Drayce’s muscles stiffened. “Neara, what are you—”
“This moss isn't part of you. Please, let me take it off.”
“But, it’s my skin,” he said.
“Like those scales?” I asked.
Drayce tilted his head. “What are you talking about?”
My hands dropped to my sides. This male was either an impostor taking on Drayce’s form to trap me here, or the moss would consume Drayce until he completely disappeared. Either way, I had to tear that moss off his back, even if it hurt.
Chapter 7
I knelt behind Drayce, threaded my fingers into the growth on his back, and gripped hard. Its cool and damp and velvety strands resisted the slightest tug, and I pulled harder. The leaves rustled overhead in their branches, perhaps in a warning for me to stop interfering with the enchantment. It only hardened my determination
“Neara?” Drayce’s voice faltered. “What are you doing?”
“Do you remember how we met?” I asked.
He shook his head, and moonlight shone through the bed curtains, coloring the ends of his hair a deep, forest green.
“You were under a similar curse and trapped in a body of scales.”
I wrapped an arm around his front, rested a hand on his smooth chest, and stroked gentle trails with my fingertips. “Do you trust me?”
His tense muscles relaxed. “Of course, Neara.”
“Let me do this.” I whispered into his ear, still holding onto the moss. “Let me set you free.”
He paused for several moments, seeming to consider my words. Whatever kept him rooted to this bed likely wanted him to convince me to stay, to fall asleep, and to become ensnared. I continued running my fingertips up and down his chest, grazing the tight muscles of his abdomen.
Drayce tilted his head back, exposing his throat, and I pressed kisses along the column of his neck. I let my fingers wander down well-developed abdominal muscles, still smooth as the skin of his chest.
Each circle I rubbed against his tight abdomen brought me closer to his arousal. His chest rose and fell in time with his rapid breaths, and he canted his hips toward my hand. I let my little finger graze the tip of his manhood, eliciting a pleasured hiss.
“Will you allow me to tear the moss from your back?” I murmured into his pointed ear.
“Lie with me first.” He twisted, wrapped a strong arm around my middle, and laid me on the bed. The heat of his arousal seared into my thigh, contrasting with the cool and spongy moss beneath our naked bodies.
The way he caressed me with his lips and teeth and tongue, the way his large hands threaded through mine, and the way he rubbed his hardness against my core was Drayce. My mischievous, teasing Drayce, who had awakened something within me I couldn’t resist, not even when he was covered in scales.
His lips parted from mine and kissed a line of fiery kisses down my neck that sent trails of fire rushing to where I needed him most. I bit down hard on my lip and focussed on my task, but it was near impossible with Drayce devouring me as though I was his only source of sustenance.
I pulled at the moss on his back, and a tearing sound reached my ears. Drayce broke away from my neck and arched, letting out a cry of pain that shattered my heart.
“Neara, don’t,” he said through clenched teeth.
This was just like the time I threw his scales onto the flames. Worse, because that had been an act in the heat of hatred and anger and vengeance. Once his scales had caught fire, it had been too late to stop. Now, I had to continue tearing handful after handful of what felt like his skin.
With my left hand, I reached between us and wrapped my fingers around his length. Drayce exhaled a long, shuddering breath and let his eyes flutter shut.
“Endure it.” I caressed his hardness with long, even strokes. “Once you’re free, I’ll give you anything you want.”
The muscles in his beautiful face tightened, and he offered me a sharp nod. I pulled another handful of moss from his back, making him shudder with a mix of pleasure and pain.
For what felt like hours, I held him on a precipice, promising more if he would just withstand this torture. Molten heat seared between my legs as he shivered and pulsed under my touch.
Drayce moaned and sobbed and cried for release—whether it was from the pain of what I was doing to his back or the hold I had over his pleasure, I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t think about it until I had cleared the last trace of that enchantment.
By the time I tore the last clump of moss from his skin, he slumped on top of me, exhausted and spent.
Desire rippled across my nerve endings, and every fiber of my being yearned for his touch. Hot, heavy breaths heaved from my lungs, and a deep hunger spasmed through my core.
Struggling against the fog of need, I pulled myself out from under his weight and knelt on the mattress. The clumps of moss I had extracted had already mingled with the bed and carpet, but Drayce was now free. The skin of his back was red and raw and spotted with blood, much as how I would expect from wrenching away a person’s hair from their head.
He stared up at me with pain-filled eyes, the trust in them faltering. “Will you stay with me, now?”
“One more thing,” I said, my chest tightening with guilt.
Drayce’s gaze dropped to the moss. “But you said—”
“Step off the bed.” I glanced over my shoulder to the room.
The tree’s canopy now covered the entire ceiling, with their tips forming a cornice of leaves that encroached the white walls. Silver berries dangled from the trees’ thick branches, each orb matching the light and shadows of the moon.
I scrambled off the bed and stepped out from the curtains. “Drayce.” I kept my voice sharp. “Come here.”
He stared
