Page 67 of Whisper Woods

But I can see him, too. And even though he’s tense, there is straight up lust in his eyes, too. Dark and sexy as shit. A promise that we’ll work this out later. Together.With orgasms.

Maybe I could get him to show me his slit again? Fuck, that was hot.

Thankfully, one of my superpowers is overthinking, and all my practice over the years means that even under the stupefying effects of the beer, I still manage to jump through my thirty-thousand mental hoops with lightning speed.

It’s a gift.

I clear my throat and wink at Jeddy. “Nah, I didn’t fuck a vampire.” There is an audible groan as I wave a hand dismissively. Jeddy’s eyes sparkle mischievously. A natural show pony himself, he knows I’m just playing the crowd. And so I bite my lip, and give a subtle body roll, letting my hand drag across my belly to flash my lower abs and the V of my hips. “He fucked me.”

Hoots and hollers explode, while beings clamour to yell their questions at me. Fuzzy warmth fills my chest, bubbling out as a laugh. Ain tries to wrap his arm around me again, but he’s intercepted by Rafe, who’s sliced through the crowd to claim me as his own. He slides around me with his deadly grace, to stand behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist and propping his chin on my shoulder.

His beard scrapes behind my ear, sending a thrill up my spine. With his body pressed against me, his smokey-sweet scent torturing me, I send a quick prayer to the Gods that I don’t get hard in these flimsy-ass pants. There would be absolutely no hiding it.

Despite being in the valley of the Gods or whatever, they don’t listen. Or Rafe doesn’t. He brushes his mouth over my ear and I bite hard on my lip to hold in my whimper.

“You, my kushinavya, are in for trouble when we get home.”

Fuck these linen pants. I don’t know what’s hotter, the way he arches his hips into my ass, or the rumble of his “threat” as it vibrates down my spine straight to my balls.

“Promise?” I whisper back, dropping my head onto his shoulder so I can turn my face into his neck and inhale his scent. It layers on top of the beer I’ve been drinking, flooding my system with a heavy, pounding heat. My hips roll naturally with the rhythm of it, teasing us both.

Rafe chuckles darkly, nipping at my neck like an absolute dick. I whimper, and his hand slides under my shirt to stroke the skin under the low-slung waistband of these dumb pants.

“Oh, I promise.”

My knees shake with the effort of not collapsing entirely into him—especially when his other hand comes up to run his fingers through my hair. Areallyembarrassing sound passes through my lips when his strong fingers knead at my scalp. I melt faster than an ice cream in the sun. Rafe'soomphand soft laugh when he has to catch my weight makes my heart skip a beat.

“Oi, you two. Knock it off. Band’s about to start.” Red’s creepy disembodied voice is just the boner killer I need, especially with the double-whammy of the electric shock of her elbow hitting my guts.

My eyes open just enough to glare at her, but she just smirks, letting the current of the crowd swarming to the dance floor swallow her up.

“You’ll like this, I think.” Rafe whispers in my ear. “The band, they are friends of Brydon’s and are ratherinfluencedby the Mundane. They are pretty good.” Rafe mutters next to my ear, gently prodding me to stand under my own weight.

I concede with an exaggerated groan when he lets go of his delicious grip on me to take my hand.

“Ugh,fine.” I pout playfully, struggling to keep the grin from my face as I let him drag me onto the dance floor. The band—a group of dudes with long shaggy hair and much more Mundane influenced fashion than most in Tathys seem to favour—take to the stage.

They pick up their instrument—including a weird variation of a guitar, a set of drums that have been heavily modified and an old keytar held together with duct tape—and I give Rafe a confused side eye. He’s wrapped around my back again, his hands playing at my hips. He just grins that dark smirk at me and winks. This is either gonna be amazing or amazingly terrible. I have no ideawhich one.

“Thank you! We are Mundane Madness!” The lead singer yells, flipping his long hair back over his shoulders. There’s no microphone, but his voice projects over the crowd anyway. There is a rumble from the crowd, some enthusiastic shouts and some grumbles too, but the band doesn’t care. They start smashing at their instruments anyway.

Their music is loud, with a strange mishmash of styles that boils together into a bluesy, pop rock sound, with a surprising hint of country which is easy to dance to. It helps that the lead singer’s gravelly, soulful voice has a hypnotic, erotic quality. I swear if they don’t have siren blood in them, I’m a virgin.

Either way, Rafe’s right. I’m into it. Unlike the rest of the crowd, I don’t know the words to any of the songs, but it doesn’t matter. You don’t need to know them to dance along, and we do.

Well, I do. I spend the first song in his arms watching the band play, but as the crowd starts moving and the energy picks up, he kisses my neck and leaves me with Jeddy, the big guy—who’s name I finally find out is Brin, Ain, and Red who’ve all decided that I’m their new bestie.

Rafe’s eyes don’t leave me for a single moment from where he watches while talking to another group of beings. The conversation looks pretty intense, at one point one being jabs a finger into Rafe’s shoulder, getting in his face about something. I want to go and intervene, but Ain holds me back, shaking his head.

“You getting involved ain’t gonna help none.” He yells with a rough grip on my arm.

Red stops dancing too, casting a quick eye over to Rafe and then back to me. She moves closer, pressing her lips to my ear so I can hear over the music. “There are a lot of angry beings right now, Munish—your presence will not help. Angry beings do stupid things. Rafe can handle himself.”

Thankfully, the vibrations of the music offset the distortion of her voice. My new buds hold firm until they are satisfied I’m not going to cause trouble. And sure enough Rafe fronts up to the being, puffing up his chest as scales erupt over his skin. He doesn’t change his face, but the threat is still there when he lays a clawed hand on the other being’s chest and subtly pushes them back.

It probably shouldn’t be as hot as it is. But then, I’m weak for the man. He could butter toast and I’d think it was the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen.

By the time that Rafe swoops onto the dance floor, stealing me away with a feral growl, I’m on fire with need for him. Black claws grip my wrist, tight enough to leave bruises, but each little pin prick only makes me hotter. Rafe’s beast self is taking control, his midnight scales peeking out his collar. He doesn’t even give me time to say goodbye to my new friends, just hauls me out of the bar with his rough, dominating grip.

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