by Lexi C. Foss
“Me or the flowers?” It came out huskier than I intended, my body alight with a different awareness now that the panic had subsided. The intimacy of what I’d just done, with his coaching, stirred something inside me. A dark yearning, utterly inappropriate and yet satisfyingly right.
“You,” he whispered, his green irises lowering to my mouth. “You’re gorgeous.” His gaze continued downward, his pupils enlarging, his lips parting in awe.
It took me a moment to realize why.
My dress had definitely disappeared last night, leaving me naked beside him. And while that should have alarmed me, it didn’t. Somehow I trusted him not to act on it, perhaps because he’d held me for the last however many hours without harm. Or maybe because I wanted him to see me.
“Titus,” I breathed, my fingers running up his bare, muscular arms to his shoulders.
“Claire,” he replied, my name a husky melody that seemed to center between my thighs.
“Is this pull normal?” I asked, threading my fingers through his auburn strands. “This instant connection that makes me want to kiss you?”
“It’s the fire,” he explained, his emerald gaze smoldering as it lifted to mine. “Your element is calling to mine.”
“To mate?”
“To test the potential for mating.” His palm slid to the back of my neck, branding my skin and causing me to lean closer to him. “It’s a call to play, to explore the boundaries and the potential between us.”
“What happens if we give in?” I whispered, my lips angling toward his.
“We’re bound for a month, where your power tastes mine and vice versa.” The words were warm against my mouth, a flicker of fire dancing between us and kissing the air with unspoken promise.
“A month?” I repeated, deciding I liked the sound of that.
“A trial period, yes.”
“Like dating?” I surmised.
“Yes, I believe that’s what you call it in the Human Realm. A courtship period where we’re exclusive to one another.”
I frowned. “Just from a kiss?”
He nodded, his free hand going to my exposed hip, holding me. “You would not be able to touch another Fire Fae until our courtship wore off.”
“That sounds…”
“Binding,” he murmured. “Yes. That’s what you’ve done to Exos.”
His words startled me from the stupor overwhelming my mind. “What?”
“You kissed him, thereby initiating the trial.” He swallowed, his grip tightening. “And because you are made of various elements, you can entertain more than one courtship at a time.”
“Oh,” I whispered, my eyes widening. “Is that normal?”
“No.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “Not at all.”
“Oh,” I repeated, my voice hoarse. “Is that why I want you both?”
His deep chuckle vibrated the sensual atmosphere around us, scattering goose bumps along my limbs. “Your elemental gifts crave us both, yes.”
“And a kiss binds us?”
“Temporarily, yes. If it’s desired and agreed upon by both parties.”
Meaning Exos wanted the bond, too. Or had he only yearned to kiss me? I pushed away the thought, preferring to focus on the now, on the way Titus’s hands felt against my skin. His breath, a fiery intoxication warming my lips, urging me to close the gap between us, to take what I desired and more. To bind us. To explore him. To taste him. To feel him.
I slid onto his lap, my legs straddling his own, my arms wrapping around his neck. “Kiss me, Titus,” I whispered, my mouth brushing the words against his. “Please kiss me.”
He smiled, his fingers threading through my hair, taking control by angling my head to his liking. “Try not to light the room on fire, sweetheart.”
“No promises,” I mouthed, the embers already coiling in my stomach. The erection seated firmly between my thighs didn’t help, nor did the way his chest burned mine as he tugged me closer, his arm a brand around my lower back.
He led with his tongue, not bothering to ease me into our embrace. It wasn’t needed. One touch unleashed the passion between us in an explosion of sensation and lust. My nails dug into his shoulders, anchoring me to him as he dominated my mouth in a way no other man had. It left me breathless, needy, and moaning for more, his experience in this arena detonating all my expectations and laying a new foundation in his path.
Hungers only he could satiate.
A passion only he could cool.
Such fire.
A blaze that trembled over my skin, lighting up every fiber of my being.
“Titus,” I moaned, his body owning mine in that moment. He could do whatever he wanted, however he desired, and I would let him. I’d never felt more alive, more energized in my entire life. It was as if he’d introduced me to a new level of existence, one aflame with endless heat and fiery sensations.
And all he’d done was kiss me.
Deeply.
Devouring me to my very soul.
“More,” I urged. “Please.”
He groaned, the arm around my lower back pulling me closer. “You’re killing me, Claire.” He tugged my lower lip into his mouth, sucking hard, the hand in my hair tightening. “We need to take this slow.”
“Why?” I shifted to press my heated center to his cock, loving the way he felt between my legs. So right. So perfect. So mine.
The possessive urge to claim him swept over me, sending a jolt to my system and causing my eyes to widen. I never did this with men I wasn’t dating steadily, let alone one I just met. A kiss, yes.
But I required monogamy before sex.
I needed to know the man.
Which was why I’d only been with two—my high school boyfriend and Tucker from last year. And I’d made both of them wait almost six months.
Not six hours, or however long it’d been.
Titus pressed his mouth to mine, slower, less demanding than before. “It’s overwhelming,” he whispered, his lips touching mine with each word. “You have to ease into it, or the elements will take over. They’re very much a part of us, of who we are, of the decisions we make. And nature doesn’t always listen to reason. We rely on our minds for that.”
