Page 28

SYLVIE

T he purple bands burned to a golden glow between them and pulsed like a heartbeat as Nicholas's lips met hers.

Sylvie's fingers tangled in his wild dark hair, scattering ash from her workbench across his shoulders.

His growl vibrated through her chest as he walked her backward, the scent of pine and musk drowning out her usual cedar-and-clove sanctuary.

"Your bed," he murmured against her mouth, amber eyes bleeding to full tiger gold. "Where is it?"

"Through there." She jerked her chin toward the beaded curtain, its glass strands clattering like windchimes as they crashed through. "But Nicholas?—"

He stilled with her blouse half-unbuttoned, calloused hands framing her ribs. "Tell me to stop and I stop."

She arched into him, teeth grazing his lower lip. "Don't you dare."

The quilted comforter swallowed them both as they fell onto the bed. Nicholas's shirt hit the floor with a rip, revealing sun-kissed skin stretched over muscle that flexed as he braced himself above her. Sylvie's laugh came out breathless. "Been waiting to do that?"

"Since the day you called my smile ridiculous." His thumb swept over her collarbone, following the path of a loose curl that had escaped her bun. "You taste like burnt sugar and defiance."

"Yours is all arrogance and—oh!" Her mockery dissolved into a gasp as his teeth found her earlobe. The golden bond flared brighter, casting tiger-stripe shadows across her walls.

He worked her skirt up her thighs with agonizing slowness. "And what?"

"Hunger." She hooked her leg around his waist, rolling them over until she straddled him. Her hair fell around their faces in a blonde curtain as she yanked her tank top off. "Like you want to devour me whole."

"Only if you ask nicely." His hands spanned her waist, thumbs brushing the underside of her breasts. When she rocked against the hard line of his cock through his jeans, his claws pricked through just enough to make her gasp. "Careful, witch. My tiger's feeling... possessive."

Sylvie pressed her palm over his pounding heartbeat. "Let him out."

The growl that ripped from Nicholas's throat shook the dried herbs hanging above the bed. His eyes glowed fully feral now, canines sharp against his lip as he flipped her onto her back. "You sure?"

In answer, she traced the waistband of his jeans. "I didn't spend three hours carving silence runes into my headboard for subtlety."

His laugh came out ragged as he shucked his remaining clothes.

The sight of him fully naked—all corded muscle and thick cock already glistening at the tip—stole her breath.

She reached for him, but he caught her wrists, pinning them above her head with one hand while the other slid between her thighs.

"Look at you," he murmured, fingers slipping through her slickness. "All that fire, and here you're dripping for me."

Sylvie's words, laced with a teasing bite, hung in the air, an ephemeral challenge that Nicholas was all too eager to accept.

"Arrogant... bastard..." she breathed out, the insult losing its edge as he expertly circled her clit with the pad of his thumb.

Her hips bucked wildly when he inserted a second finger, the sweet burn of the stretch igniting a fire deep within her core.

The room around them transformed into a sanctuary of light and shadow as candles burst into flame without the touch of a match, their wicks sputtering to life as if in response to the growing intensity of their passion.

Wax pooled at the base of each candle, liquid gold that mirrored the molten heat building inside Sylvie.

Nicholas's breath hitched, a sound that was part growl, part wonder, as he watched her magic respond to the surge of her arousal.

His amber eyes, flecked with the untamed wildness of his tiger, reflected the flickering candlelight.

"That's it," he encouraged, his voice a low, rumbling purr that vibrated through her. "Let me see you burn."

His mouth descended upon her, capturing a taut nipple between his lips and sucking with a fervor that sent jolts of pleasure straight to her core. "Fuck, Sylvie," he groaned against her skin, his words a heated caress.

Sylvie's fingers clawed at his shoulders, her blunt nails leaving a trail of red against his sun-kissed skin. "Stop talking and—" she gasped, her demand cut short as he mercilessly crooked his fingers within her, dragging a shattered cry from her throat.

"Make you come?" he finished for her, his voice laced with dark promise.

He applied the perfect pressure, his touch masterful and unrelenting, stoking the flames of her desire to an almost unbearable peak.

"With pleasure," he assured her, and then there was no room for words, only the exquisite sensation of falling over the edge.

Sylvie's body convulsed around Nicholas, the first climax shattering her like a bolt of lightning.

It ripped through her, leaving her quivering and gasping for air.

Before she could even begin to recover, Nicholas was moving, his strong body sliding up hers with a predator's grace, his cock, hard and insistent, dragging through her wetness.

"Look at me," he commanded, his voice a low growl that resonated with the power of his tiger. His golden eyes, flecked with amber, locked onto hers, demanding attention. "I need you to see this isn't just the bond."

Forcing her heavy eyelids open, Sylvie met his gaze.

The golden light that had been flickering between them, a tangible representation of the bond they shared, throbbed in time with their racing hearts.

As he pressed inside her, the intrusion slow and deliberate, she could feel every inch of him, the ridges and veins of his cock mapping out a new geography within her.

Her choked cry of his name came out half-sob as he filled her completely, their bodies fitting together as though they were made for this very purpose.

"Christ, you're perfect," Nicholas whispered, his forehead resting against hers. His muscles trembled with the effort of holding still, of savoring this moment. "Tell me this is real. That you're really here."

In response, Sylvie clenched around him, earning a guttural moan from deep within his chest. "Feels real enough when y?—"

"Don't," he interrupted, his hand cupping her face, his tiger's gaze burning into her. "Don't deflect. Not now."

The raw vulnerability in his voice cut through the haze of pleasure, stripping away her last defenses.

With a tenderness that surprised her, Sylvie carded her fingers through his sweat-damp hair.

"I'm here," she confessed, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Not because of magic or fate. Because every stupid, reckless part of me wants this. Wants you."

A shudder ran through Nicholas, and with a sharp snap of his hips, he drove into her, drawing a twin gasp from both of them.

The rhythm he set was relentless, a series of deep, powerful thrusts that had her seeing stars with every stroke.

Her calves locked around his waist, holding on as the golden bond pulsed brighter with each passing moment, their skin glowing where they touched, intertwined in the most intimate of dances.

The air around them crackled with the combined force of their passion, the magic of the room responding to their escalating emotions. Candles that had been extinguished flared back to life, casting a warm, golden light over their entwined bodies.

"Nicholas, I'm?—"

"Let go." He sealed the command with a kiss, swallowing her cry as she came apart. His own release followed hard, a roar tearing from his throat as he spilled into her. The bond blazed like sunlight, illuminating every corner of the room before settling into a warm hum beneath their skin.

They lay tangled in the aftermath, Nicholas's face buried in her neck. Sylvie traced the flex of his shoulder blades, marveling at the way her magic swirled lazily around them, finally content.