Page 107 of Veradel

I’m not sure, because I can’tsee.

“Over here.”

I whip toward the source of the teasing growl, my entire body tingling in anticipation.

A claw caresses my opposite arm, and I jolt with a gasp, every nerve crackling.

“Stop with this torture, Lucan.”

“Why? Isn’t torture what I do best?”

I laugh and then suck in a sharp breath when his hand grips my waist, his other hand clutching mine. Every point of contact between us alights with electricity.

“Follow me,” he whispers into my ear.

I don’t protest as he leads me forward, up a sharp incline where high grass tickles my ankles. I just grasp onto him, relishing the feel of his warm skin and working muscles beneath my fingers.

Until we’re descending again, and my feet step on something cold and wet and strange.

“Oh,” I breathe, my foot sinking an inch. I wiggle my toes into the grittiness. Take another step. “Whatisit?”

“Keep walking,” Lucan says, and I follow him, trusting him completely.

Slowly, I regain my footing, my confidence growing with each step. “It’s cold… but hot? Soft… but gritty?” My nostrils flare. “What’s that sound?”

Something huge is crashing and roaring, like a thousand werewolves howling at the moon. Lucan chuckles when a sudden, unmistakable surge ofwatersurrounds my feet. Taken aback, I hop on the balls of my feet with a squeal.

Lucan steps around me as he wraps his arms around the back of my shoulders and cages me into his chest.

“You should see how beautiful this is,” he murmurs in my ear. The breeze of his words sends goosebumps down my neck.

“I can’tseeanything,” I exclaim, pouting. “What are you looking at?”

“You,” he tells me simply, beginning to untie the knot behind my head. “But there’s another view for you to look at.”

When the fabric falls away, I reel in a breath… just as a wave hits me in the shins.

“This, little nightmare, is the ocean.”

The sound of my gasp is masked by the crash of another swell against the shore, the cold water nipping at my ankles, crawling up my skin.

“The ocean,” I murmur in disbelief. Staring. Unable to tear my eyes away. “It’s like the end of the world.”

Blinking rapidly into the sunrise, I trace the horizon that cuts across the sky, separating the pink-tinged clouds from the deep blue, almost black, water. When I inhale, salt stings my nostrils, the taste of it lingering on my tongue.

Lucan stands there, smiling at me, until I finally wretch my gaze away. Then he scoops me up with a taunting laugh and barrels into the frigid waves.

“Lucan!” I shriek, a split-second left before he sends us through the white crest of a massive wave.

With my eyes squeezed shut, the water roars through my ears, the freezing temperature biting at my skin in a way that makes me feel more awake than ever before.

Lucan breaks the surface, shaking droplets from his hair, and kisses me. I cling to his neck, wrapping my legs around his waist until our bodies mold together. Just wet lips and slick skin and salty ocean water.

And love.

It radiates from every touch, every atom of our bodies intertwining. As his fingers tense, bringing me as close as humanly possible, I arch into him to notch myself into every angle of his body.

His tongue caresses my bottom lip, bringing it into his mouth and nibbling with his canines, teasing me with the sting.