Page 186 of Obsidian and Frost

“You’ve been through a lot tonight. Are you certain this is what you want?” Sylas asked.

“I’m in my right mind, if that’s what you’re asking.” He eyed me. “You can tell, right?”

“I can, yes. Your blood is still in my system as mine is in yours.”

“Fortunately not too much to prevent the Blood Trace from being possible,” Sylas said.

“Can we leave out talk about that?” Lazriel grunted. “Just for tonight.”

“Just for tonight,” Velra said, coming around and stroking his cheek. “To be clear, though, if you’re not going to put that robe on that Cassius left for you, then all hell is going to break loose.”

He arched an eyebrow. “Yeah? You’re gonna jump me, are you, Wraithqueen?”

“I’m going to eat you alive, naughty little wolf.”

She winked at me and Sylas, letting us know she was giving Lazriel what he most definitely seemed to need right now. Comfort through physicality. Physicality with those he was connected to.

“Velra,” I spoke. “I cannot maintain control much longer. Especially if you engage physically with him right here, and if you shed your clothes and I see you bare—for the first time.”

She startled all of us as her purple Dark Fae power suddenly burst forth at Lazriel and sent him flying onto my bed on his back.

And then she came to me and grasped my hand, while telling Sylas, “Calm him down, while I help Cassius.”

Sylas smirked. “Abso-fucking-lutely. I’ll calm our wild wolf right the fuck down.” There was a dangerous glint in his eyes.

Velra turned me toward her so I had my back to the bed a few feet away just as I heard a growl from Sylas and a yelp from Lazriel.

And then her shadows wrapped around us, blocking my visual and all sensory perception of what was happening in the room beyond.

There was just the two of us immersed in her magic.

She cupped my face. “I can stop all of this right now, have them leave, have Sylas calm Lazriel for the time being and I’ll stay here with you, then comfort him afterward.”

“That’s… you would do that for me?”

“Of course. I don’t want you uncomfortable. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry you came into your own bedroom to see that. I’d just gone to check on Lazriel and he pounced on me. He’s hurting. Physicality and connection make him feel better and help to center him.”

“I don’t want that. I don’t want you to go. I don’t want them to go.”

“You don’t?”

“No. I… want this. Here and now. I want to be with you… with this unit you’ve created and worked so hard to ease me into, to get them to accept me into. This feels very much like the next step, a natural progression.” I grasped her hands on my face and eased them down, then looked away. “I… I am not familiar with what you may need from me. And it both vexes me and worries me. But in this setting, and with me now familiar with Lazriel from a sexual perspective, it reduces some of that… internal pressure. And I like that it’s happening here, in my space, a space I know well.”

“You’re certain that—”

I fisted her hair and pulled her to me, crushing our mouths together.

She responded instantly, kissing me back.

It wasn’t soft and easy and explorative like last time. It was ferocious, unchecked passion, and it surged through me and our Soul Brand alike in a gloriously all-consuming way.

She was panting when we pulled back, and she pressed her fingers to her lips, her eyes wide. “Whoa,” she uttered, grinning up at me.

A thrill rolled through me. She had enjoyed that immensely.

I ripped my T-shirt over my head and didn’t give a care where it landed when I tossed it.

Her shadows were gone now and I looked out to see Sylas on top of Lazriel, holding him in a chokehold while grinding against him still clothed as Lazriel licked his arm, the two of them staring out at us.