Some of her animosity faded, and she shivered. “I’m cold all the time,” she admitted, leaning into his touch. Then she narrowed her eyes, raised her chin, and revved back up, stepping away and tearing at the buttons on her top. “You want to see what you’ll never have? Fine. Go right ahead. Take a good, hard look, Astra. Because I will resist your allure.”
His allure? His? He went on instant alert, determined to get answers about his...about her...about... The top slipped to the floor, revealing plump mounds with amber peaks, and his thoughts derailed.
Those magnificent beauties jiggled as she shimmied out of her bottoms and kicked the material aside, revealing lacy black panties. As she straightened, those long sable waves danced around her delicate features. Exquisitely prideful, she put her nose in the air and rolled back her shoulders.
She should be proud! He almost couldn’t comprehend the perfection of her body. This female was flawless. A masterpiece of peaks, dips, and hollows. Miles of the lightest brown skin offered a visual feast.
Carnality in its purest form.
He met her gaze, and his breath caught. Emerald irises glittered, daring him to reach out. To take whatever he desired.
Heat collected in his muscles, forging his bones into steel. Pressure magnified, gears cranking in the opposite direction. “The panties,” he said, almost embarrassed by the huskiness of his tenor. “Remove them.”
Head nocked higher, she hooked the fabric in her fingers and wiggled. The garment slid down her legs. She kicked, sending the material flying. With lightning-fast reflexes, he caught the panties midair.
Damp. With arousal. For him. The knowledge robbed him of sense. Perhaps the reason he stuffed the panties into his pocket.
“Told you,” she said with a smirk. “Secret pervert.”
“Perhaps I am.” His eyelids grew heavy as he followed a flush down the elegant column of her throat...over those mouthwatering breasts. Lower... A tiny thatch of dark curls held him enthralled.
Temptation itself...
“Well?” she prompted with throaty command. “Do you see any brands on me?”
“Still searching.” Because he hadn’t started. “The process takes time.”
“I’m sure.”
He focused on her adorable toes, with their pink nails, peering past the natural dimension, into the mystical. He raked his attention up one leg, then the other. One arm, then the other. Up her abdomen...between her breasts—there. The spot where she was stabbed. There was a faded star-shaped smudge, like spilled ink she’d tried to wipe clean. Not a brand, exactly, but definitely something.
In that moment, Halo burned to end his enemy once and for all. And he would. Soon. Once he ascended, he would live only to deliver the god’s final demise.
For now, he thought he knew how to preclude Erebus from summoning Ophelia a second time.
—How quickly can you forge a trinite collar?—He projected the question into the mind of Silver Stilbon, a gruff Astra that history touted as the Fiery One. When Silver reached anhilla, a mindless state of violence achievable by all Astra, literal flames crackled over his skin.
The dedicated metalworker responded within seconds. —For a harpy? Not too long. Roc requested one for Taliyah only to change his mind before I finished. I need only to etch runes into it.—
—Add a two-inch chain in the center and attach a coin-size trinite disk.—That disk would adhere to Ophelia’s skin, just over the smudge, preventing Erebus from reaching out with spiritual hands and latching on to the harpymph. In theory.
In reality...the thought of Ophelia wearing a special band Halo secured around her throat proved shockingly gratifying.
He told Silver —I require it as soon as possible.—
The warlord asked no questions. —Give me ten minutes, and I’ll flash it to your hand.—
He licked his lips. Ten minutes? He might as well search Ophelia for more marks...
“Turn around,” he croaked.
A husky chuckle teased his ears. “Can’t get enough of me, Astra?”
He could not. Later, he would not let himself even consider her. He would scrub this image from his mind. He would. Until then... “Turn around,” he repeated, a little too eager for his liking.
Another, softer chuckle. With languid grace, she obeyed.
“Your hair. Move it.” Let me see every inch of you.
“Are you always this bossy with naked females?” Again, she obeyed him, sweeping the glossy mane over one shoulder.
Look at her. Made for pleasure. Made for my pleasure. Those small, delicate wings fluttered; as they shimmered in the morning sunlight, they looked like cutouts of lace. She possessed an elegant spine. The most sublime curves.
The firm body of a harpy paired with the lushness of a nymph. A combination clearly lethal to his common sense.
“Halo?” she purred.
Her question. Right. “I’m always this bossy, period,” he said, pulling at the neckline of his T-shirt.
“Well. That is very good to know.” Her tone and scent deepened. “Very, very good.”
His nostrils flared. Had she grown more aroused? Halo wiped his mouth with his palm. “Yes. Very, very good.”