Sighing, I released them, blanketing the grove in complete darkness, the only light shining was from Emon's and I's burning gazes.
"Fucking beautiful…" he purred. Pulling me upward, taking my hands in his, his body slowly twirling and spinning me through the darkness. "The way you steal my air." He whispered in the dark, pushing my upper body away from him but keeping his lower half pressed tightly into me where I could still feel our energies connected. "The way you seize my heart." He circled me low, so that my hair grazed the forest floor before pulling me back up. Our noses brushing, my breath gasping, "the way you dominate my soul." His eyes bore into mine. "All of you is so fucking beautiful." Growling, his eyes gleamed, spinning me away from him before pulling back slamming me into his chest with a breathless gasp. "Move them," he commanded. "Make them dance with us."
I smiled widely and twirled my fingers still captured by his hands. The darkness began to shift and glide, following Emon's shifter grace as he waltzed us around the grove, and when they spun around us, he picked me up, pirouetting me in the air with them. I laughed, stretching my arms out wide, dipping my fingertips into their cool abyss, sighing as I weaved them up over my arms.
Bringing me back down, Emon nuzzled my cheek, inhaling deeply.
I cupped his face, feeling rather than seeing the rough stubble of his beard. "Your turn, shifter," I said breathlessly.
"Close your eyes then, little umbra and feel me."
My breath caught and my eyelashes fluttered closed, a slow victorious smile spreading across my face when a flash of bright light sparked beneath my eyelids.
When I felt the large brush of an animal rub against my hip, the flickering of soft furred tail wrap around my bare leg, the low purr circling around my still form, and a long warm lick on my tattoo brands, I grinned wider.
"Drop your shadows, little umbra, and open your eyes."
Reaching out with my hands I drew them up towards the sky and my eyes followed, opening to unveil the darkness. Blinking into the sunshine filled grove, I stared in awe at Emon's majestic beast sitting patiently in the middle of it.
His shifted form was gorgeous and it was his. A largeblackpanther bowed its head down at me. Golden eyes, I loved with every fiber of my being watched me with the same reflective emotion.
"Amor vincit omnia. Love conquers all,"Emon purred in my head in ancient fae, bowing to me as if bestowing gratitude."You did it, my love, my soulmate, my little umbra."
Stepping towards Emon's bowed form, I pulled his great panther head to me, and ran my hands through his midnight black fur. "No Emon.Wedid it.”
Chapter 23
IwouldhaveneverbelievedI shifted except for the fact every single one of my senses was vibrant and more intensified than ever.
The grove was awash with colors of scents that were vibrant and potent, and I quickly categorized them in various groups of potential threats. Tilting my head, I could hear the soft flutter of the wisps, the tiniest insect crawling on the blade of grass beneath me, the brush of my soulmate’s hair along her firm back, and then there was the power. Raw and feral, the strength that coiled inside of me waswired, every muscle poised and alert.
A sudden joy that I had never felt before filled me. This was what it was like to be your own beast—I felteverything. None of it was processed and filtered by another, including the lovely sight of my soulmate standing in front of me.
And when she touched me…goddess. Through my panther senses her touch felt like the most exquisite torture, one that ripped adeep purr from my massive chest. Pure ecstasy clouding all my heightened senses.
"Ah, you have finally done it. Well done you two." Jar's smiling ancient eyes stepped through the trees with our daughter holding his hand. Remnant attempted to step away from me but I wrapped my long tail around her waist to keep her close.
I gave the healer a lethal grin full of sharp white teeth.
Riella gasped, "Father! Will I look like you when I shift one day?"
Inhaling deeply, I shifted back to my fae form and crouched low, opening my arms wide.
Riella grinned and her tiny body blurred, her image shimmering into a cloud of darkness before slamming solidly into my chest.
I smoothed back her hair, marveling at the beautiful creature that was my cub. "Whatever you shift into, be it a panther or something else entirely, you will be glorious. Right, little umbra?"
Peering up at my soulmate, Remnant smiled with the same light in her eyes, pulling her hair back and tying it off. My mouth watering when her body arched deliciously while performing the task.
"More than glorious, little one,” she responded back, arching her brow at my hungry stare. “There will be no one like you, ever in this entire universe."
Weaving shadow, Remnant morphed her darkness around us—jumping dolphins, galloping unicorns, and dancing pixies danced around our daughter. Eyes alight with possibilities, Riella watched entranced by the darkness.
I looked over at the master healer who was watching us with tears in his eyes before connecting with my own. "Thank you, Jar.”
“You are most welcome Daemon,” he smiled softly at me, plucking at his robes
I tilted my head watching the action, the familiarity not lost on me…it was the same behavior he had when he first told me about Riella.
