“That time felt completely different,” he says. “It wasn’t like being thrown across the world. Instead, I was there, and then I was here.” He snaps his fingers. “As easy as that.”

“That’s what a regular teleport feels like for me,” I say. “I think I brought you along as a… purposeful passenger this time, instead of the tether jerking you after me.”

His sharp eyes latch onto mine. “What makes you say it was purposeful?”

“I wanted to be alone with you.” I meet his gaze with a direct one of my own, refusing to mince words. This teleport is a surprise, but a happy one, my magic working to give me my wish. I know what I want, and I’m not afraid to ask for it. “I wanted it very badly.”

“Why here?” His voice is a husky growl.

“It’s beautiful. It’s private. And it reminds me of one of my favorite places from home.” I give a one-shoulder shrug. “I really like waterfalls.” I stand, my hands going to the hem of myshirt. With one quick move, I strip it off over my head. “And I absolutelyloveskinny dipping.”

If I had any doubts about what Wranth thought of my big body, they melt away under the heat of his gaze. I cock my hip and place a hand on it. “Like what you see?”

He launches upward, his arms sweeping me off my feet as he straightens, crushing me to his chest. His mouth crashes into mine, his tusks nipping at my lips, demanding entry.

Fuck, that’s hot.

I moan, giving him full access, and he takes it, licking into my mouth like a man starved. Wranth’s kiss is heat and hunger and pure primalneed. It pulls an answering craving from me, my whole body straining toward his, wanting everything.

My breasts, my clit, my core—every inch of me aches for him.

“Naomi,” he growls between kisses, “my bride.Mine.”

Normally, that possessive kind of talk is not my thing, but with him like this? Oh, hell yeah. My thighs clench.

His arms loosen enough that I slide slowly down his body until my feet touch the ground. “You will explain this ‘skinny dipping.’”

“How about I just show you?”

I step backward, hips swaying, and start to dance. My breasts wiggle, the full tops of them rising above the cups of my satiny pink bra in an impressive display of cleavage.

His eyes focus on them with an intensity I can feel like a touch on my skin, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

My cheeks stretch in a smile. Oh, yeah. Someone likes what he sees.

Toeing off my sneakers, I unbutton the top of my jeans. The denim parts, showing the soft swell of my stomach. I gyrate my hips and spin, shaking my butt at him.

Wranth’s answering groan makes me grin. Fuck, it feels good to be with him, to be wanted on a visceral level.

Leaning over, I push my jeans over my hips and slide them slowly down my thighs and off.

When I straighten, my fingers tease along the waist of my pink panties as I toss a glance over my shoulder. Before I can do anything, he’s on me, his huge body catching me from behind. His growl’s so hoarse and deep it almost doesn’t sound like words. “Fuck, you’re glorious.”

Desire shoots through me, and I wiggle back into him, feeling leather and fabric. No. I need skin, need touch. “Too many clothes.”

Wranth growls and gives my shoulder a nip with his tusks, the sensation shooting straight to my core. When he sets me down and steps back, I turn to face him. He strips his shirt over his head, muscles rippling with the movement, his long black hair settling around his bare shoulders.

The fabric falls from his hand, forgotten, as he stares at me, heat burning in his eyes.

I stand naked but for my bra and panties, and that’s a lot of bare skin.

And all of it’s beautiful. The awed look on Wranth’s face makes me feel more beautiful than ever.

He unfastens the front of his leather pants, and if I needed any more proof of how much he wants me, I get it. His cock, huge and hard and thick, springs forward. The dark green head is so swollen it’s blushed with purple. Silver glints of metal run down the underside of his shaft in two rows of small balls.

“You’re pierced!”

“When I was inducted as a warrior.” He fists his cock, and creamy fluid pours from the end. So. Much. Fluid.