Another kiss, softer, coaxing, his tongue gently tracing mine.
I fell into the sensation, my body igniting from within and sending another wave of warmth through my belly.
Fuck, I wanted him.
But I didn’t know him.
It was all so confusing, so consuming, so empowering. I shook beneath the onslaught of emotions, my grip on him tightening, my breathing quickening in my chest.
“Titus…”
“It’s okay, Claire,” he whispered, shifting us so I lay on my back, his lower body settling between my thighs.
His lips remained firm, his tongue a dominant presence in my mouth. Embers seemed to dance over our skin, his palm trailing a fiery path down my side before grabbing my hip to still my movements. I hadn’t even realized I was lifting myself against him until he stopped me, his touch a welcome claim.
“You feel like heaven beneath me,” he murmured, his lips tasting my cheek before moving to my neck. “Fuck, Claire.” He nibbled my racing pulse, sliding down to my collarbone and then back up to my mouth. “We need to sleep, sweetheart.”
“I’m not tired,” I replied, arching into him on a luscious sigh.
He chuckled, his lips brushing mine. “Trust me, I wish that were true. But we both know you’re exhausted, and pushing this any further wouldn’t be right.”
“It feels right.” The words were a soft exhale, my body melting beneath his. “It feels amazing.”
“It does,” he agreed, his voice husky and hot. “Too damn right.” His tongue slid into my mouth again, the taste of him searing me from the inside out. I couldn’t think beneath his onslaught, the sensations too great, the fire brewing inside us a combustible element awaiting our permission to erupt.
I whimpered and writhed beneath him, a
wanton woman unleashed beneath a passion I didn’t fully understand. His name fell from my lips, a chant and a plea, my nipples chafing against his hot, hard chest. I needed more. I needed him. I needed this.
“Enough,” a deep voice said, reverberating the walls around us, yanking me from the chains of desire. Dark blue pools met mine as I glanced upward into a face so beautiful my heart threatened to combust.
Exos.
“I told you to train her, not fuck her,” he growled, his words dousing me in a wave of cold water. “She doesn’t understand our rules, our world, or the bonds that bind. Think with your head, Titus, not your dick.”
Titus cursed, his face falling to my neck as Exos stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. “Fuck.”
I suddenly felt cold despite the blanket of heat on top of me and shivered as he rolled away, his palms digging into his eyes.
“I’m sorry, Claire,” he whispered. “I… I… I wasn’t thinking.”
Neither was I, I wanted to say back to him, but couldn’t, too flabbergasted by what just happened. I’d almost begged him to take me. Had wanted him to more than anything in the world. It’d been a temporary escape from the craziness of this realm, of this new life, and he’d almost given it to me.
Except Exos had interrupted.
I didn’t know if I wanted to thank him or punch him.
Confused and overwhelmed, and slightly embarrassed, I curled into a ball, tucking my knees to my chest and fighting for the heat of seconds ago to flicker through my veins.
Titus responded by pulling the blankets up around me, his silence a burden at my back.
I didn’t know what to say to him. Did he want an apology as well? A compliment? A request for that to happen again?
I had no idea because I didn’t know him.
Yet I’d been about to let him inside me in the most intimate way.
All to escape a reality I wasn’t ready to face.
And because it had felt all too right.
He pressed a kiss to my spine, right between my shoulder blades, then higher against the back of my neck, and slowly slid his arm around my waist. “Is this okay?” he asked softly, a hint of wariness in his tone. “Or do you prefer not to be touched?”
I swallowed, considering his words, another shudder rattling my limbs. How had I gone from feeling so hot to so cold?
Because he took away his heat, I realized.
He began to remove his arm again, taking with him the last vestiges of warmth around me, and I dug my fingernails into his forearm, desperate to keep him close. Needy, yes. But I couldn’t stand the thought of being frozen and alone.
Titus provided a comfort that felt familiar while also serving as a new experience. And I craved both.
“Stay,” I whispered. “Please.”
He guided me into his body, his arm folding around me in a protective manner as his heated chest enveloped my bare back.
A temporary heaven.
Or maybe it qualified as hell.
I neither knew nor cared, too comforted by his touch to debate any further.
“Sweet dreams, Claire,” he whispered.
Dreams, I thought. Do those even exist anymore?
My eyes fell closed, the nightmares of my existence sprouting to life behind my eyes in the vision of my mother. A cruel woman destined to destroy the fae.
Except, when I looked her in the eyes, all I saw was a vision of myself.
No, there were no dreams here.
Not for me.
Only delusions of fate.
My fate.
Titus
I’m an asshole.
Tightening my grip on Claire’s hip while she slept, I tried to think of any angle in this situation where I wasn’t a bastard, but came up with ashes. Exos had done the right thing by stopping me before I went too far. Claire didn’t know me—didn’t know this world. I didn’t mean to take advantage of her, but damn, the pull between us was so strong.
She destroyed our clothes. That shouldn’t have been possible. My wardrobe was customized for Fire Fae. Yet she’d demolished the fibers with the ease of a millennia-old fae. And fuck if that hadn’t turned me on even more.
