Page 56 of Tell Them That I’m Coming

He drops his hand, but not before the butterfly settles on his collarbone, wings folding gently as if it’s found exactly where it belongs.

It rests there, glowing softly against his skin as I stare in surprise. Seeing my reaction, Thane does the same.

“I don’t think,” Thane says slowly, wonder winding its way into his voice, “that was meant for me.”

He’s wrong.

“I don’t think,” I whisper, “it was ever meant for anyone else.”

We both watch the butterfly give Thane its blessing before it unleashes its wings again, fluttering away. Its brethren join it, the three of them lifting higher, lingering though it’s clear that they’re waiting to see what we do next.

Me, too, butterflies. Me, too.

Thane brushes his thumb over his collarbone, right where the butterfly had been seconds ago. He takes a breath, then moves into me again, bracing my shoulders with his deliciously warm hands. So maybe the fae of Noctavara aren’t fire demons, but they run hot enough that a halfling from Sombra won’t burn him with her touch.

Thank the gods, even if I can’t thank the fae.

“I can’t be what you want me to be,” Thane says in a low voice, resting his forehead against mine, purposely bumping up against my tiny horns. “But the truth is, I also can’t keep denying that I’ve considered you mine from the moment I found you in the Shadowed Woods, Alana of Sombra.”

It has to be the truth. He can’t lie.

I smile. “Then do it, Thane Aurex. Make me yours.”

He tucks a snarl of tangled hair behind my pointed ear. “But the bond⁠—”

Doesn’t he get it yet?

“You don’t have to steal me, Thane. My heart is yours. One day, we’ll have a bond, but tonight? I just want you.” I lift my chin, pressing my lips to his ear. “And that means, tonight, my body is yours.”

He shudders out a breath. “I want you.”

“So take me.”

That’s all the permission I have to give.

Taking me in his arms with such speed I let out a sound ‘oof’, Thane shows off his strength by holding me easily, then laying me down on the moss with case, as though I’m something precious.

The ground beneath us is cool, but his hands are deliciously warm. Steady, too, as they guide me to lay back. Bowing his head over me, Thane looks at me like he’s afraid to blink. Like if he does, I might vanish.

“You’re so beautiful,” he murmurs quietly, as if it’s a truth meant only for us.

I’ve heard compliments before. From Rafe, from admirers in other realms, from demon males who wanted the prestige of convincing the spawn of prophecy to forsake her one true mate for them. But this… this is different. His reverence makes me shiver, though maybe that’s the way his long, slender fingers slide up my arms, slow yet possessively, tracing the lines while murmuring other compliments under his breath.

As he undresses me, he takes his time.

My dress could be in better shape. I don’t know how females in Noctavara dress, but without my shadow undercoverings, his heated gaze lands on my bare breasts once he eases my arms from my bodice. He shimmies the fabric down, to my waist, pausing there before he reveals my cunts.

His lips press to the swell of my breast. His tongue teases my nipple, and I clutch his curls with my claws. Dropping to my knees, he trails kisses down my middle, warming me up to the point that I don’t even notice the breeze turning my nipples into points. I almost curse in Human when Thane shifts away from me to remove my boots, but he returns quickly, dipping his tongue into my navel. His knuckles brush my stomach, my hips, and after he slowly removes the skirts of my dress, my thighs. Everywhere he touches, sensation blooms, and I’m already pleading softly for more.

Before he rises, he skims the pad of his thumb along the base of my horn.

I shudder.

He notices. He always notices, and his lips curve in that wicked grin of his.

“These,” he says, stroking them gently. “And your hair… gods, Alana. It’s like you were made for me.”

That’s because I was, Thane.