The air in the sanctum wasn't just filled with magic; it was magic, thick as honey and humming with a pent-up appetite that caused her skin to prickle. She had asked for the full-circle ritual, had begged for it, and now, standing in the middle of it, the mere weight of wanting almost made her knees buckle. This had nothing to do with soft loving; this had to do with power, with becoming the living receptacle for a raw, untrammeled power, and she was well prepared to burn.Zorvath’s voice, a low growl that vibrated deep in her bones, shattered the silence. "The circle needs a catalyst. It needs truth. It needs pleasure so keen it becomes pain, and ecstasy so intense it hovers on terror. You opened yourself up, Jessa. There will be no hiding here."Behind her, a low laugh filled the air, silky and smoky, it was Nyssa. Her cool, measured fingers traced the length of Jessa's spine that made her shiver furiously. "Look at her, Zorvath. She's already shaking. Not with fear. She's sucking
During the Fae masquerade ball, the mask doesn't conceal you, but brings out the deepest, darkest, most forbidden hunger you never had the courage to speak aloud.Thalia was well-acquainted with the rule, having felt its truth humming in the air the moment she'd passed through the glittering portal and into the whirling, scented madness of the Twilight Court's ball. Her own black lace mask, which was thin as eggshell, trembled at the raw lust that ran through the great hall, lust in the sheen of eyes and the firm, wary smiles of creatures for whom lust was both currency and sustenance. She was a tiny human in a den of very ancient appetites, and all her nerves bristled with icy, shuddering awareness.It was why she didn't even flinch when the two of them advanced on her. They navigated the throng not as if they belonged to it, but as if the throng parted miraculously before them, a sea of silk and magic flowing aside to twin pillars of predator beauty. Their masks were pieces of art:
The velvet box felt heavier than a mountain in his hands, a promise of silence for what was to be seen. Aric saw moonlight shining in Sephine's dark, wide eyes, her breath caught as she regarded the box in his hands. That raw, tender bond between them hummed with tension from her and his own hot, possessive passion. He could smell the air of her arousal on the breeze, a sweet musk that awakened the primitive nature of his wolf. "For you, my mate," he said, his words resonating through the space between them. "Forged under the full moon. For you." With a reverence that made her knees buckle under the fervor of it, he opened the box. On a black silk bed, there was a collar. But one unlike any she had ever seen. It was constructed of a weird, silver metal that drew the moonlight in and glowed of its own light, runes and oaths carved along its length. It was not a bond of ownership, but a declaration of joining, a symbol of the close bonding they were developing now. "Aric," she pant
She had volunteered herself to the show, and now the amber tide of eyes looked at her, suppliant and hungry.Shadows of the fire danced across the pale skin of her back, her back stiff and submissive as the Pack Beta guided her through the crowd with a firm hand on the small of her back. They did not mock nor taunt; their respect was an alive, burning thing, a silent acknowledgment of the ferocity it had taken to defy their way. This was the public tease, the acknowledgement of the private ferocity she'd been craving since she first laid eyes on their leader.He watched from a raised dais, his throne hewn of dark wood behind him. The Alpha. His was Ronan, a deep resonant syllable, and it suited the sheer, still power he had. He did not move, did not speak, but stood and watched her come to him with a gaze that felt like a physical gaze, stripping away the fine silk of her formal tunic and baring her very soul. He was all corded muscles and silent command, his presence a weight that m
The first rule of seeking a werewolf was to never do it at night, it was a rule that Maya was not skilled at obeying.He found her waiting across the downed oak on his property, a bright silhouette in the empty sky. He didn’t move out of the shadows because he was the shadows. He was simply there, all rough shoulders and mulish will, his eyes the color of old amber, smoldered up with the sunset.“You’re the one who’s been asking questions,” he said, his voice a low rumble that vibrated deep in her chest. It wasn’t a question.Maya’s heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic bird in a cage, but it was thrill, not fear, that made it beat. “I’m Maya.”He leaned in, like a predator to a curious prey. "I know. And I know what and who you are. So you're going to explain to me why you're here, little human, where you have no business being."She breathed slowly, her gaze locked on his. "I want to do it. With you. I want you to teach me."A wicked smile curled over his lips. "Teach you what,
The wild's first law is that a storm does not seek permission; it takes, and tonight it had taken the three of them and locked them within a stone scented darkness.The old hunting lodge, a reminder of long-forgotten days, groaned at the lash of the wind, its wooden pillars shuddering with every blast that thudded against the mountainside. Inside, the universe had narrowed to the edge of a smoking ember, its tongues of fire licking the tightly drawn bodies of the three improbable friends fortune had brought together to share each other's company. Aris, the human biologist, her practical clothing still damp, stared into the fire as if it could yield the answers to the violent twist her research trip had taken. Young shifter Joren hummed with a bottled energy that resonated the air itself around him, his usual playfulness put aside for a focused intensity that was both unnerving and captivating.And Varya, the seasoned huntress, moved with an economy of motion hinted at a long-establis