” He tosses the light up into the air, where it hangs several feet from the first. “Again. ”

This time, he doesn’t give me a verbal cue, but I feel the start of the spell anyway, the welling of power in his chest right before it travels down his arm to create a third luminous ball.

“I felt it! I felt it from start to finish.”

“Good girl,” he growls.

Shock and desire ripple through me, weakening my knees and making my butterflies do back flips as my lady bits sit up and cheer.

His arm tightens on my waist, his shadows wrapping around my thighs. “Isn’t that interesting,” he murmurs.

Oh, god. He’s discovered my praise kink! Arousal and embarrassment wage war within me.

“Focus, Hannah,” he says. “Reach for your magic, match it to mine, and you’ll get a reward.”

His voice drips with honeyed promise. How the hell am I supposed to focus?

Then his magic gathers again, the power of it calling to me with a siren song. Something within me responds, stirring to life. As he lifts his palm, I stretch my hand out beside his.

Severin unspools his magic even more slowly this time, giving me time to match him. A dot of brightness appears above his hand, inching upward in size.

I can feel my magic, feel it moving for the first time. It’s a tiny trickle compared to his power, but it’s there. Yet no matter how hard I stare at my palm, there’s not the tiniest flicker of light.

Why isn’t it working? I know something is happening! So why isn’t there any light ?

I push harder, straining until my body shakes. Right when I’m about to give up, a male goldfinch dives from a tree overhead to land on my hand. He spreads his black and white wings wide, framing his bright-yellow chest. “Why light not sun? Why light?”

“It’s magic,” I whisper.

“It’s a bird,” Severin says, his tone a bit dry.

The bird tilts its head to spear me with one dark eye. “No sun? No morning?”

“Not yet,” I say. “You’ve got at least ten hours to go.”

“Who are you talking to?” Severin holds the luminous ball on his palm, his magic still coursing through him, calling to mine.

“The bird.” I crane my neck to glance back at him. “Can’t you hear it?”

“I heard it sing a few notes.”

“No, it spoke in English.”

Severin huffs. “I assure you it did not.”

“Bored now,” the bird says, pecking at my palm. “No bugs.”

When I laugh, it takes off, flapping up to the maple behind me and diving from sight among the leafy branches.

Another sleepy chirp rings out, followed by a different little voice asking, “Sun?”

“No sun,” my little friend sings out. “No bugs.”

A series of little voices around the clearing echo his call. “No bugs. No bugs.”

I spin to face Severin, excitement making my pulse race. “Did you understand any of that?”

“Any of what?” He frowns down at me, confirming what I’ve begun to suspect.

“I know what my magic is!” I can’t believe it—it’s the coolest power! I throw my arms around him. “No wonder I’ve been hearing voices. I can talk to animals!”

My magic surges again, leaping to mix with his.

Severin smirks down at me, wicked heat filling his eyes. Then he growls, “Good girl.”

My knees give out, and he tosses the light ball into the air, freeing his hands to catch me. Severin crushes me to his chest and kisses me, tasting like wine and sin. Any thought of not kissing him evaporates like morning dew facing bright summer sun.

His lips slide to my neck, his fangs nipping at the skin and making me moan.

He growls, his shadows tightening around me. “Do that again.” Another scrape of his fangs, and I do it—I moan again, exactly as ordered.

“Goddess, Hannah.” He jerks forward, pressing the hard length of his cock against me. “Do you feel what you do to me?”

I lift a leg and wrap it around his thigh, tilting my hips until each rock of his hips presses his erection exactly where I need it.

Magic pulses between us, and Severin takes my mouth again in a punishing kiss that’s perfect.

God, I want him so much more than I’ve ever wanted anyone before. I don’t know if it’s because he’s fae or a side-effect of the way our magic just combined, and I really don’t care.

I want him .

I tug at his waistcoat. As sexy as he looks in it, I want the extra layer of fabric gone. Before I can complete the thought, it disappears, to reappear draped over the bush beside us.

At my gasp, he shoots me a cocky smirk that promises lots more delicious surprises to come. He lets go of me, backing away. His boots wink from his feet, and his shirt is next. His wings unfurl to lift him a couple of feet into the air, and he spreads his arms wide, inviting my gaze.

As if I could look away.

Severin hangs half naked in front of me, a fallen angel made for sin, looking far more gorgeous than any man has a right to be.

His sculpted chest makes my fingers itch to touch, his abs so sharply outlined I want to lick them.

Tattoos swirl across that perfect skin, highlighting the curve of his muscles.

I step forward, and he floats backward, toward the falls. Light from the floating globes sparkles off the cascading water until it glitters like a river of diamonds. He sets down to the right of the waterfall, leaning back against the cliff face.

