Page 51 of A Heart of Crimson Flames
I didn’t respond and he started playing that familiar tune. I was starting to pick apart the intricacies of it. I wasn’t a musician, but I knew that different notes corresponded to different words, different types of communication that when woven together could make instructions like when Ora had told the visturongs to “go home.”
It started off as a beautiful song, just like any other, but then I felt it—the hooks in my mind, like someone’s dirty paws digging through my thoughts. A voice both foreign and known started speaking to me—not of any pitch or gender—just a deep-seated knowing.
“Come to me,” it said, and I was met with the overwhelming urge to crawl forward.
My jaw clenched, my paws digging into the threadbare rug beneath me. I leaned backward against the force as if I could fight my own body. Sweat beaded on Navin’s brow as if the magic infused into the song drained him as well. His expression was tense as he watched the way I struggled against his magic.
“Come to me,” the voice insisted, pushing harder.
One paw moved, then another, the effort of trying to stay put was splitting my brain in two. It felt like being dragged by the strongest force, being tied to a weighted-down cart tumbling down a cliffside. I moved, unable to resist, even as my muscles strained and fought.
“Stop,” the voice said, and I froze, my muscles shaking.
“Stick your tongue out,” it commanded.
A snarl curled my maw. This was so degrading. I tried to fight it off, but the music pushed me harder and harder. My vision began to spot with the exertion, my survival instincts finally kicking in, and I shifted, crumpling to the floor.
The music stopped all at once. The claws in my mind retreating with such speed it left me reeling.
“I’m sorry,” Navin said again and again as he dropped to the floor.
I pushed him away, trying to regain my senses. “Keep going,” I said. “Try to see if it’ll work in this form.”
“Sadie—”
“Keep going,” I urged, shoving him back toward the bed. I rose up on my knees, naked before him, and I saw the way his eyes lingered over every inch of my exposed skin. “Go on.”
“What—?”
“Who says we can’t have a little fun with this?”
His brow arched in mirror to my own, his cheeks dimpling as he picked the instrument back up.
I brushed the hair out of my face and placed my hands on my hips, waiting, bracing as his music started again. Navin went slower this time, the tune more soft and melodic but still forceful. I felt it more distantly than I had in my Wolf form. It was more playful and taunting like this, more of a suggestion than an outright command. I knew then for certain that the Wolves wouldn’t be as easily controlled in their human forms. They needed to shift for the Songkeepers’ magic to truly take hold. I kept my gaze hooked on Navin as I listened to the unspoken wills of his song. When it finally became clear what he was asking me, a smile split my lips.
“Touch yourself,” the music instructed.
Navin’s eyes were filled with heat as I cocked my head, my hand trailing down my side and to the apex of my thighs. His music picked up speed, the feeling more insistent in me. I could break away from this control in this form, but it was still compelling, like I wanted nothing more than to perform for him.
“Touch yourself,” the music pushed more, and I felt myself falling under its spell again.
Parting my sex, I circled my clit, my eyes hooding as I watched Navin. His gaze was transfixed on my core, his lips parted.
“Faster,” his song commanded, and I picked up speed, touching myself faster.
“Add your fingers.”
I did, fucking myself for him while he watched. His gaze lifted to meet mine and he looked like he wanted to devour me. The pleasure of his song, my touch, of him watching me with those wanton eyes was building me higher and higher.
Then another command came.
“Come for me.”
And I did, the orgasm taking me without warning. I moaned,dropping onto my side, stroking myself through the last of my release. It was a sharp sudden burst of pleasure, one that quickly ebbed when Navin released the lastar and dropped to the floor beside me.
“Gods,” he cursed. He scooped me up from the floor and pulled me onto the bed, cradling me in his strong arms. “That was...” He swept the hair off my sweat-stained brow and lifted my chin to search my eyes.
“Incredible,” I panted, dropping my forehead to his chest. “Gods I thought I was going to pass out.”
