Page 12 of Ember's Claim

“Step on my boots,” I instruct very close to her ear.

“What?”

“You heard me. I would ask you to climb me, but I don’t like the idea of flashing your ass to half the parking lot, so this will have to do.”

Her nose wrinkles adorably, but I’m done waiting.

I plant a hand under her ass and lift her just a bit. My wings erupt from their confines, and I don’t think too much about the magic that makes it possible. Once I got strong enough as a kid to destroy my clothing with a partial shift, my mom found a special fae tailor that I still see to this day. She makes sure my wings can pass through my shirts and jackets, just like when the magicals transform. Beings like thunderbirds, bigfoot, and pegasus have a magical transformation, instead of the physical change dragons, wolves, and bears have. Because of that, they can change with their clothing on, and when they change back, it’s in the same place.

If only.

Say I were to fully shift and destroy my clothes, they’d be gone for good, and I’d be fully naked in the middle of Haven.

“Holy shit, Veryn.” Ember squeaks as I laugh.

My wings extend, and my hand teases up the back of her flirty little dress.

Do not get hard.

Don’t you dare get hard right now.

Aww, fuck.

So much for pretending to be a gentleman.

She wraps her arms around my lower back, squishing herself closer to my front. It pushes her tits against my chest, and I clear my throat, desperately trying to stay focused.

“I thought we were having dinner at the Dalton? Why are we even here if you were just going to fly us somewhere?” she asks.

“We are having dinner at the Dalton. The rooftop restaurant, to be exact.” I quirk an eyebrow as my wings propel us higher. “You know how limited Haven is.”

Flying is more exciting than an elevator…I hope.Also, I weigh a hell of a lot more than I look. I’m probably pushing the weight limit for the elevator.

“It’s great.” She stares up at me from under her lashes. “We haven’t flown together like this since we were kids.”

Well, I definitely didn’t have my hand on her ass then, but I get what she means.

I weave us around the building as we gain altitude, and eventually, the lights from the rooftop bar and restaurant come into view.

“It’s so pretty,” she whispers, making my heart race.

The building is all right, but she’s stunning.

The ambiance is on point, and I’m going to owe the quads a huge thank you for getting me this reservation on such short notice.

Callie, the female gargoyle who runs the place, puts us in a small booth that faces the half wall. It has a killer view over Haven, and being so far up, it really feels like we’re the only two people around.

We get our drinks pretty quickly and wait in companionable silence for our food to arrive.

Ember snuggles closer to my chest as she sips at her beer. It was clearly the right call to stretch my arm over the back of the booth.

Ember reaches for her silverware, and I chuckle, shaking my head.

“No way,” I growl, moving to pull her into my lap. “You eat by my hand tonight.” Once she kneels over me with her big blue eyes blinking, I realize exactly how precarious of a position I just put us in.

Fuck.

I’m going to need some practice at wooing and being romantic.

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