All my focus centers on him, the rest of the werewolves nothing more than creatures filling up the space.
He always is gorgeous, but tonight, he looks absolutely and flawlessly beautiful; all dark, studded clothes; a leather jacket; and glinting metal piercings, strands of hair hanging in his violet eyes. Violet eyes that are currently gobbling me up from my head to my toes.
“You look”—he wets his lips nervously—“more beautiful than the night sky.”
Shade snorts a laugh then whacks Jules in the back of the head. “Quit feeding your princess cheesy lines.”
Jules smacks him back then, shaking his head, offers me his hand. I easily take it, lacing my fingers through his. Then Jules sets off the glamour device and we all head out the door with guards forming a wall around us.
As we roam farther up the street, I whisper in Jules’ ear, “Don’t listen to Shade. I’m starting to really like your cheesy lines.”
His lips quirk. “Oh yeah?
“Yeah.”
“Well, then how about this?” His lips kiss my ear as he whispers, “You look more than beautiful tonight, Lake. There isn’t even a word to describe how amazing you look. You’ve struck the words right out of me.”
I smile to myself, despite the silliness. “So do you.”
He sucks on my earlobe, eliciting a purr from me. Then he takes a soft nip at my skin before pulling back and focusing on the road ahead, seeming on edge.
“So, where are we going?” I ask, holding my dress up so it doesn’t trail across the ground.
Jules’ eyes twinkle violet, a faint blush creeping across his cheeks. “It’s a surprise.”
I smile in confusion. “Why are you blushing?”
His blush intensifies, and I hear Shade snicker from behind us.
No one makes any effort to explain to me why Jules is acting shy, but it doesn’t matter. Only moments later, we reach our destination—a field tucked away behind Jules and Liberty’s house.
“Elation Field,” I read the words spun in glitter above the dome entrance before me. “That sounds … interesting.” But not at all like training.
“Jules and Lake should go first,” Liberty declares, leaning nonchalantly against the gate.
No one puts up a fuss, but the guards move away from us.
I glance at Rune, who’s watching the road behind us, his posture uncomfortably stiff. Then I look at Shade, who winks at me. When my gaze lands on Kylan, I do a double-take.
His eyes are violet. Shimmering violet. And he’s staring at Liberty.
The glow only materializes for an instant, a whisper of starlight, but it’s enough to have me gawking at him. When Kylan becomes aware of my stare, his eyes widen.
“Please don’t tell her,” he mouths. “Please, Lake, please.”
His desperation causes me to nod, but I feel guilty about making a promise that requires me to keep yet another secret from Liberty.
I look away, confused why he doesn’t want Liberty to know she’s his alterum dimidium animae. Even when I discovered I was Jules, I didn’t freak out too terribly. And Liberty said she once had feelings for Kylan, at least enough to want to kiss him.
“Ready?” Jules asks, distracting me from thoughts of Kylan and Liberty.
I nod, despite my nervousness about what is going to happen on the other side of the fence. But I trust Jules, so I’m not too worried, even if he is bouncing with anxiousness.
He apprehensively leads me through the gate and into the darkness of the field. We walk for a short distance until we reach several rows of trees, the pale purple blossoms on the branches illuminating.
“Pretty,” I murmur as petals wilt from the trees and float in my direction, kissing my skin with warm glitter.
“Yeah, it is.” Jules isn’t looking at the trees.
With a hint of a smile, he walks forward, pulling me with him as he maneuvers down a path that zigzags between two rows of trees. We walk silently for a bit as the tree blossoms pour glitter around us. The silence is comfortable. Everything about this place is comfortable.
“Why do they call this place Elation Field?” I ask, plucking a blossom from a branch. The petals gleam twice as vibrantly in the palm of my hand.
“Because the trees have elated magic in them,” he explains, slowing to a stop.
“Is that why I feel so happy?” I ask. “I thought maybe it was my gift.” Or you.
