chortle contains far too much mischief as he follows after her to retrieve supper from the fire.
Chapter 24
Steph
Yawning, I twitch against the warmth beneath my cheek. The heat is incredible compared to the cool air around me, so I wiggle my hips and attempt to snuggle closer. The heat cocoons further around me as my heater turns toward me, drawing me in closer. And right on top of something hard that digs into my hip. I groan and lift my head and blink groggily as I stare absently at the expanse of pale flesh that was beneath my cheek.
Eliph?
Slowly, not sure if I’m dreaming or not, I tilt my head back to get a better view of who or what I am pressed up against. Tipping my head back, despite the morning light through the trees, I’m able to see instead the familiar lines of a male’s strong jaw and the plane that slopes up to his cheekbones. His pale eyelashes shadow his cheeks, and his lips are slightly parted in slumber.
I gape at him for a second, my brain connecting the dots that somehow not only do I have the unicorn wrapped around me, but I’m also practically on top of him too. When did that happen?
Despite that glimmer of intimacy before the naga attacked, I know for a fact that I didn’t sleep with him. I don’t even recall falling asleep this close to him, but at some point during the night, we ended up curled up together, his arm fitted around me as if it always belonged there.
And I like it. Which makes me want to groan because now with his semi-erection pressed up against me, I’m feeling all kinds of awkward, like I’m violating the boundary he asked for.
Well, damn.
I shift my hips in attempt to slide off without waking him, but he groans in his sleep and draws me closer, shifting as he does so that I’m plastered against him with that now fully between us.
I consider shoving him away or attempting to throw my body weight enough to flop out of his arms, but it is seductively comfortable to lay here and at this moment I am a weak woman. He will disentangle us when he wakes—and do so as politely as possible, I’m sure—but for now I want to savor this unexpected closeness while I can before we are forced to get up and have to deal with reality.
Giving into temptation, I curl back into him and rest my head against his chest once more. Skating my fingers down his arm, I admire our contrasts and differences. My smooth brown fingers sliding over his immortal moonlight velvet as I listen to the even rhythm of his heart beating in his chest. It’s so much like that of a man that it would be easy to forget that it’s a unicorn who holds me. All the differences that we have, and yet last night those differences seemed to melt away so easily.
Of course, I’m pretty certain that I’m no longer entirely human. It should have occurred to me with the fairies lusting after my blood and all, or even Eliph saying as much, but it hadn’t hit home until I experienced the magic for myself. I hadn’t been able to believe it, or him until that moment. I had to experience it to know that my perceptions of myself—the fact that I don’t feel or look any different than I always had—didn’t really mean anything in the greater scheme. It feels completely insane to think I’m some sort of half-unicorn right now, but the truth is staring me right in the face. These differences—his exotic appearance—they are physical, but I felt that magic and it is a part of me now.
Strictly speaking, he feels a part of me in ways that I only got a hint of with his intimate communication through our bond before. And its more than just his magic. I feel close to him in a way that I haven’t felt in a long time.
I’m guessing that Eliph has been able to see that all along. The gulf between us had been so small in his eyes that he crossed it like stepping over a creek. He never once acted disgusted for having me as his mate like that innkeeper had. I mean, he’s always been upfront about wanting me, and I’ve seen the admiration in his eyes. But I also know that I’m not just a human body easily interchangeable