Serena
His hand was still extended between us. I looked at it for a moment and decided
"Yes," I answered softly. while placing my hand softly into his hands
He closed his fingers around mine, and I felt my wolf go completely still.
He led me off the balcony gently without a word.
The room was on the upper floor, quiet and far from the hall. I could still feel the heat through the walls, but here it was wilder
He closed the door behind us, shutting off the outside world.
I stood in the middle of the room, my face to him.
His mask and mine were still made, discussions were made, but somehow it had been understood. This was the agreement we made without words on the balcony. For tonight, we were still nobody.
"Are you nervous?" he asked. He had moved to stand a few feet from me.
"A little," I said honestly.
"Good," he said. "So am I."
I looked at him, not anticipating that.
"You don't look it," I said jokingly
"I hide it well." The corner of his mouth lifted beneath the mask. "You asked me earlier what I do when nobody is watching. This is what I don't do. Usually."
"Bring women to hotel rooms at masquerade balls?" I questioned with a tease
"Talk to them," he declared. "The way I talked to you."
I didn't quite know what to do with the new information, so I looked away shyly
He crossed the space between us slowly, and he lifted my jaw to make me look at him again
"Still want this?" he said quietly.
"I've never second guessed a decision in my life," I said more confidently than before.
He trailed kisses down my neck while slowly undoing my dress
He stopped as the dress slid down my shoulders onto the floor, revealing my alluring figure
He looked at me like a predator looking at its prey
And we spent the night tangled in the sheets
The night was beautiful, exciting, and free, a mixture of two hot bodies connected as one, nothing like the careful, managed version of myself I had worn for years.
There were moments we stopped to take a breath or to speak.
At one point, I was laying on my back with the red light of the moon coming faintly through the curtains, and he was beside me.
He said quietly, "Tell me something authentic."
I thought about it.
"I used to climb the oak tree at the edge of the manor grounds when I was small," I said. "Before my father decided I was old enough to have appearances to maintain. I would go up there after dinner and sit.
Sometimes for hours. Nobody ever thought to look up."
He was quiet for a moment.
"What did you think about?" he said.
"That I was someone else," I said. "Someone who could stay up in trees."
He turned his head toward me, and I felt his eyes on me even through the mask.
"And now?" he said.
"Tonight I was," I said.
He said nothing. But I felt his hand find my body and pull me closer to his chest
Much later, when the Blood Moon had shifted, and the red in the room had faded to something darker, we lay together in the quiet and breathing.
"I will not ask your name," he said.
"I know," I said.
"But I want to," he said.
"I know that too."
He exhaled slowly. "This night was—" he stopped.
"Yes," I said, before he could find the word. Because whatever word he chose would not have been sufficient, and I already knew it.
"If things were different," he started.
"Don't," I said gently. "Let's not do that part."
He was quiet. Then, "Alright."
We lay there until our breathing slowed down and deepened, and the room became still around us.
I woke up to the sun directly in my face and the sheets entangled around my body
For a second, I didn't know where I was. Then the memories from the night before settled back into my head, the music, the balcony, the stranger and his silver eyes, his hand in mine, and I lay very still while my heart quickened
The sheets beside me were warm but empty.
Then I heard water running in the bathroom.
I sat up slowly, and my mask was still on my face
I looked at the bathroom door, light oozing out from beneath, and I could hear the sound of water running
The floor was cold as I swung my legs from the bed onto the floor and moved, and I got dressed without thinking, muscle memory helping me out as my mind was somewhere else entirely.
I was reaching for my shoes when something made me pause.
The bathroom door wasn't fully closed; there was a gap where the door didn't fully close. Through it came the steam, the sound of water, and a strip of light.
I should have left. I had my shoes and everything, and I was already almost gone. Instead, curiosity killed the cat, and I moved toward the gap.
Through the narrow space, I could see the mirror above the sink, and across the shower glass was him.
His mask was gone.
I trailed the reflection slowly, the width of his back, the way his buttocks clenched as he washed, his waistline, his magnificent abs, and the way the water moved over his skin
Then I moved lower, and back up again, and as I tilted my face to get a look at his face in the mirror's edge, something caught my eye before his features came into view.
His collarbone.
On the left side, just below his neck and close to his shoulder, was a mark I didn't quite recognize
A birthmark, shaped like a diamond, and a scar running across his collarbone down to his left nipple
The room tilted when my phone vibrated
Nyla—
"Where are you? The guards have been searching for you," Nyla exclaimed almost immediately.
Panic spread across my face