With his gaze trained on me, he collects the blossom from my hand. “These petals carry poison, but a good kind of poison that, when used properly, can make you feel absolutely amazing.”
I scrunch my nose. “Kind of sounds like some of the drugs back in the Common Realm.”
“It’s not a drug. It’s magic.” He spins the blossom in his hand, causing glitter to spray across his fingers. He shudders, his eyes momentarily glazing over. “Sometimes members of my pack that I’m close to come out here on dates and use the blossoms to …” He scratches his brow, leaving a fingerprint of glitter between his eyes.
“To what?” I wipe away the glitter with my fingertip, and a gush of raw happiness rushes through my veins. I bite back a moan, but my eyes roll back.
“To have fun. To be happy. To mess around …” He gulps audibly, his gaze descending to the blossom in his hand. “Most of my friends have been here at least once or twice. Liberty and Shade have, too, and they assure me that you’ll have fun doing this … with me. That we should at least experience it once. And that it’ll help relax you before we move to phase two of the night—the training part of it.”
So, we are training. That’s a relief.
I eye the blossom, letting myself relax. “What exactly are we supposed to do with it?”
“I’ll show you.” He steps closer, wetting his pierced lips with his tongue. “If you start to get freaked out at any time, let me know, okay? I’ll stop immediately.”
I nod, my heart a stampede inside my chest.
Keeping his violet eyes locked on me, he backs me up against a tree. Then he cups the blossom in his palms and raises his hand to his lips. As he inhales, glitter-laced smoke funnels into his parted lips. When he lowers his hands, he drops the blossom, then slants his body toward mine. His palms find the bark at the sides of me, trapping me between his arms as he leans closer. I stand motionless, holding my breath, waiting, waiting, waiting until his lips reach my mouth and he kisses me.
No, not kisses me. He breathes into my mouth, swirls of warmth and wonderfulness pouring from his lips into mine.
As the magic spills down my throat, my head bobs back against the tree. I moan, not even bothering to hide the noise.
“That … feels … wonderful,” I murmur, stretching my hand out to pluck a blossom from a branch above my head.
“Good.” Jules kisses my jawline, nipping at the skin. “I want you to feel good tonight.”
“I want you to feel good, too.” Copying what he did, I cup the blossom between my palms, lift my hands to my mouth, and suck the magic from the petals. Then I grab the front of his shirt, pull him to me, and breathe into his mouth. He groans as the smoke slithers between us. Then he slams his mouth against mine, kissing me so intensely his lip rings cut into my lips.
We kiss, a heat of passionate tongues and roaming hands, until he yanks himself back.
Gasping for air, he tears a blossom from the tree and breathes in the magic again. But instead of blowing smoke into my mouth this time, he exhales across my neck, my shoulders, painting my pale skin with splashes of glitter. Then he lowers his head, moving downward and dousing my chest, my stomach, my hips. By the time he reaches my legs, I’m a fit of needy and ravenous breaths.
“Jules,” I whisper, clawing at his hair as he gets down on his knees in front of me.
He kisses my inner thigh, and then the other, before peering up at me. “Do you want me to stop?”
I shake my head. Magic glitter or not, I want this. Want him.
Water fills my eyes and my vision blurs, just like
it did that day I was reading through the books.
Pressing his nose against my thigh, he inhales my scent then licks a path up the apex of my thighs. Up and down, he moves, being slow and torturous, yet amazingly wonderful at the same time.
The feel of his tongue combined with the magic has me gasping for air as he continues to search my skin with his tongue, coating my skin with magic and driving my body to the brink of wild insanity. My eyes water, not from shedding tears, but something else.
Something is changing inside me.
I try to clutch on to the sensation, but Jules licking and the elated magic pushes me to the very edge. I lose grasp of everything, other than the feel of him, the scent of him. Him. Just him.
I never want this to end.
I don’t know how much time passes before I return to reality, panting for air, my legs wobbly, yet I feel so content.
Jules rises to his feet, a drop of tentativeness residing in his eyes.
