Page 228 of Sigils & Spells

The passing minutes felt both like seconds and hours somehow at the same time. Things moved as though in slow motion, yet time seemed unbearably fast. Each moment passing so swiftly into the next leaving the former a memory that would live on repeat in her mind, of that she had no doubt. As he finished removing his pants and then rolled on the condom, Ravyn undressed, feeling his gaze travel every part of her like an intimate caress.

And then he returned to her embrace, pushing between her legs with such gentle reverence that tears threatened to return again. It only hurt a little, but Daniel distracted her with deep kisses and one hand between them, petting her above where their bodies were joined until the pleasure of the fullness outweighed discomfort. She whimpered as he began to move in earnest, stroking something she couldn’t name within her. The pressure built like musical notes approaching some great crescendo, except she was the instrument, and Daniel never missed a note.

Ravyn didn’t know how she knew it, but this was the man for her. The one she’d been destined for. As her head dropped back on the pillow and she cried out in release, she let the tears fall in earnest.

She might have just sealed his fate, and she’d done it with selfish abandon.

CHAPTER11

Don’t be nervous.

Easier said than done, that. Seriously, one would think Daniel had never gone to a dance before, and he was technically an adult now. In the time that passed since Ravyn and he had been intimate, it was as though something had shifted. What he did, how he acted…it all mattered. Not because she was shallow or anything, but becauseshemattered to him. Childhood was over. Every choice he made affected his future.

He wanted Ravyn in that future. It wasn’t like he was considering marriage or anything like that so soon, but he didn’t want to mess it up. Daniel wanted to be a man she found desirable and dependable. Everything she could want.

As he lifted is hand to knock on the door to her dorm, someone cleared their throat from behind him. Daniel turned, smile fading as he realized Gabe stood there, appearing no more overjoyed to see him. He wore black dress pants and a white button-down—at least it looked like it might be a white button-down—under a black hoodie. He also wore, and what a shock, black sneakers to complete the ensemble.

Meanwhile, Daniel had tried to mix things up a bit. He’d chosen a burgundy pair of slacks and a matching jacket. His dress shirt was black. Red and black felt like a good choice for Halloween, after all. He damned sure didn’t wear sneakers with his dress clothes. His mother had made sure he knew how to dress when the occasion called for it.

“Keep sneering at me like that, pretty boy, and see what happens.”

Daniel started to retort when the door behind him opened, and he turned. What were words? He suddenly couldn’t form any. The vision in front of him wore a plum-colored dress so dark it was nearly black; its skirt was cropped short in the front but trailed long in the back. She had chosen a pair of patent-leather, high-heeled boots that encased her fishnet-encased legs to just over her knees. And the bird skull pendent held around her neck by a black velvet ribbon fell beak first into the top of her cleavage, like an arrow directing his gaze. Completing the look with curled hair, loose around her shoulders, dark purple eyeshadow and black lipstick and nails, his girlfriend had never looked sexier, and he wasn’t sure he was going to make it to the dance at all.

The things going through his brain, which he became fairly sure had short-circuited, would frighten her. Surely.

“I swear to every god that every person has ever worshiped that I will lock you in a closet if you don’t stop drooling in the middle of the hallway, pretty boy.” Aggravation seeped from Gabe’s voice. “I don’t want your saliva on my shoes.”

Not trusting his ability to speak, he didn’t even comment, just moved to the side with Ravyn as she fully exited the room. Aoibhe had dressed in a white ethereal lace gown that fell to her ankles and had braided her hair in a half-up, half-down look. He did a double-take, thinking she had done some sort of face paint on her cheek, but at second glance, Daniel saw nothing. A trick of the light, nothing more.

Her friend was very pretty tonight, but Ravyn took his breath away. “I think you should wear tall boots and fishnets every day.”

Giggling, Ravyn took his outstretched hand and he pulled her close to him. “You are looking pretty hot yourself, Mr. O’Connor.”

“Oh, stop.” He brushed a bit of hair out of his eye. He needed a haircut. If he put it off any longer, it would be as long as his brother’s. “You’re going to make me blush.” And give him a massive…ego.

Faux gagging finally snapped him out of his stupor. Daniel glared over his shoulder at Gabe. Aoibhe had placed a hand on his arm as though trying to divert his attention back to her. Whatever she was doing, it seemed to work.

Momentarily.

“Do we really have to spend the evening with them?” he asked the pale-haired beauty.

“Nope,” Daniel bit out.

“Yes,” Aoibhe said with a glare of her own. “At least until we get there. Then we can go our own ways.”

Gabe grunted, Ravyn giggled, and Daniel groaned. What a fun lot they all were.

Surprisingly, though, the walk down to the gymnasium, which had been turned into a dance floor not unlike a high school, wasn’t too painful. Gabe behaved, seeming happy enough to have Aoibhe on his arm for the night. The general consensus among the group was to go check it out, then go their own way when they got hungry enough to walk to the cafeteria or wherever else the night led them.

Daniel knew for a fact that his dormmate hated school functions he didn’t have to go to and had disappeared to the mainland for the whole weekend with some friends he had in town. Just in case they needed a place to be alone. Without the prospect of Gabe and Aoibhe walking in on them.

Okay, so he was definitely doing a bad job of staying in the moment and not thinking with his dick. He was a guy. Somehow, he didn’t think he was going to grow out of this way of thinking, but he was trying not to.

And then he’d see that creamy thigh peeking out under the skirt, above the boots, through those tights.Gah.A woman’s thighs were his favorite part of the female body. He couldn’t help but be distracted thinking about those fishnet-encased legs wrapped around him..

“What is with all the moths?” a female student asked, swatting the air in front of her and her date, as they exited the gym. Daniel caught the door and held it open for everyone in the group. Before following them, he looked back toward the softly lit campus. Fluttering insects floated in and out of view. Therewerea lot of moths lately. Seemed like they had finally moved away from Ravyn’s dorm toward the rest of the island.

As he took a step into the building, he paused. And frowned. Around the corner, in the tree line, two red dots hovered about six feet or so from the ground.Were those…eyes?

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