Her power was an aphrodisiac, seducing my fire and exciting a need I could hardly control. Not an excuse or even an explanation, just a fact. But I needed to do better.
She deserved better.
Embers flickered where my skin touched Claire’s, reacting to our newly established bond—a bond that would awaken the deepest fiery passions innate to the carnal Fire Fae. Claire wasn’t my first courting, but it felt different with her. Almost like I couldn’t keep my thoughts straight and our dancing elements went straight to my dick.
Fuck it. Exos was right. I couldn’t trust myself to be this close to her. We needed to get up, anyway.
I eased away from Claire and grimaced when she curled into herself and whimpered in her sleep.
“So cold,” she mumbled.
“Shh,” I whispered, drawing a finger down her cheek and sending more of my fire into her. “Today’s a big day. We can’t cocoon in our element all morning.”
She groaned but didn’t open her eyes, as if fighting the urge to wake up. She clutched the charred blanket closer to her chin and turned her face into the pillow.
Holding her through the night had been a selfish pleasure for me. I’d tried to be strong and give her the space she needed, but she’d demanded my touch. Perhaps I’d been weak to oblige her, or maybe I needed her, too.
I wasn’t going to fool myself into thinking I meant more to her than what I was: an ally in a world of strangers. Maybe our connection would only make things more difficult for her, or maybe it was the anchor she needed right now.
Or a distraction.
I shoved that thought aside and forced myself out of bed. Elana’s guest room of vines and mist and foreign elements seeped into me. I shivered, missing the warm embrace of the Fire Dorms.
Looking down, I smirked as ash fell from my naked body. So much power in the fireball that was Claire. How did you do it? I wondered again.
A soft touch across my shoulder blade made me stiffen.
Damn, I hadn’t even heard her move.
“Where, uh, are your clothes?” she asked softly, as if reading my mind.
Her fingers continued to explore my back, running over the long scars I’d earned during my time in the ring. Fighting without powers didn’t protect me from the harsh edge of a blade.
“You burned them off, sweetheart,” I said with a grin, making sure not to turn around. She didn’t need to see all of me. Yet. “I don’t suppose Elana keeps extra pairs of pants around here?” It was more of a rhetorical question since I doubted Claire knew.
She drew in a soft gasp, and then I realized she was laughing. “Are you going to have to walk out of here naked?”
I finally turned enough to peer over my shoulder and raised a brow. “You sound far too pleased by that idea.”
Her gaze dipped, and I knew she wanted to see what I’d been keeping from her last night, but that was our intimate link pushing her—or her grief. I wouldn’t take advantage of her again, even if I thought for just a moment that I could help her forget everything.
That maybe she could help me forget everything.
Clearing my throat, I forced myself to bring up the one topic that would dispel the moment, to remind her of our predicament.
“Exos might have some clothes I can borrow.” The words hurt, but they had to be said. This was the connection between us driving her emotions and reactions. She was too inexperienced as a fae to understand that. Taking advantage of that would be wrong.
She hesitated before her touch retreated, leaving me cold. The impulse to lean back into her overwhelmed me for just a moment before I doused the growing flames in my chest.
“Exos.” She repeated the name as if she’d just remembered last night. “I… I’m connected to him, too.”
The raw emotion in her voice ha
d me glancing back to find her cheeks flushing pink. Her blue eyes snapped up to find mine, reminding me that she was a Spirit Fae, better suited to one of her own kind.
No.
The very thought of leaving her to fend for herself against Exos—one of the only potential mates left among the Spirit Fae—made me cringe. She may have linked with him, but she needed me to keep him in line.
Gods, I didn’t care if she bonded with a fae of every element, as long as I could stand by her side. We shared fire. That was the hottest of all the matings, one no fae could share with her, apart from me.
Taking her hand in mine, tiny flames sparked between us, causing her eyes to widen. “Yes, you’ve created a connection with him. But our bond is strong, even for a courtship,” I admitted.
She smiled, making something inside me flip a switch. “Stronger than my bond with Exos?”
She meant it as a tease, but I sensed the tension beneath her words. Even though she couldn’t possibly know what it really meant, she clearly felt some guilt at having bound both of us at the same time. Her eyes searched mine, pleading for my approval and assurance.
“Not stronger,” I said, drawing the words out slowly as I ran my fingers up the soft curve of her elbow. “Just different.”
Her gaze dropped. Not the answer she wanted to hear. “He barged in last night. How did he…?”
I lightly traced her shoulder before cupping her cheek. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she leaned into my touch. She wasn’t going to like my response, but Claire deserved the truth. She needed to know what it meant to be bonded.
“He sensed your desire,” I said softly. “Whenever you are, well, aroused, he’ll know. As will I.”
She flinched away. “Well, that’s embarrassing.”
Chuckling, I wrapped a blanket around my waist. I was so busy trying to cover myself to prevent tempting her that I forgot she was completely naked as well. She allowed the charred fabric to pull away from her, revealing lush, sensual skin that glowed with the heat of our connection. She watched me, waiting to see what I would do.