“My legs feel shaky,” I whisper, leaning in to kiss him.
“Just wait until we shift,” he whispers against my lips, then grabs my hand and pulls me farther into the trees, giving me no time to process or freak out about what he said.
Chapter 37
We walk for a short distance, stopping in the shelter of the forest.
“My guards are nearby if we need them.” Jules lets go of my hand to fiddle with the clasp of a leather band. “But they’re far enough away, and it’s dark enough that they won’t be able to see anything.”
Remembering how I’ve seen him strip off his shirt before he shifts brings nervous energy bubbling in my stomach. “Wait. Do we have to get … undressed to shift?”
“We do unless you want to shred that pretty dress into bits.” He trails his finger below my metal cuff choker as I frown. “Lake, if you don’t want to, we don’t have to. There’s plenty of time to shift.”
My eyes involuntarily shut from his touch. “But Liberty mentioned that I’d get stronger. Is that true?”
“Shifting will help you become more in tune with your wolf, including her strengths and … urges.”
I open my eyes to find him standing closer than I thought. “You’ll help it not be so painful?”
He bobs his head up and down, pale moonlight cascading across his intense features. “I’ll use my gift to ease you into the shift, so you shouldn’t feel a thing.”
My heart beats like a lunatic inside my chest.
“Okay, let’s do it.” Then, before I can back out, I reach back and unzip my dress.
“I can look away,” Jules says, already turning.
“You’re fine,” I whisper nervously.
He pauses, then looks at me, watching as I lower the top down then over my hips until the fabric pools at my feet. Since I’m not wearing a bra, I step out of my panties and then stand—or, more like shake—naked in front of him with goose bumps dotting my flesh.
“You’re …” He gulps, his fiery violet gaze drinking in every inch of me.
“Too beautiful for words,” I finish for him, aiming for a playful tone, but epically missing the mark.
He softly smiles, but the fire in his eyes remains as he shucks off his jacket then peels his shirt off. I try not to gawk at the muscles carving his chest and abs, or the inscriptions, angles, and shadings that ink his skin, but my gaze has other ideas. And when he removes the rest of his clothes, I finally get the answer to the question about his tattoo.
I reach out and graze my fingers over the dark ink tracing his hipbone. “Elora.”
He places a hand over mine, pressing my palm against the permanent ink. “I never forgot you. I thought about you every single day, even when everyone gave up hope. I couldn’t let you go. Couldn’t let you die.”
I believe him. I more than believe him. But still …
“I wish you weren’t so sad.” My palm is warm against his skin.
“I’m not as much now.” He kisses me, a slow uniting of lips, bodies, his warmth erasing the goose bumps from my skin. We only break away when we’re on the brink of suffocating.
As he moves back, I try not to note how hard he is. But again, I fail epically. And he more than notices.
“You ready for this?” he asks, letting me off the hook. Yet the smug smile on his lips tells me he caught me gawking.
“I hope so.” I muster up a breath of courage. “Okay, what do I do to make this shifting thing happen?”
He moves behind me and begins rubbing my shoulders. “First, you need to relax, so take a deep breath.” I do what he says as he continues to erase the chill from my skin. “Good. Now you need to become in tune with your wolf.”
“How do I do that?”
“You mentioned once before that you felt her taking over.”
“It’s actually happened a lot lately.”
“Good. That means you’re ready. All you need to do is stop fighting her and let her through.”
“And it won’t hurt?”
He glides his palms up to the sides of my neck. “Not as long as I keep touching you. Once you’ve shifted, I’ll shift with you.”
I chew on my lip. “Then what happens?”
The most breathtaking smile takes over his face as he leans over to capture my gaze. “Then we have some fun.”
I rest my head against his shoulder. “And you promise not to let me eat any bunnies.”
His eyes glimmer with amusement. “I swear on my life.”
