Page 166 of First Ritual
Even knowing these runes were likely coming today, the timing couldn’t be worse. I glanced around for Mother.
No trace of her.
I rolled up my dress sleeve.
“Gateway,” we murmured together.
The doorlike symbol was etched onto my right shoulder. “That’s going to be a bitch to hide. Any idea what it could mean in the scheme of our ritual?”
“No idea. Maybe it has to do with the other one. Where is it?” Wild dragged me upright, and as he traced over my gateway rune, I peered up into his face. My heart skipped a beat as the full force of his carved beauty hit me in the glow of the late afternoon sun.
My inhale was ragged.
He frowned, pausing in his tracing. “What is it?”
You’re so damn gorgeous. “Nothing.” I lowered my gaze. “The other rune is down here.” I lifted the bottom hem of my dress from midcalf up to my belly button. Wild’s focus locked there as I pushed down the top of my underwear to expose the other rune.
His exhale shook. “Tempest. It’s beautiful.”
Three flowers formed the rune, arranged in a vertical tier to cover the skin beneath my belly button. The largest flower was just above where Wild had spent hours pleasuring me. A woven braid extended to the smaller flower above, and then again to the smallest and third flower. If the two runes were linked, then all I could fathom was that the ritual had just formed a gateway to my vagina. I mean, what else was I meant to think?
Wild glanced up, hovering his musician’s fingers between us. His throat worked. “May I?”
“Sure. We both know there’s a looming orgasm anyway.”
His frown returned at my words, but he dropped to his knees before me and stared at the rune. Did I imagine the shake in his hand just before he touched my skin?
I tried to stay still as Wild traced the outline of each flower and the braid linking them. A new warmth was starting as he reached the largest flower. I squirmed on the spot, taking shallow breaths.
Wild pushed out magic and murmured, “Are we alone?”
I made to answer before I caught his nod. Oh. He was speaking to the rest of the quad. “Make sure no one enters. She’s in another heat. Rooke is here somewhere.” A faint smile quirked his lips, and I could just imagine Sven whipping up his hand to volunteer to find my cousin.
Ugh. Everyone knew what we’d be doing. The warmth was rising, though, and there was one thing to be said for a heat. When I was in it, I didn’t care about anyone or anything except about an end to the heat.
Wild kissed the flower rune. “Last time, you asked another man to give you relief.”
I licked my lips, trying not to move. “You’re still upset about that?”
A growl was my reply, and my lips twitched.
Placing a finger under his chin, I helped him. “I’m asking you this time.”
Wild caught my fingers in his, and I thought he was intertwining them before he jerked me against him and dragged my pointer finger into his mouth. He sucked and must’ve seen my barriers crumble because I sure as hell felt them evaporate with that simple touch.
His lips brushed my ear. “You ask me now because only I can give you relief. One day, you’ll ask me because you’re desperate for my touch too.”
“You think?” There wouldn’t be a next time if I had a say. A next rune anyway or a ritual. Next time, it would just be me and him.
Wild snarled, then peered down. “Your body knows me. How can you deny any of this?”
I’d already become painfully aware of my breasts against the floating material of my dress. The material seemed soft a moment before. Now it scratched on me.
“You should be dressed in the finest silk,” he growled. “Or nothing at all.”
Wild’s magic flared, and my eyes rounded as flames licked the bottom hem of my dress. I only relaxed when the flames didn’t burn me, but I didn’t dare do more than breathe as my clothing went up in smokeless, black flames.
Cool air teased my nipples and new runes. I stood naked before Wild.