Page 90 of Bright Soul

Warmth replaced the pain and swiftly met my bloodstream, spreading from there. It hit my heart and radiated out from my chest, soon feeling like a pleasant flush. He palmed one of my breasts and tweaked the hardened bud, grinning as I nearly arched off the bed. I felt so sensitive all of a sudden, tingling from the brush of his skin on mine. “Phaeron,” I moaned.

He hardened against my thigh, responding to my sudden surge of need in kind. “Is this normal?” I asked breathlessly.

“Completely.” Despite how he throbbed against me, he pinned my hip, making no move to claim me. “I only gave you a bit. It should wear off…about now.”

I did notice it fading, but I still ached for him. That was all me, jumpstarted by his animaris. I touched my shoulder, feelingthe mating mark tingle with discomfort, but there were no open bite wounds. “It healed me,” I said.

He nodded, saying, “I gave you a tiny amount of my life force. It’ll fix up superficial wounds and bruises, but it’s meant to excite you. Now that you know what it feels like, do you want more?”

I checked myself on agreeing enthusiastically, wiggling underneath him. “Depends. Are you going to deny me again?”

He lifted my hips and thrust with little preamble. It was a relief to feel him fill me again. “I have not the strength nor will to deny you anything,” he growled.

“Then I want more. A lot more.” I tilted my head, and he kissed his mark before biting down.

BEN

I drew the short straw to go find out where Cress and Phaeron had gone and deliver a message. I was only a bit grumpy about it since I knew they were probably fucking, and there were only a few safe places around to do that.

She’d been making bedroom eyes at me, damn it, and he’d stolen her away before I could. I was just a little jealous. It felt like it’d been ages since we’d had some bonding time…and I didn’t want Big P biting my head off for interrupting them with the news.

The run to the library was uneventful, though. I didn’t have to worry about unnaturals. According to our spy extraordinaire, Grant, there were no more animal unnaturals. Myuna had eatenthem all to cast a huge spell that was bad news for us. The torchbearers seemed to be waking up from their zombielike state and practicing their magic again.

“Just knock,” I told myself as I navigated the wreckage of the first floor and took the stairs down. “The worst that can reasonably happen is he tells you to go away. Again.”

And I would not. We needed tall, dark, and terrifying to help us plan the upcoming offensive, and the meeting was scheduled for tomorrow. He needed to know that before he got back to hoarding our girl in his shadow dungeon or whatever.

I didn’t worry for long that he’d taken her someplace new. The scream I heard came from the same room where I’d last found them. As expected, it sounded like they were having a good time. I rolled my eyes and knocked.

No answer.

I tried again.Knock. Knock. Creak…

The door seemed to have unlatched and opened on its own. “It’s Ben?” Cress was asking.

“I can wait for you guys to, uh, finish,” I said, peeking inside anyway.

Shadows obscured more than their outlines, but the slap of skin on skin was pretty distinctive. My pants got tight fast from her breathy moan. “Ben,” she called, sounding more than a little lust-drunk.

“You can be here if you help pleasure our mate,” Phaeron added in a tight growl.

“Oh! C’mere, Ben,” Cress cried out.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” I said, jolting into the room and locking the door again behind me. Phaeron retracted his shadows and helped lay Cress down at the foot of the bed. She was giggling and flushed, watching me strip avidly with eyes more dilated than normal.

He sat behind her, waiting with impatient flicks of his tail. But I didn’t pay much attention to him, more worried about what was going on with her. “You okay, babe?” I murmured, bending down to kiss her.

“Better than okay. Touch me,” she demanded, meeting my lips with open-mouthed passion. Phaeron also answered her need, running his palms up the back of her legs and squeezing her ass.

While I moaned and met her tongue for tongue, he said, “She’s under the effects of my animaris. She consented to it.”

I broke off the kiss with a, “Your what now?”

“An aphrod—”

“His sexy venom,” Cress interrupted.

I felt my face light up. Oh, I was going to have fun with that. “Just full of tricks, aren’t you, Big P?” I teased.

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