“Always so dramatic.” With a roll of my eyes, I let go of everything that makes me Lake and try to picture myself as Elora, the female werewolf who once was lost but found her way back. I let go of all my fears and reservations. I let go of everything and become one with the wolf that stirs inside me, dropping the gates and letting her loose.
As my body shifts and lowers to the ground, sprouting claws, fur, and teeth that could tear a bear in half, I’ve never felt freer in my life.
Chapter 38
Jules and I spend hours running around the forest, chasing each other and howling at the moon. We don’t speak, not with words, anyway, yet I somehow understand him by the way he moves and the noises he makes, not just in harmony with my wolf, but with his, too.
The longer I barrel through the trees and chase fireflies across the grass, the more I understand why werewolves enjoy shifting. I feel like I haven’t been fully alive until this night.
I feel like I could live this way forever.
But as the moonlight begins to fade, along with the stars, my new body tires as my wolf grows sleepy. One second, I’m down on all four, running faster than any human, and the next, I’m curled up in a ball amongst the flowers and bushes.
I roll onto my front and prop up on my elbows, just in time to see Jules transform back into his naked, human self.
He kneels in front of me, his expression guarded. “So, how was it?”
“It was … everything.” I smile as I sit up, no longer caring that I’m naked. My mind is too wired, too restless, too bursting with energy. Every part of my body is. “What color was my fur? I couldn’t tell.”
His smile is beyond stunning. “Your fur was similar to mine, but a little less black and with more tints of purples.” He strokes my cheek and a purr vibrates in my chest. “You were—are—beautiful.”
“So are you.” I climb on top of him, straddling his waist, and seal my lips to his. I want all of him. Every part of him now.
His muscles tauten as he moves back. “I don’t think we should do this right now,” he pants out heavily with confliction. “Even though we’re shifted back, our wolves still have a lot of control over us, including their urges and desires.”
My eyes water, but not with tears. “I don’t feel like she’s still controlling me.” When I blink, the trees around me haze away. “I feel like myself.”
His eyes snap wide, his lips parting. “Lake …” He stares fixatedly at my eyes. “Your eyes …”
“I know. They feel funny … Have for a couple of days no
w.” I don’t want to talk about my eyes. I want to kiss him, consume every part of him, soul and all.
When I lean in to again fuse my lips to his, he doesn’t stop me this time. He wholly kisses me back, pressing his palms against my bare back, urging my chest closer to his. I kiss him slowly, tracing his tongue, his lips, his piercings, while I scrape at the flesh of his back.
I want to kiss him until the sun comes up, merge our bodies and soul, feel every inch of him. But all too soon, he’s pulling away.
“Your eyes …” His chest crashes against mine with his ragged intakes of air.
I press closer, wanting to hold him tighter …forever. “What about them?”
The violet of his eyes glow brighter than the stars. “Your eyes are violet,” he whispers, then his lips meld against mine, savoring me with a soft kiss.
The delicate kiss quickly turns wild as we claw at each other, a tangled mess of passion and heat as he lies me down on the ground amid the flowers and fallen leaves.
Never once do his lips leave mine as he lies over me, supporting his weight with his arms and kissing me even deeper. I loop my legs around his hips, wanting, needing to have him closer.
He groans hoarsely as the tip of him presses against my entrance. “Lake, I don’t want to pressure you—”
I cut off his protest with a fervent kiss as I lift my hips to meet his. He moans again, his fingers drifting along my shoulder and along the peak of my breast. A shudder rolls through me as he brushes his fingertips across a nipple, tracing circles as he nips at my lips, my jawline, delving lower until his teeth sink into my neck.
An inhuman howl rips from my chest. I ride out the euphoria until I can see clearly again. Then I push him back and bite the spot of flesh just above his collarbone. He groans with his head tipped back, his fingers traveling down my side and hips. When he reaches my thigh, he breaks my bite, only to mark my neck with another imprint of his teeth.
Sheer ecstasy rushes through my veins as he bites me harder while slipping his fingers inside me. I cry out, the noise echoing through the night and sending leaves from the tree branches falling around us.