Page 65 of For Love and Blood and Fury

When Elena was drinking from her, it was like her entire body experienced the most intense orgasm ever recorded. But it wasn’t just her body. It was inside her mind. Her blood. Her bones. The way it bonded her to Elena was indescribable. It was why Elena could be such an insufferable pain in the dick.

“You’ll find out when you’re ready,” Zuri said while pulling her hair back into a ponytail. She was prepared to sweat her ass off in the greenhouse all morning doing the equivalent of learning an extinct language without any comparable analogs.

Marisol finished washing the two cups and turned to face her, back against the sink. “It looked… intense.”

Zuri felt the heat of Elena’s bite on her skin, but it was the memory of Marisol’s spectral wings that made her chest tingle. Despite having seen them before, Zuri had still been in awe. They were magnificent and beautiful and impossible to forget.

“Did it turn you on?” Zuri asked, a possibility swirling into shape.

Blushing from her neck to her forehead as if they hadn’t been having unbelievable sex for the last two days, Marisol shrugged.

“Oh come on, Bambi. No one who eats pussy like you do can possibly be that shy.” Zuri bit the inside of her cheek to temper her grin.

Pink turned to red as Marisol opened her mouth and closed it again. “Don’t say it like that,” she finally whispered, making it clear she meantdon’t say it so loud.

Zuri chuckled. “I’m pretty sure Elena knows what that mouth can do, babe,” she whispered back. “Now, come on. It’s an academic question. Did you get hot watching Elena bite my very soft skin?” She wiggled her brows and waited for her answer.

Making an adorable expression Zuri guessed was supposed to be a cringe, Marisol ran her fingers through her loose, dark blonde hair. The ends grazed her shoulder before she answered with a nod.

“Good,” Zuri said, a slow smile spreading across her face. “We’re going to test a theory.” She pushed off the counter and crossed the small kitchen.

Marisol’s brow furrowed, hazel eyes widening with a mixture of curiosity and apprehension. God, she really wore everyemotion on her face. They were going to have to work on that once they had the whole Aglion thing nailed down.

“A theory?” Marisol’s voice trembled.

“Don’t overthink it, Bambi,” she murmured, her hand reaching out to trace the line of Marisol’s jaw. She didn’twantto want to touch her so much, but her fingertips ached for her like they hadn’t already had their fill. “I think,” Zuri continued, her voice as low and seductive as she could make it, “that if we can tap into that fire inside you… we can unlock your full potential.” She let her thumb drift to the corner of Marisol’s full bottom lip, tracing the delicate curve.

Mouth opening for her, hands finding Zuri’s hips, Marisol signaled her consent.

Pulse jumping, Zuri leaned closer, lips brushing against Marisol’s ear. “Let me show you what I mean.”

Hand slipping under the borrowed shirt, Zuri ran her palm over her ribcage. At the touch, Marisol held her breath. Could she still really be so nervous? More to the point, why was her strange combination of vixen and ingenue such a fucking turn on?

Focusing on the task, Zuri pressed her lips to her neck before she teased her even-more-sensitive-than-advertised nipple over her bra. In response, Marisol tossed her head back and sighed, thighs parting while she pulled Zuri in closer.

She trailed kisses down Marisol’s neck, her tongue tracing the delicate line of her collarbone, her teeth grazing the responsive skin beneath her ear. Marisol’s breath hitched, her body trembling with a need that mirrored Zuri’s own.

Come on, Bambi, Zuri thought, her focus sharpening, her magic thrumming beneath her skin.Show me what you can do.

She waited for the telltale shimmer, the faint hum of energy that signaled the emergence of Marisol’s wings. But there wasnothing. Only the warmth of Marisol’s skin, the rapid beat of her pulse, the soft moans escaping her parted lips.

Damn it.

Zuri pulled away. With nothing but her big, hazel eyes, Marisol bled her worry that she’d done something wrong.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure it happens to all quasi-angels out there.” Zuri tried to laugh, but her mind was already leaping ahead, considering the missing element in her experiment.

“What are you doing?” Marisol’s tone was serious despite the flush down her chest. “Don’t leave me out. Maybe I can help with whatever you’re thinking.”

After a deep breath, Zuri relented. “We already know your power comes out during heightened emotional moments. Fear, lust,” she explained. “I was trying to recreate that, but?—”

“I thought you said it was dangerous to tap into my emotions,” she said, like the student all too eager to correct the teacher.

Zuri raised both brows. “Yeah, well. We don’t have a lot of time, do we? We’ve got to work with what we have.”

Marisol nodded, looking guilty, as if somehow any of this was her fault.

“And I don’t mind finding the right combination.” Zuri hooked her finger into Marisol’s waistband and tugged her close again. She inhaled the scent of her hair and kissed a line from her jaw to her lips.

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