“Maybe you should stay and keep Amelia company?” I whisper to Mossy. “Come on, you can’t let her cry.”
“She could bite me,” Mossy nervously replies. “Toddlers bite.”
“Amelia is sweet and doesn’t bite,” Evie interrupts. “But she is obsessed with monkeys and teleporting all over the building.”
“She gets that from her dad.”
Seth coughs. “Her favourite uncle, you mean.”
“You’re her only uncle!” Connor laughs, shaking his head. Mossy jumps off my shoulder and onto Azi’s, looking down at the toddler, who instantly stops crying.
“Want to hang out, kid?”
“Yes!” she says, grabbing Mossy and cuddling him to her chest, then they both disappear in a cloud of smoke.
“Your monkey is well-behaved, right?” Evie asks, looking a little worried.
“He would protect her with his life while teaching her bad habits like how to steal food. Overall, I’d give him a seven out of ten for babysitting,” I reply, climbing out of my seat. “See you later with the angel.”
“Have fun!” Evie winks as I walk over to Seth, who tugs me into his arms.
“That was sweet of you,” Seth whispers in my ear. “Didn’t know you could be sweet, Syn.”
We disappear in flames, and we come out onto a field with something like stones in the distance. “Where are we?”
“Stonehenge. It’s the only portal to somewhere I want to show you,” Seth tells me, linking his fingers through mine. “Syn...this place is special to me because my mother showed me it once. It was her gift to me, she knew I wanted to escape the life I had been born into. That I wasn’t as cruel or lost as my brothers were.”
“Why did you and Azi turn out okay...and your brothers just insane? Insane enough to try to end the world?” I ask as we get closer to the large stones in a circle. There are human blockades meant to stop us, but Seth waves his hands and they burn away into nothing, not blocking our path at all. I see a few humans in the distance, but they won’t be able to get close in time to stop us.
“I was close to losing it, Syn. I was close to falling into the dark side of our magic, of our power. We are born of hell, fed with the pure power of hell, and linked to it in ways no human words could explain. It is seductive, and a weaker man would give in. But I met you, and Evie was Azi’s redemption,” he tells me, meeting my gaze. “You are my redemption, my light in the darkness, my way out of hell. Because it was hell before you, Syn. I just didn’t know it.”
“I was lonely and lost before I met you... When you left... Well, I didn’t know it would hurt so much because I felt a real connection to you. And for me, that was rare. I didn’t have a connection with anyone or anything like I did with you,” I explain to him. “When you came back into my life, it was like the candle I blew out was just relit, and all those feelings came back, mixed with the same fear you were going to ghost on me again.”
“I won’t,” he firmly replies as we get to the middle of the Stonehenge ruins. He makes a fireball in his hand, catching dozens of people’s attention at the same time.
“You’re not allowed in there!” a guard shouts, running as fast as his short legs can take him. Seth winks at me and throws the fireball at the ground. A portal immediately appears, and I almost scream as we both fall straight down, spinning through the air as I try to breathe.
Thanks for the warning, Seth, my dear.
My whole body painfully halts to a stop in the air before whatever magic that stopped my fall lets me go, and I bounce onto soft grass.
Seth is standing, smoothing down his suit like nothing happened as I sit up and look around at the paradise we have just landed in. Every wall is a waterfall of gold sparkling water that pours into the pool surrounding the island we are on that has dozens of green trees, bushes, soft grass, and gold poppy-like flowers around the edges in bunches, moving softly in the warm breeze. In the centre of the island is a white blanket and various baskets on top of it. Small lanterns hang in the trees, casting a bright golden glow around the space.
I’m not a romance kind of girl. But hell, even I’m impressed as shit.
“You’re too much for me sometimes, Seth. You almost make me want to be a normal girl,” I tell him as he lifts my hand, pressing a kiss against my knuckles.
“I love that you aren’t normal, Syn,” he tells me, stepping closer, and my breath hitches. I slowly run my hands up his muscular arms to rest on his large shoulders. “And I want to ask you something.”
“What exactly?” I ask, having a good idea what he might say.
“I want to claim you as my mate,” he tells me, cupping the back of my neck, pulling my lips close to his. “I want us to last forever, for you to be sure I’m never leaving again. I want every inch of you to be mine.”
“Seth, I want the same,” I admit. “And before the academy, I would have said yes with no hesitating, but now things are complicated. Very complicated.”
“I see that,” he tersely replies. “What are you asking of me?” Seth locks eyes with me.
“I don’t know yet. I just know making big life decisions like mating isn’t a good idea right now. I need to figure out some other things,” I gently tell him. “I need to work out who is going to be in my life for a long time, because right now...it’s impossible for me to know.”
Seth closes his eyes for a moment while he takes a deep breath before nodding once. When he opens his eyes, his face looks a little softer. “We don’t need to mate for me to enjoy you,” Seth comments, and then he kisses me, making it clear we aren’t talking about this anymore, not when he clearly has different ideas in mind. Seth picks me up in his arms, carrying me to the blanket and lying me down. He kneels over me and places his hand on his chest. Flames burst out of his hand, setting his clothes on fire in a wave until there is nothing left, but he isn’t burnt even a little bit.
I stare in pure shock.
Seth is spectacular. Breathtakingly so.
Deep V-shaped stomach with a light trail of hair leading down to his large and very hard cock standing to attention. I look up his body, over his perfect chest to the dragon tattoo on his pecs that spreads over his shoulder. He is beautiful.
Like the gods themselves crafted him in hell to be delicious and forbidden.
“Do that to me,” I instruct him. I don’t even care if we don’t have any other clothes, I just care that I want him to see me the same way I am looking at him.
With raw need.
With a passion that has been building up between us for a long time.
Seth places his hand on my ankle, and instantly I feel the fire even as I close my eyes. The heat travels up my body, burning away my clothes into nothing but embers, which don’t hurt me as they brush against my skin.
When I open my eyes, Seth is leaning over me, holding himself by his arms, his body not touching mine.
“You are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
I believe him, even before he kisses me with a passion I wasn’t quite ready for. But I don’t think I will ever be ready for the passion and darkness that Seth brings with him. Either way, I am here for it, and I won’t ever walk away from what he is offering to me. I gasp as I feel his hard cock pressing against my clit, his chest rubbing against my hard nipples as he kisses me. I feel ready to burst even as Seth holds my neck and turns my head to the side before kissing my neck, sucking and biting in a way I know will leave a mark. The mix of pain and pleasure is startling as he moves down my body, leaving a trail of marks against my skin. His teeth graze across my right nipple before his hot tongue flicks out, and I moan, my whole body bursting to life. He doesn’t waste time, moving down my stomach, his large hands sliding down my back to my ass and squeezing once before he is in the middle of my legs, his head hovering over my core.