Akane leaned back and propped her heels on the edge of the table, holding herself spread open. Her toes curled. “Mmm.”

Shane could feel his magic flexing, the sparks dancing along his skin. There was no way he could stop himself from completing the Claiming, not if he made love to her. Green and gold sparks lit the room, the light strong enough to dance across Akane’s skin. If she was going to object, now had to be the time, while he could still force himself away from her.

When her hips thrust up into his face he took that as consent.

Shane proceeded to lick his mate’s pussy with all the fervor of a starving man determined to get every last crumb on his plate. The panties were soon toast, Akane’s claws ripping them away so he could get to her unhindered. He spared a single, mourning thought for the pretty lace before he dove back in.

He planned on seeing her in white lace again, the sooner the better.

Akane leaned back and let Shane have his wicked way with her body. His mouth was so good on her, his lips and tongue playing her pussy like a virtuoso. Shane seemed to be one of those men who truly enjoyed eating out his partner, and Akane was the lucky, lucky recipient of his talent.

She purred in pleasure as he took her clit between his lips, stroking it over and over with his tongue until she exploded for him. “More.” She sat up and grabbed his head, pulling that talented mouth to her breast. Her core throbbed, wet and needy.

She didn’t know if she was going to kill Tristan or kiss him for this.

Shane suckled her through the thin lace bra, turning the lace transparent. He pulled away and traced the wet material with his finger, and damn if he didn’t have the most reverent look on his face. “You are so beautiful.” His eyes had darkened to near black, his face filled with need.

“Let me see you.” If they were going to do this, she wanted all of him. She had no idea what he’d look like, but hybrids like herself and Shane often had an unusual appearance that could freak others out.

Akane had no intention of being freaked, no matter how odd Shane’s true appearance was. After all, she was also a hybrid and understood what could happen, the strange way their unique abilities could etch themselves into their skin and bones.

His brows rose, but Shane did what she wanted. He dropped his human Seeming, and she got a look at her man without the filter of his fake humanity. Akane almost swallowed her tongue at her first sight of Shane without his Seeming.

He was gorgeous. The vibrant red-gold hair of his human Seeming seemed dull as dishwater compared to the almost metallic shine of his true appearance, rich as Black Hills gold mixed with copper. His hair grew to just below his shoulders, emphasizing his strong jaw. Those blazing sapphire eyes glittered like dark jewels, the whorls of his leprechaun heritage emphasizing them like pale tribal markings. Light danced around him, gold and green, in a hypnotic pattern, sometimes random, sometimes making figures or places she could almost see. Before she could make sense of them they were gone, lost in the dancing fireworks display around her man. His skin sparkled like it was coated in golden glitter, reflecting the light of his magic back into the room, creating a halo like effect around his body. Even his fingernails glittered with green and gold, as if he’d been carved from the very earth itself and adorned with its finest gems.

“My god,” she breathed, taking his face between her palms.

His slow smile took him from gorgeous to breathtaking. It was like he’d been made from her dreams, carved from her deepest desires. There was no way Akane could turn away from him now.

“Now you.”

Akane closed her eyes. In her human form, she was cute. Her true appearance, however, left much to be desired. She was nowhere near Shane in looks when she let her inner hybrid out.

“Akane.” A kiss brushed across her cheek, scented with her essence. “Let me see you, a ghrá.”

Akane took a deep breath and dropped her Seeming.

Shane bit back a moan as Akane’s hair rose from her neck in an unseen breeze. Most thought dragons were fire or water elementals, but they were wrong. Only those borne of air could fly, and Akane was surrounded by her element. Deep golden horns glittered atop her head. The iris of her eyes widened, ate up the whites until they could barely be seen. The dark brown eye darkened to black, the hazel star in its center lightening to purest, scintillating gold. Her other, more draconic eye matched the golden star in color if not in impact. It was as if that star was truly glowing in the center of her Seer’s eye. The gift of her mother’s heritage shone with a light of its own, more fascinating than any star Shane had ever seen.

Akane’s skin went from lightly tanned to deep gold. Her hands turned black halfway up her forearms, the deadly claws she’d unsheathed blending in seamlessly. Her fangs poked her full bottom lip, enticing Shane to lick them until she begged for mercy. But best of all those glorious golden wings of hers rose above them both, stretching until they almost touched the ceiling of his studio before settling around his mate like a golden cloak for a dragon queen.

Akane’s head tilted, the star in her eye glowing fiercely. “You think I’m beautiful.”

Her voice echoed with power, part her mother’s heritage, part her father’s. Thanks to her powers she could see exactly how he saw her, her golden breasts barely held back by white lace, her deadly claws carefully stroking his back.

Or not. Shredded, his shirt fell from his back, his skin barely marked.

“Want you naked.”

Shane covered his privates before she could shred his jeans. “Leave me something to go back to the house in, a ghrá.”

“What does that mean?” Her gaze was glued to his cock as he stripped off his jeans.

He palmed himself, grinning mischievously. “It means I want you.” She growled at him, and he laughed. “It means my love.”

She jerked. “And a stor?”

“My darling.”

He held still as her wings extended behind him. He could almost taste the panic in her. “It’s too soon for love.”

He let that pain slide through him. For her, perhaps, it was too soon. He’d been lost the moment he’d seen his own future in metal and glass. He’d have to make her believe it, because Shane Joloun Dunne wasn’t going anywhere without Akane Russo, even if he had to stuff her in an adult-sized baby papoose and cart her around on his back kicking and screaming. He cupped her cheek despite knowing she could easily gut him in this position. “You are a ghrá mo chroí.”

“Shane.”

“Do you want to know what that means?” He kissed her, the tips of her fangs tickling his tongue. “It means my heart’s beloved.”

She shuddered. The aphrodisiac was still in her system. Soon it would compel her forward to take him. To Claim him, whether she liked it or not. “You don’t know me.”

His brows rose. For just an instant his lights created Akane, the piece he’d named after her.

Her hand reached out to touch the sparks but they dispersed, Akane lost once more to the dance. She whimpered. He wasn’t sure if it was because she hadn’t been able to touch Akane or if the desire had begun to ride her once more. Her wings enfolded him, drawing him closer, and Shane decided it must the aphrodisiac.

He pulled her close, determined to wring every last drop of pleasure he could from her body. If all he could count on to hold her was pleasure, then he’d make sure to deliver it to her in spades.

Akane shivered as Shane’s feelings ran through him and into her. The warmth of his love washed over her, settled the jitters Tristan’s little present had left her with. She took his hands and placed them on her skin, hoping he’d get the hint.