Page 27 of Claimed By Night

I frown up at him. “As if I’d ever accost an unconscious woman.” I shake my head as I reach up and pull the white sheet away from the sleeping angel, revealing her breasts.

Swallowing hard, I look upon the heavy mounds of white flesh that fall slightly to the sides. Her nipples are the same pink as theRose QuartzI place above her heart. The beautiful, blush-colored crystal will stabilize her heart and circulatory system.

I’m beginning to wonder if I should be concerned about my own circulatory system, because the sight of her perfect breasts is doing something to me. My heart is pounding, and all I can think about is taking one of those nipples into my mouth.

I hear Dragan clear his throat as though he’s uncomfortable, and I suddenly feel sorry for the poor bastard. He hasn’t had a woman in God only knows how long—as difficult as this is proving for me, it must be torture for him.

Reaching out, I pull the sheet further away from her to reveal her rib cage and the lines of her body that taper into a small waist before flaring out with her hips. I haven’t uncovered her sex yet, but I’ll need to soon.

On her stomach I place a geode of yellow crystals,Citrine, to help detoxify her blood.

“Time is of the essence,” Dragan reminds me, breaking my concentration. He sounds perturbed.

“If you must leave, then do so,” I bark back at him. “Fucking cock,” I add under my breath.

He says nothing but makes no motion to exit, so I assume he’s found his patience.

When I pull the sheet away from the angel, I hear Dragan inhale deeply. But my attention doesn’t rest on him for long; the bulge between my thighs is suddenly swelling as I behold her flat stomach and the bareness of her mound. Anona, or someone, has shaven her clean, and her exposed lips are calling to me. I want nothing more than to bury my face in them, to taste her essence, to fill her with my tongue.

“Continue,” Dragan growls. He knows me and my libido well.

With a shaky hand, I placeChrysoculla, a turquoise stone, upon her mound, being careful not to touch her anywhere else. I spoke the truth when I said I derive no pleasure in fondling an unconscious woman. Yes, I admittedly derive great pleasurein viewing the sleeping woman’s nudity, but that’s where my enjoyment ends.

“What does that stone do for her… there?” Dragan demands, as though he believes I’d just been looking for an excuse to touch her in her most private of places.

“It will make her long for your impotent cock,” I respond as I smile up at him. The sprite tries to hide a laugh beneath the cover of a cough.

“What the fuck does it do,faerie?” snarls Dragan.

“It will aid in her detoxification, reoxygenate her blood, and help relieve her pain,” I answer staunchly.

He says nothing more, so I figure he’s accepted my explanation. I pull the sheet away from her completely and, at her feet, I placeHematite, a deep gray crystal which will support her kidneys. And in each of her hands, I place a piece ofAngelite, which, as the name denotes, is an angelic stone that will balance her physical body with the etheric realm.

“Sprite,” I say and face the creature who looks at me with interest. “Touch her,” I instruct.

“Why I gotta do that?”

“Because you’re a creature of light, and nature’s magic will recognize you as such. I can pull your energy to heal her, as well as my own.”

The creature shrugs and then floats down to the woman’s head, taking a seat just beside it as he reaches down and places his tiny hand on her cheek.

I, meanwhile, close my eyes and hover my own hands above the lovely angel, reaching out to the power of the natural world that made me what I am.

SpeakingElvish, I call to the earth, the wind, the sun, and the water, asking for strength to heal this creature born from the flesh and blood of the earth and the angelic realm. I call in anAura of Vitality, a healing energy that radiates an aura whichsurrounds the angel in a cocoon of light. I then tap into the immeasurable light of the Fae Realm and call on it to guide me, to use me as its vessel as it purifies her, leaching from her the toxins of theAtacomite.

Light blossoms from beneath my palms and, as I open my eyes, I witness energy passing through one crystal after another, in the form of a bright, radiant light. This life energy pulses within each crystal, causing it to glitter. I can feel the power of the light thrumming from beneath my fingers as it joins the crystals and activates each one, like a current of static electricity.

As the woman is an angel, a creature of light, so will the energy recognize her and heal her with its blinding beauty. But theAtacomitewill not leave her system without a fight, and that fight will result in arduous pain and many days of healing.

CHAPTER NINE

EILISH

Geldingstock

Fae Realm

A brilliant white light blinds me, consuming my entire body. I can feel the power of its essence seeping into me, invading my skin. The power roars through me with a surge of energy that forces the sickness out of me, a sickness that’s been living as a parasite inside me for too long.

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