Page 55 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

When he sees how near I am, he doesn’t dance away. That alone feels like an answer. Like he’s waiting to see what my next move will be…

I close the last of the distance first. I just… it feels right. Like this is my seduction, and the only way that Thane will let this happen is if I take the lid. If I choose him. Is it instinct? Is it bond? Is it because I’m Shannon’s daughter and I’ll always go after what I want as soon as I realize that I want it? I don’t know. I only know that, tonight, Thane Aurex will be mine.

My hand brushes his wrist, tentative at first, then steadier when he doesn’t pull away from me. His skin is warm beneath my fingers. His breath quickens, his exhales blowing my yellow hair away from my face.

“Alana,” he murmurs, like a warning. Or a plea.

“Tell me to stop,” I whisper, then wait.

But he doesn’t, and that’s all I need to get the nerve to rise up on the tippy-toes of my boots to engage him in a kiss that I’ve initiated.

It’s not rushed. It’s not careful either. It’s a holy meeting blessed by the Sombran gods—mouth to mouth, tongue to tongue—like we’re both finally confirming something we’ve been pretending not to feel all along. His hand comes up to my waist, curving it around me, pulling me close as he takes over the kiss.

There’s wonder in the movement of his lips against mine. Surprise, too. Plus the faintest tremor of disbelief, like he’s discovering something forbidden and beautiful all at once.

When we part, it’s only because breathing becomes necessary again.

He rests his forehead against mine, eyes closed. “This,” he says softly, “is a bad idea.”

I smile, even as my heart races. “You didn’t stop me.”

His laugh is quiet and rough. “No,” he admits. “I didn’t. And I won’t, my demoness.” He hesitates, and then, in a deep, throaty voice that goes straight to my cunt, he adds, “My mate.”

I gasp. It’s one thing for me to consider Thane mine, but for him to agree? I clutch his jaw, digging my claws into his perfect golden skin, showing him just what I think about that with the force of another kiss.

I break it as quickly as I started it, ready to tell him that I’ll only truly be his mate when we get down to the physical act of his body slipping inside of mine when something catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.

For a heartbeat, I see the glowing white movement and think it has to be Binx. Only Binx is nestled securely in the branches, his face buried under his paws, and the flicker I saw is just about head height.

Thane’s head height.

It’s a butterfly.

No.

It’s a faripoz. The same glowing white butterflies that became my symbol in Sombra—and who have never chased me to another realm before—are here. Because I see one, then another, until a third manifests just beyond Thane, its wings translucent, its outline glowing faintly, the site of them impossibly familiar.

Only it is impossible. As they flutter around his curls, I instinctively understand why they’ve suddenly appeared after a lifetime of only following me in Sombra.

Binx had to approve of my mate. So do the butterflies.

My butterflies.

As if agreeing with me, the three butterflies drift lazily through the air until they’re hovering between us.

Thane’s eyes widen, the white glow reflecting in his amber depths.

“What the…”

“They’re mine,” I murmur. “I didn’t think they could appear here, especially when the queen is messing with my shadow magic, but they came.”

One of the butterflies peels off from the others. It turns, flapping toward Thane again.

He extends a finger.

Oh, no. In Sombra, I’m the only one allowed to touch the faripoz; well, Binx, too, but he’s also a part of me. Anyone else who tries finds their fingers touching shadow at the creatures wink out of existence.

“Don’t—”