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Kael’s eyes darkened, his voice dropping to a growl. “Enough words. Let’s see if your actions are as dishonest as your mouth is.”

Every nerve in my body screamed with anticipation, fear tangled with want. His hand brushed mine again, deliberate this time as he dragged me upright. “No, hold still,” he murmured, his voice a dangerous promise. “I’m not… gentle. Are you ready for that?”

My chest rose, my breath quick and shallow. “I’m ready,” I whispered.

And I meant it.

Edge and Departure

The loft was quiet except for the muted hum of the city and the rhythmic drumming of rain against the glass. Kael’s presence was a live wire, crackling against my senses, dangerous, electric, and impossible to resist. He had pulled me upright from the leather chair, and now he loomed over me, his body a barricade between me and the rest of the world.

“You’re a dangerous man to be alone with, Kael,” I managed, my words a whisper. I wasn't talking about the fight downstairs. I was talking about the way he looked at me like I was a territory he’d already conquered. “Especially when you’re hiding behind so many shadows.”

I needed to remind myself that he was an outsider, a rogue who lived outside the law I had been raised to uphold. I forced myself to hold his gaze, my mind tightening like a drum as I reached for my magic, pulling it to the surface of my skin like a suit of invisible armour. I wanted to be a statue, cold and unreadable, but Kael saw my walls and walked right through them.

“You’re thinking too much,” he said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp that made the small hairs on my neck stand up. He stepped into my space, forcing me to tilt my head back to keep his eyes in view. “Stop trying to control the currents, Ivy. Feel them. Feel me.”

I swallowed, my pulse wild. When his fingers brushed my jaw, my whole body lit up. Thunder rumbled in the distance, a low warning that matched the vibration in his chest.

“You like that,” he murmured, a wicked smirk tugging at his mouth. “I can feel it in you. Every breath, every heartbeat.”

My lips parted, denial dying on my tongue. Kael didn't wait. His hand cupped the back of my neck, pulling me forward with a firm inevitability that forced me onto my tiptoes. Our mouths crashed together, sharp, hungry, and desperate. All the tension of the last month broke at once.

The world blurred into velvet and fire. He pressed his body against mine, anchoring me. I clutched at his shirt, my nails scraping the hard lines of his chest as he backed me through the loft, toward the open door of the bedroom. Every place he touched set me alight.

“Oh gods…” I whispered against his lips.

He growled and kissed me harder, as if survival wasn’t the point at all.

His calloused hands were everywhere. My dress was dragged over my head and discarded. My bra unclasped and dropped. My G-string was pushed aside as one wide finger rubbed up and down my achingly wet slit, circling my clit with a rhythmic, heavy pressure.

“So ready for me, little red,” Kael whispered, his teeth scraping my jawline.

“Too… many... clothes,” I hitched, my fingers fumbling at his waistband.

He stepped back, just out of reach. Ever so slowly, he dragged the black cotton shirt over his head. I forgot how to breathe. He was a landscape of violence and beauty with shoulders so broad they swallowed the light, a torso mapped with defined muscle and silvered scars. Lightning fractured the sky, and a split second later, the power cut out, plunging the loft into suffocating black.

“Kael?” I gasped, flinching as the darkness pressed in.

“Just me,” his voice rasped.

I looked up, and my heart stopped. Two golden circles of fire burned where his eyes should be, glowing with a steady, predatory light. A chill raced down my spine. This man wasn't just a warlock. He was something primal. A power the High Circle would fear because they couldn't bottle it.

His rough palm slid down my spine, squeezing my hip and pulling me flush against his heat. “I have a secret, little red. And I need to show you before this goes any further.”

He undid his belt, the metallic clink loud in the dark. He shed his jeans and boxers in one fluid motion, and his cock bobbed free. Even in the dim streetlight filtering through the rain, I saw it.

I had seen men before, but nothing like this. His cock was massive, thick and pulsing, but it was the base that made my eyes widen. A heavy, swollen bulb of flesh sat there—a knot.

I stared, my mind racing through the forbidden bestiaries I’d read in the archives. “Werewolf,” I whispered, my tongue skimming my lips.

I should have run. I should have screamed. But the sight of that engorged flesh, the promise of being filled and locked in place by a predator, made me moan low in my throat. I ran my hands down my own chest, tugging on my nipples as my thighs clenched in anticipation. I needed to be filled to the brim. Nothing else mattered.

“Can you smell me, wolfy?” I teased, a reckless, submissive giggle bubbling up.

I turned and bolted for the bed, glancing over my shoulder. He was standing there, his pants at his knees, his glowing eyes wide with shock. Did he think a High Witch would be afraid of a little bite? This witch was more than ready to take on the wolf, knot and all.

He moved with the slow, terrifying patience of a predator, crawling onto the mattress until the bed dipped under his sheer weight. I held my breath, every nerve ending on fire as he hovered over me, his dark eyes locked on mine with unspoken intent. He didn't rush. He took his time trailing a warm, heavy hand up the inside of my thigh, his thumb brushing just high enough to make a soft gasp catch in my throat. A low, wicked smirk tugged at his lips at my reaction—a silent reminder of just how completely he had me at his mercy.