She nodded furiously, cheeks flaming when he laughed.
Lay your hand flat on your breast, pet,Bastian murmured, voice like silk and velvet in her mind.Slow. Do not rush. Ease yourself into it.
She did, feeling her chest rise and fall, breasts pressing against her palm through her billowy shirt.
Take your other hand and drag it down your stomach. Slow, he reminded when her fingers skipped and danced quickly down to her belly button.
She slowed her pace, feeling her belly quiver under her touch. Her shirt rode up from her squirming, revealing a thin line of skin between her blouse and trousers.
Without his instructions, she brushed her fingertips over the soft flesh under her belly button, shakily exhaling as she felt her core clench in need.
Good, pet. See, you do not need me. Do what feels good to you.
"I do," she said, eyes widening when her voice came out husky and thick. "I do need you."
His pleasure ricocheted in her mind, and she suddenly wondered.
Bastian? she thought, hand pausing just under the beginning of the waistband of her trousers.
Yes?he answered.
Are you…?
Pressed against the sheets, her wings shivered as he granted her mercy by answering her unfinished question.I’m touching myself, pet. Thinking of you. Do you want to know what you do to me?
She was breathless.What?
Keep going, and I’ll tell you,he ordered, silkily.
Luella barely realized she had stopped. Her fingers delved under her waistband, skimming the soft space between her thighs, feeling wetness. This felt so wrong, yet so right. Did the others feel her at this moment? Did Graves?
Touch lightly at first. Tease yourself.
Her fingertip brushed lower, and her whole body jumped. She did it again, a soft moan falling from her lips, echoed in her head by a masculine groan.
Every brush of her hand was magnified by Bastian’s presence, and she had half the mind to remember to ask,What do I do to you?
You tempt me. You make me want to be someone worthy to hold your forgiveness. With every sigh that falls from your lips, I want to claw through these walls just to get to you.
She dipped further inside her wet heat, swirling her fingertip over a spot that made her back bow and wings flutter. She didn’t know what she was doing, but it felt good, and Bastian liked the sounds she was making, so it must be right. All she knew was, she wanted to feel that way again—feel that explosion of sparks.
You’re doing so well, pet. So, so well for me,Bastian praised, words choked with echoes of their shared pleasure.I want you to shatter by your own hand.
She wanted that. Desperately.
Luella lost her words, lost her thought, as she kept touching herself. Exploratory, teasing brushes, turning fumbling in her haste to chase that feeling.
Ghostly hands traced over her mind as Bastian whispered,With me. Together.
And she shattered, feeling her wings snap out from where they had been tucked closely to her spine, ripples of twin pleasure shooting from the top of her head to the very tips of her toes as broken gasps spilled from her lips, and Bastian’s groans filled her mind in unison.
Her fingers were still between her thighs, and her breathing was labored.
She didn’t know how long she lay there like that, relishing the power of what she had done, as Bastian kept sending soft, wordless feelings into her mind, enveloping her with praise.
I’m proud of you, my pretty pet,he finally said, once her breathing had slowly returned to normal.
And Luella… she was proud of herself, too.
