Aurora gives me a watery smile. She’s still not sure about this, but she trusts me.
“Okay,” she says quietly.
“Okay,” I echo back.
A thump and a pointed yowl interrupt us.
Lucifer slinks into the bedroom, tail flicking with maximum offense. He doesn’t stop at the jacket this time. He hops up on the bed, marches across Aurora’s thighs with all the grace of a petty god, and plants himself square on my chest.
His nose goes straight to my collarbone. Sniffs. Sniffs again. Then, with slow, deliberate rudeness, he sneezes. Right on me.
Aurora snorts. “Wow. Rude.”
Lucifer’s ears flick, unimpressed. He stands, turns in a circle atop my ribs, andkneadsme once, claws slightly unsheathed, as if testing for warmth. Finding none, he gives a final insulted flick of his tail directly in my face before leaping off with ahuff.
He circles my discarded coat next, sniffs, and lets out a disgustedmrrrow. This time he bats at it like it personally offends him before strutting from the room, tail high, dignity intact.
Aurora watches him go, her brow arching. “He usually tries to crawl inside your coat. Or, you know, aggressively seduce you for body heat.”
I glance at the leather draped across the chair, realization creeping in slow. “Because it’s warm.” Or it used to be. My heat is gone now, or at least dulled enough the damn cat noticed.
“Wow.” Aurora shakes her head with mock solemnity. “So he didn’t love you. He just loved the heated seat.”
“Figures,” I mutter. “Everyone wants something.”
“Not me,” she says, dragging her nails down my chest. “I just want you.”
I roll us so abruptly she lets out a yelp. With a quick readjustment of her hips, I have Aura spread above me. “Now, how about we focus on the present moment where you sit on my face?”
The shock that flashes in her features is quickly chased away by what I can only describe as a devious feline-like sensuality. “Fae lords, yes. But when I’m done drenching your face, you better flip me over and fuck my ass so slow I forget how to walk.”
It’s like the wind has been knocked out of me. Instead of answering, I immediately start delivering on the plan.
A scream ripsme from the dead of sleep. I’m sitting bolt upright in bed before I realize I’ve moved, unable to comprehend why Aurora is standing by the bed, crying.
Her arms cinch across her chest, chin tucked, eyes wide and wet, her whole frame shrunken in on itself.
“Aura, sweetheart, tell me what’s wrong.” My brain is a hot buzz of panic trying to catch up. I only remember we passed out after another round of Olympic-level sex.
Aurora shakes her head, tears streaming faster down her cheeks.
Then I feel it.
My stomach drops and twists into a sickening ball.
Aura extends a trembling hand. Along her palm is an angry red burn.
“No.” The words slip from my mouth, distant and foreign. The room tilts, narrowing into a darkness that leads straight to hell.
“I got up to use the bathroom.” She fights to get the words out. “When I came back, your scales were...”
I follow her gaze.
My scales glow faint orange, like embers reigniting after a long smolder. They’d been cool last night. Cold, even. But now…now they pulse with heat again, creeping up my ribs and over my shoulder.
The fire’s back.
I stumble forward without thinking, arms outstretched to touch her, to comfort her, but she flinches.
