STORY EXCERPT

He wasn’t moving as he clutched that birch tree.

What the hell was he doing?

Injured maybe? Oz took a closer look, focusing his eyes.

Was that a blindfold over his eyes? What was some guy doing wearing a red blindfold?

The warlocks. Of course. They were probably trying to use this guy as a sacrifice for something. Maybe he was a wolf or a fox shifter. That would explain what that Dog catcher had been here for.

Fuck.

Oz didn’t want to land. He didn’t want to give up the chase, but if this was some innocent guy, if he was in trouble…

Oz wanted blood, but he didn’t want some dumb shifter getting killed out here because of him either.

Rolling his eyes, Oz swooped in for a landing. His wings clipped the tops of some of the trees. The man flinched at that, and Oz could smell the fear on him.

Fear, and something else.

He changed quickly, marching up to the guy and grabbing his arm. “Come on. You shouldn’t be out here.”

He didn’t have time for this, and he was pissed off that he even had to bother with it.

The man flinched again, as though Oz had struck him.

“Wh-who are you?”

“Not your business. Come on. We need to get out of here before that dragon comes back.”

Better this guy didn’t know that dragon was him if he couldn’t see.

But what was with the blindfold? And that red looked a little…off. Not entirely red.

Like dried blood. Oz could see the splotches of white where the blood hadn’t touched yet.

“What happened to you?”

He reached for the man’s face. The shock, the sudden heat that gripped him, was so great, so painful, and so entirely something else that he yanked his hand back away from it just as the man jerked back as well.

“Sorry, should have asked,” he said, though now Oz couldn’t stop looking at this guy.

Something was wrong with his eyes. Was he injured? Shit. Maybe Oz really shouldn’t touch him, but now that he was standing here, he couldn’t bring himself to back away.

“Are you in pain? I can take you somewhere safe. A hospital.”

The man shook his head. “Just leave me alone.”

Oz pressed his lips together. “You were running from those warlocks?”

The man cringed and clenched his teeth. “Did you kill them?”

“What makes you think it was me?”

The man’s mouth quirked. If Oz could have seen his eyes, he assumed the man would be giving him a dirty look.

“How can you tell? Can you actually see?”

He reached for the man’s face again. He kind of wanted to yank that dirty thing off his face so he could finally look the man in the eyes. Like a proper male would.

The fact that this guy jerked back as though he could see Oz’s hand coming solidified it.

“You can see.”

He shook his head. “Just go away. I…I’m going home. I want to be alone.”

“You’re in the middle of nowhere, and those warlocks were out here for a reason. Hold still!”

He grabbed the man’s blindfold and yanked at it. The man flinched and struggled, but it was nothing compared to Oz’s strength.

“Let me go!”

“Take that off!”

He didn’t know why. He didn’t know why he wanted to see so badly, but he did. He needed to see what was going on here. He needed to see those eyes!

Oz finally snapped the blindfold off. Every skin-to-skin touch sent an odd shockwave down his fingers, along his arms, and to his chest and belly. His dick actually twitched, as though he needed to get off and right now or else he would burst.

Something old and instinctual within him spread its wings and roared a victorious sound at that sensation.

The man covered his eyes with his hand. “Go away!”

No. He couldn’t. Oz grabbed the man’s wrist.

Again with that shock of electricity and heat. Oz could hardly catch his breath.

This was important.

“Let me see.”

He pulled the man’s hand back. There was some resistance, but this was not a warrior. Oz wasn’t sure what he was, but he needed to see.

When he did see, Oz wished with everything inside him that he hadn’t.

The man’s eyes…one of them was gone, the other was pale and milky in color. Burn marks around the socket showed what had happened to him, what had brought this about.

It wasn’t natural, that was for damned sure.

Someone had done this to him. Oz’s heart sank. Someone had done this.

He touched the man’s face, unsure why he felt his throat close and his eyes burn. “God, what did they do to you?”

The warlocks. It had to be them. There was no way in hell it wasn’t. They were the only ones who could be so cruel. They were the ones who wanted to take out Scott’s eyes because they had been mismatched.

Did this man had mismatched eyes as well? Was that why they had done this?

“Go away. Please leave me alone.”

Oz shook his head then remembered the man likely couldn’t see him. “No. I’ll take you with me. I’ll kill the people who did this to you. I swear to you. I promise you on everything I am.”

One more reason to get his revenge. One more reason to make sure every single one of those devils suffered for what they did.

“I don’t want you to kill them.”

Oz didn’t understand. “Why not? If you could see what they did to you—”

He stopped at the sudden sight of a bright blue light between them.

That blue light, held in the long fingers of the man without his eyes.

A warlock.

“They’re my family.”

The man blasted Oz with that icy energy, sending him flying backward with a sharp cry as the cold seeped right into his heart.

ADULT EXCERPT

His hair was shockingly soft. It seemed longer on one side than the other, but not by much. Oz doubted he would be able to get a good grip on it. If he’d been into gripping hair when he was being fucked.

