Evangeline left, said she’d help set up but she sure as hell wasn’t getting naked.
Misty hasn’t joined the circle.
And Sienna…
Where the hell is Sienna?
And Brett?
And Jake?
“Ladies and gentlemen,” June says. “Shed your clothing, as you shed your ties to Gaia, the earth. For now we will draw down the moon, and we have more power if we bow to the goddess as we came into the world. Skyclad.”
I remove my clothing slowly. No one will see anything they haven’t seen before, and even though I’m pretty sure June is up to something, I want to join in. I helped plan this, after all. My apprehension is still there, but what the hell?
And if I end up fucking Sebastian inside this circle? Can’t say I’ll be sorry.
I’m not sure if I believe any of it. I’m not sure June does either.
But something is making me feel…
Not emotional, exactly. But something different.
There seems to be a charge in the air, something electric and heavy, like the seconds before a summer storm.
June pauses at the center of the courtyard beside the flat stone she’s using as an altar. It’s dressed in white linen and decked with everything she could scavenge from the mansion’s cabinets, gardens, and relaxation room.
“I call to the divine,” June says, her voice vibrating through my chest like a drum. “To the spirits of this place. To the wild, the wounded, the wicked, and the wise. We are not afraid of the dark. We come to dance with it.”
She tips her chin up, arms lifted to the sky, bare breasts gleaming in the moonlight, and for a second I envy her. Not for her body—not exactly—but for her freedom. Her I-don’t-give-a-damn command of the moment.
She starts to hum, slow and deep, and I follow.
Why not?
The breeze picks up, rustling the trees. The flames in the lanterns flicker.
Sebastian removes his clothing, lets his hair flow over his bare shoulders.
And I gulp.
I’ve seen him naked many times, but somehow, under the moon and in this circle, he looks like a god come to life—a god of the underworld, draped in shadow and sin.
When he looks my way, his eyes don’t simply see. They claim.
Every inch of him radiates power. And something stirs in me. I feel what he’s feeling. And it’s electric.
And it’s also painful—pain coming from him.
I should look away. But I don’t. Does he feel it? Our connection?
I’m still staring when in my peripheral vision, I see Emily join in and disrobe.
Emily, whose name Sebastian called me after we fucked in the pool.
Is he in love with her? I wait for him to turn, to give Emily the feral gaze he’s giving me.
He doesn’t.
