Page 63 of Stolen
I catch sight of creatures flitting between branches, their feathers glittering like crushed gemstones.
And down near the edge of the clearing, a fox-shaped animal curls in a patch of sun. Its fur ripples with threads of gold.
A little farther away, tiny critters, almost like bunnies, sniff around, nibbling on sweet grass.
“Are those, I mean, they look like?” I start, eyes wide.
“Those are some of the benevolent creatures of Nightfall,” Alaric answers, his voice emoting power, but wrapped in velvet.
“You might see echoes of their Earthbound kin, but they carry the realm’s magic in every hair and bone.”
I watch as the fox lifts its head and stares back at me with eyes too intelligent to be anything but sentient.
Then it yawns and returns to its nap.
“Wow,” I whisper.
Alaric’s gaze, however, is on me. And when I turn to meet it, I feel the shift.
We are alone here.
Completely.
The air thickens with something warm, heady, and unmistakable.
I glance at the pool tucked behind a cluster of massive boulders, a natural bath carved by the falls. It’s partially hidden from the main glade, perfectly private.
Steam curls up from its surface, and the water glows faintly.
“Can we swim in there?” I ask, already imagining what it might feel like to slip in.
He dips his head, the corner of his mouth twitching with a barely there smile.
“Yes, if you like. These falls feed the Nightfall River. Its waters run through the entire realm. There is no purer current.”
I step toward the pool, but I feel him mobbing behind me. It’s unmistakably him.
His energy, his focus.
When I turn back, my breath catches.
Alaric is naked.
Like, completely naked.
One moment he was clothed in his billowy shirt and tight black pants—and the next?
Gone.
Just seven feet of muscled, tattooed, gorgeous male, standing there like temptation incarnate.
And then I feel it.
Cool air brushes across my own skin.
I look down, and yep.
No clothes.
