Page 95 of Entranced By the Basilisks

“Huh, I’ve never done that on accident before.” Jasper tilts his head.

“It must be the power Emilia has been pushing into you,” Ari says, but he doesn’t sound convinced.

“They’re pretty,” I say cautiously, letting my hand on his neck fall.

“I’ve only shifted twice in all my life and each time I couldn’t leave my bed for days.” Jasper releases my hand and brings his up to his face, watching the light glance off the scales. His nails have sharpened slightly but aren’t claws yet. “I couldn’t have told you my own colors.”

There’s something sad about that. For Jasper to have a whole other form but never be able to use it, hardly even remember it… It hurts my heart.

“Do you like them?” Jasper asks Ari.

“Of course,” Ari scoffs. “I love you with or without scales, but they are gorgeous.”

Ari rubs a hand up and down my back and his brows crease. “It’s odd to be able to give such power to another. It is usually reserved for those who have already bonded so this is… curious.”

Jasper presses his hand to Ari’s bare chest and Ari… shivers. It’s almost like he’s trying not to show how much he appreciates Jasper’s shifting. It makes sense. Serpent kin shift for sex and if Ari has always told Jasper how much he didn’t care that Jasper appears human only to react to him now, I could see why he’d be hesitant.

But Jasper isn’t hesitating. He’s taunting, and I want to help. I run my hand up Ari’s open shirt and feel the tension coil in the muscles of his scale-covered core.

Ari narrows his eyes at us. “We’re supposed to be training.”

“And now it’s time for a break,” I say. He arches a brow at my assuming authority and my body tightens in reaction. He’s going to make us pay, both of us. Ari is the one to call the shots and he’s not ceding that privilege.

Ari’s hands are also scale-covered now, and he grips Jasper’s hair, tearing away his attention from touching him. “Is that what you want, my viper? A break?”

“I want to have this with you.”

His tongue is so unguarded. It’s clear that Ari is hesitant to ask what he means, but the curiosity proves too much. “What with me?”

“I want to be with my mates when my body is as it’s supposed to look. At least once.”

“Jasper,” Ari’s voice is soft, and he eases his grip on Jasper’s hair. “Whether or not you shift, there’s no supposed to or have to. I accept you as you are, either way. There is no one way of being serpent kin.”

We both ignore the fact that Jasper saidmates. It’s an underlying truth we’re barreling toward, but it doesn’t seem as sudden or scary as it had days ago.

Jasper blinks and sighs. “I get that you love me no matter what form I have but can’t this just be for pleasure? I want to see my scales against yours. I want to feel powerful with you. I want to feel like an equal with Emilia between us rather than something slightly more than human.”

I swallow at that, and Ari appears to not know what to do. Jasper wants this, but Ari doesn’t want to break whatever balance we have when Jasper becomes more in control of his tongue.

I press my body against Jasper, between the two of them, to give Ari time to think.

“Do you think you’re clearheaded enough for this?” I ask.

Jasper inhales near my neck and goose bumps race over my skin. “It’s like being tipsy. You’re not taking advantage of me. I can scent your arousal. I know you want this.”

Ari presses against my back, his decision made. “She smells delicious,” he remarks. “And I want all those things too, Jasper. Even if Emilia suddenly thinks she can call the shots.”

His hand comes up around my throat, suggestive. My body throbs at his words.

“I guess you’ll have to show me that I’m wrong,” I tease.

Jasper’s smile is slow, his gaze on Ari’s hand around my throat. “When I first saw you two in the same room together, I felt jealous of what a beautiful sight you made, what a perfect couple.”

I remember how my hands looked against Ari’s chest and have to admit that Jasper is right. The gold undertones in my skin contrast nicely with Ari’s. Warm and cool. Sunlight and dusk. I bite my lips at the idea of Jasper’s pale skin intertwined with Ari’s while I press against them both. Night and day fighting over the moon.

Or maybe that was the wrong way to think about it. Maybe I would be between two jewel-toned basilisks.

“I can’t decide if you’re really okay to do this or if you’re too loopy,” Ari says, musing.

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