~ JESSE ~ I woke up smiling. I didn't open my eyes right away, but lay there breathing and reliving a few of those precious moments from last night. The furs were warm and so soft. I stretched slowly, discovering where my body ached, but in delicious ways. And I felt… full. With eyes still closed and a happy sigh, I rolled over, reaching out for Cazz—and my hand hit empty space. Cold furs. I sat bolt upright, a jolt of adrenaline making my heart pump as I searched first the bed, then the room for any sign of him. “Cazz?” I said, my voice too high. ‘Good morning, beautiful.’ My breath caught. ‘Cazz! Are you okay? What happened? Is there a problem with the humans—’ ‘Calm down, Jesse. I’ve been waiting for you to wake…’ His voice in the bond was warm and calm and suggestive. I blew out a breath and let myself slump back down on the pillows, heart pounding, but beginning to ease. I was torn between sadness that he wasn’t there, and thrill that he was so present in the bond. I exam
~ JESSE ~All the way to him I’d been asking myself where he might be. At first, I’d thought it was just another audience or meeting with the council, but I continued to feel that simmer in him—and the impatience that underlined it all wasn’t anger, or frustration. It had a keen edge.Almost like hope.My thoughts had turned then to where he might be, or what he might have planned that would make him anticipate my arrival.It wasn’t hard to guess what he had planned.At first, when I realized I was following his trail deeper into the Palace, I had been envisioning another visitor suite with a four-poster, like the one we’d used the other day… or perhaps some kind of playroom like the room off the Den… or even an office of some kind. Maybe he had a library with a fireplace and a nice couch?From the way he’d felt through the bond, I was certain Cazz was bringing me here for an adventure that we wouldn’t be sharing with anyone else.But when I finally got close, and found the door that
~ JESSE ~I stood on a small, circular stone dais that rose out of the floor near the corner of the room—a corner lined in wide, tall mirrors that showed me from every angle.And I couldn’t quite believe what I was seeing.The gown was stunning, the fabric indescribably soft and thin, almost completely sheer, but it had been draped and gathered in layers. The sheer got so pale sometimes, it was hard to tell if it showed my skin, or that was only the fabric itself.It was the most beautiful silver-sage color that seemed to undulate as I moved, deepening to one color or the other, depending how the light hit the fabric. It set off the chestnut highlights in my hair perfectly, and—‘It matches the green in your eyes,’ Cazz sent in a deep, heavy voice.I bit my lip, nodding. ‘You picked this?’‘I saw it when I came in for a tunic fitting, and I knew the Selection was coming, that you’d need formal gowns. I insisted that Preena use it—and only for you. No one else will be allowed to have c
~ JESSE ~Cazz’s touch was warm and sure. His kiss soft but insistent. The noise in the adjoining room suddenly seemed loud—the whirr of machines, low voices talking, laughing, cursing, rolling thuds and the snip of large shears…All that sound was louder than my breathing, though I had to pay attention to keep it that way.‘Stop thinking,’ Cazz growled in my head, teasing his fingers along the top of the bodice so that goosebumps rose to my collarbones. ‘Be here with me.’I wanted nothing more than to be there with him. I was just—Cazz sighed and leaned down, swinging me up and into his arms. I squeaked and grabbed h
~ JESSE ~With an impatient grunt, Cazz reached down behind me, frantically fumbling at his belt and trousers while I watched him, silent and stunned, in the mirror’s surface.The moment he got his fly open, his hips pressed forward so his arousal nudged at me. I sucked in a breath.Then he dove for my neck again, opening his mouth there, one hand coming around my body to grasp and tease at my breasts, the other nudging between my thighs, urging me to widen my knees.I gripped the back of the chaise to keep my balance and did as he wanted, enjoying the sight of his need—it made his jaw tense, and his eyes glint.Then, his feet still on the floor, he l
~ CASIMIR ~I was drowning in her.Kneeling there, slumped together, muscles trembling, breathing ragged, and my heart…God, it was terrifying what she did to me.Taking her had felt more than necessary. It had felt… urgent.I’d been bathed in lust before, driven for a female, or just for pleasure. But this… this felt like she had slipped those little fingers between my ribs to grasp at my heart and wasn’t letting go.I didn’t want her to.And yet… ever
~ CASIMIR ~I realized I’d stayed open to her in my mind, so Jesse had seen flashes of what I envisioned when I thought of the two of us together.“It’s not a joke!”“You don’t want me to want you?” I said, tipping my head, trying to decide if she was adorable, or being childish.“No! I mean, yes, of course I do. But no, that’s not what’s bothering me.”“Then what is it?”Her brows pinched a V over her nose. “I guess it’s… it’s that it feels less special when you know other people are… aware of i
~ CASIMIR ~Jesse sighed and rolled her eyes. “Sure, sure. Sounds like an excellent plan,” she muttered. But I didn’t have to reply because she had already leaned into me and up on her toes to kiss me one more time, quick and hard. She’d meant to pull away swiftly, but I held her there in the kiss for a long moment until she sagged in my arms, then groaned—though not because of me.“I have to go, Cazz,” she sighed, tipping her head down to my chest. I stroked her hair.“I’m not stopping you,” I grinned down at her, because it was gratifying to know she was as reluctant to leave me as I was to have her go.