Even through the background rush of water, his voice whispers in my ear, crystal clear. “Come to me, my betrothed.”

His leather pants disappear, leaving him completely naked.

My eyes devour the length of his legs, the strong muscles of his thighs, all outlined by swirling tattoos.

My gaze travels upward to his cock, huge and erect and covered in tattoos.

I swallow as smoke tendrils lift from it to stretch out into the air, as if reaching for me.

As if ready to touch me everywhere .

“Holy shit, this man is going to ruin me,” I whisper. And I’m going to love every single second.

My own striptease doesn’t use magic, but the intense way Severin watches my every move tells me he’s just as mesmerized.

I toe off my shoes, my hands undoing the fastenings of my jeans.

Then I turn my back to him and lean over to slide them down my legs, looking at him over my shoulder as I do so.

His eyes lock onto my ass, his dick bobbing with excitement, its shadow tendrils stretching toward me.

Oh, yeah. Someone likes what he sees.

I give my hips a little shimmy, then straighten.

My fingers fly down the buttons of my blouse, and I shrug it off one shoulder in a tease, looking coyly back at him.

I let the other shoulder slip, then spin to face him right as the shirt falls to the ground, leaving me in nothing but my bra and panties.

Thank god, I’m wearing one of my best sets, lace in a delicate blue that looks really good against my skin.

I walk into the water, wading across the shallow edge of the pool.

Severin’s eyes eat me up, so hot and intense they leave little licks of fire on my skin everywhere they touch. The beauty of the fae is enough to give even the most confident human a bit of a complex, but the look he gives me burns away all of my doubts. I am beautiful.

I am desired.

His shadows leap from all over his body, reaching for me and twining over my arms and legs in a hundred caresses. “I swear, Hannah, if you don’t take those undergarments off right this second, I can’t promise my shadows won’t shred them. ”

“Magic them away,” I say, wanting nothing between us. I’m on the pill, and everything I know about fae says they’re immune to disease.

His fingers flick, and I’m naked. Another flick, and his shadows pull me into his arms. His heated skin slides across mine, making my nipples harden. I can’t even tell if I have butterflies any more—my entire body has become one big pulsing flutter of need.

“Severin.” I wiggle against him, wanting more, craving it.

“My enchanting little witch, how beautiful you are.” One hand cups my breast, plucking at my nipple until I moan. The other slides between my thighs, his fingers slipping over my folds. “Goddess, Hannah. You’re already so wet for me, such a good girl.”

The words shoot through me, and I whimper.

He fists his cock until creamy fluid pours into his palm. Then he’s touching me again, tingling warmth flashing over my clit in a jolt of sensation that has me hovering on the edge. I moan, “Oh, god.”

“That’s it. My seed’s going to get you ready to take my cock,” he growls. “I’m going to fill you so full. You’ll like that, won’t you? Like having your pretty little pussy all stretched and stuffed.”

Words won’t come. I can only nod.

Our magic continues to combine and surge between us, adding a dizzying rush of power to every touch. Then he curls his fingers, stroking a magical place inside, and I’m screaming his name as an orgasm crashes over me with all the weight of the falls.

Severin’s shadows continue to caress my skin as I come down, making my body sing. Then they lift me higher, and his mouth finds mine.

His erection leaps against my stomach, and he growls, the sound full of want. His wings wrap around me, and he spins us, pinning me to the rock, his wings cushioning my back.

As we kiss, my hands slide over the firm muscles of his chest, desperate to touch. I reach down and wrap one around his length, trying to guide him to me. Damn, his dick’s so big my fingertips don’t touch my thumb.

The broad head strokes over my sensitive nub, sending sparks shooting through me and making my core clench. Sex has never been like this for me before. Hell, with Severin, multiple orgasms are starting to feel less like a dream and more like a certainty.

He pushes against my entrance, the stretch amazing, almost too much. Magic streams from me to mix with his, flowing back into me in a heady rush.

“Severin!” My thighs tighten around him as he pushes deeper. “Oh, god.”

Then his smoke tendrils snake up my inner thighs. One brushes over my clit, setting it buzzing, while another teases my ass.

The sensation is too much and not enough.

“I’ve got you, my sweet, sweet Hannah.” His hips snap forward, his girth stretching me wide. “Goddess, you feel so good, little witch. You’re so tight, taking me so well.”

I sob, clinging to him, my heart racing, as the tingling warmth builds and builds.

“That’s it. Take my cock.” He thrusts all the way, hitting deep, filling me like nothing’s ever filled me. “Come for me now. Come on my cock like a good girl.”

I do exactly what Severin says, coming harder than ever before. Pleasure flares outward in a sizzling wave of delight that curls my toes as my head tips back, my mouth opening in a scream.