“Can you see me like this?”

Thorn yanked his hand away.

“Don’t.” Oz grabbed Thorn’s hand, putting it back. “I like it.”

“I should have asked first.”

“You don’t need to ask for a damned thing.” Again, his voice was husky. Low with desire. Thorn shivered to think that he was the one making Oz feel that way.

“I can’t see you, not really, but this…I like this. I like learning all the little things about you.”

Thorn’s heart pounded. His cock ached to be touched. He wanted to touch more than Oz’s hair and face. He lowered his hands, finding Oz’s waist then cupping his hand over the man’s still-clothed cock.

That space between his legs was hot under his jeans, and hard. Oz groaned, and Thorn felt…powerful. More so than he'd ever felt with any of his magic

“I want you to fuck me. You said you would, right?”

Oz growled. “Yes.”

Thorn shivered a little. He could have sworn that he heard a little something like the dragon within Oz’s words.

But then it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered as Oz put his knee onto the bed, his powerful hands grabbing Thorn by his naked waist, adjusting his body until he was positioned just right, and then Thorn was between Oz’s legs.

He heard the rustle of clothes, felt heated skin. Thorn bit down on his lower lip. He watched Oz’s aura moving about, reaching. A drawer nearby opened. Thorn knew what Oz was grabbing. Something was going to be needed for this part.

“Have you ever been fucked before?”

Thorn shook his head. “No.”

The bright aura seemed to stiffen.

“Not a virgin,” Thorn clarified. “Was just never on this end before.”

The light seemed to relax. Oz’s hand slid up and down Thorn’s hip, as though the man thought he was soothing a tense animal. “You nervous?”

Thorn wet his lips. “A little.”

“I promise, you’ll like this.”

“Because of the mating heat?”

Again, that light stiffened. “You knew about that?”

“I wasn’t sure if it was real. You didn’t seem to feel it.”

Oz sputtered, as though that was by far the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard.

"I guess you were feeling it?"

“You and I are going to talk when we’re done here. Lift your hips.”

Thorn did as he was told. It was a bit of an embarrassing position to be in, especially as Oz spread his legs out, exposing his asshole and cock.

Thorn had only ever been with two other people in his life. One a woman and one a man, experimenting, trying to find out what he’d liked. Neither had been really satisfied, but before Oz had the chance to really touch him, Thorn felt an excitement bubbling up with the fear.

Not fear. Not really. More like adrenaline. This excited him. This vulnerability. This position that forced him to trust Oz even more than he already thought was possible.

He liked it. He wanted more of this. He wanted this man’s cock inside him because he already knew he was going to like it.

Oz took Thorn’s dick in hand. Thorn’s spine arched beneath the heat of that grip. He expected Oz's fingers to feel rough and callused, but it was fine. His fingers were firm on Thorn’s cock without being too gentle, and he held Thorn’s prick in just the right way to make his body tingle with the hint of pleasure to come.

Again, Oz’s voice was low, brimming with sexuality and desire. “I’ve wanted to touch you like this for days. Christ.”

He had? Thorn felt a ripple pass beneath his skin, but before he could say anything, Oz pumped his hand, and Thorn sighed, leaning into the touch.

“I couldn’t touch you before." Oz's fist glided up and down the length of Thorn's prick. "Not with what happened. You were healing. It wasn’t right.”

Thorn shook his head. He wanted to tell Oz that he could touch him whenever he damn well pleased, but again, Oz beat him to the punch when Thorn felt a warm, wet mouth around the head of his cock before sinking down the shaft.

His fell back onto his hands, sighing at the ceiling. Thorn couldn’t think. He barely knew if he was breathing or not as it was.

God! Even Oz’s mouth was powerful! The heat. The slide of his tongue around Thorn’s shaft before his cheeks tightened and his head bobbed back and forth…

Thorn gasped for breath. Even with his previous lovers, he’d never thought pleasure like this could be possible. His body was alive for the first time in years, and he didn’t know what to do with this surge of energy building within him.

His hand found Oz’s hair again. He tried gripping it, but could barely get that done with the length of his hair. Then he tried to pull Oz’s mouth down deeper around his cock.

So good. So good.

Oz chuckled, pulling his mouth back and swatting away Thorn’s hand.

“Not so out of energy, are you?”

Thorn almost didn’t catch those words. When he did, he looked down at Oz’s aura. “What?”

Oz trailed his fingers up Thorn’s thigh. Thorn shivered as electricity followed that touch.

“All the hairs on your arms and legs are standing up. You keep sending shocks through me.”

Thorn tensed. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. It felt nice. Just don’t do it too much or else it might not feel so nice. Know what I mean?”

Thorn swallowed hard, and he nodded. “I didn’t think I had any energy left.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Oz actually pressed a kiss to the head of Thorn’s prick, giving his dick another couple of mercy pumps.