Page 55

Chapter Fifteen

Interlude

Larkin

In an instant, my feet were hitting the floor and Seb was backing away from me quickly, almost stumbling. But he’d already dragged my trunks down enough that they fell to my ankles the moment I was standing. Cheeks flaming, I quickly cupped my hands over my throbbing erection and kept my back pressed tightly to the wall.

“I’m sorry,” he croaked, brows pinched and eyes filled with something like devastation. “I’m so sorry, Lark, I… I got carried away—”

“No,” I blurted, trembling all over. “No, it’s not—I didn’t want to stop, but…”

I trailed off, the words getting stuck in my throat. In the painful ensuing silence, Seb swallowed hard and knelt to gently pull my trunks up for me. When they reached mid-thigh, I quickly grabbed them and tugged them up over my ass.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated hoarsely, standing up and backing away.

“No, seriously, dude,” I insisted, my voice wavering. “I really didn’t want to stop, b-but I… There’s something… um…”

Fuck. I had to tell him if we ever wanted to do more than mostly clothed handjobs and frottage. He was going to have to see it at some point.

“I have a tail, okay?” I blurted defensively, hot and cold shivers racing over my entire body. “And it’s weird and gross, and it—I’m really self-conscious about it.”

Seb was frozen in place, staring at me in shock. I squirmed and looked away, feeling mortified when my chin started wobbling.

I sniffed and stiltedly said, “I’ve had it since… It’s a birth… thing. The doctor called it a vestigial tail, and my parents decided not to get it removed when I was little because it’s not that big and they don’t think there’s anything wrong with it. They’re all about… you know. Loving yourself and whatever. But it… it’s ugly and gross and I wish they had, but I don’t want to say anything now and make them feel guilty.”

Seb exhaled a slow breath, his brow still pinched as he gazed at me with some other emotion now. Something that kind of made me want to bury myself against his chest and feel his big arms around me. My eyes were burning, so I looked away and blinked fast, wrapping my arms around my middle.

“Lark…” he said hoarsely, then audibly swallowed as he took a step closer before stopping again. “I have a tail too.”

My gaze snapped back to him, but after a few seconds I realised what he meant and shrugged stiffly. “Yeah, in your werewolf form, which is normal. Fae don’t have tails, so mine isn’t normal.”

“No,” he said steadily. “I can half shift, and my tail always appears when I do, which definitely doesn’t happen for everyone.”

I looked at him again and inhaled a fragile, hopeful breath. “R-really?”

He nodded, still gazing at me kind of like he wanted to come closer, but instead he reached for his trunks. “I’ll show you.”

My breath caught when he pulled them down and stepped out of them, and I realised this was the first time I was seeing Seb fully naked. He was so hot that I momentarily forgot what I’d just admitted to him. His cock was relaxed now, but still thick and long. The line of hair under his navel met the nest of short curls at its base. His hips were narrow, thighs thick and muscular and dusted with dark hair.

Then he turned around, and heat stabbed through my belly at the sight of his ass. Round and firm and smooth, but with a hint of dark hair just between his cheeks.

I’d seen a lot of asses in porn, but his was by far the best. By a freaking mile. It was unmatched. Not even Asmo’s perfect incubus ass could compare.

He started to half shift—which I hadn’t previously known werewolves could do—and his heels lifted off the ground as his feet turned into big paws. His hands were hanging by his sides, and I saw long black claws curving from his fingertips. He got even bigger, his back growing wider and the muscles more pronounced, as the skin on his legs and lower back turned to something that looked almost like suede. Short, fine dark brown fur.

And then a wolfy tail sprouted at the base of his spine. It was dark brown with a black tip, and it grew long enough to cover the cleft of his ass as it hung down.

“Oh,” I breathed shakily, my arms slowly loosening from around my middle. “You… you do have a tail.”

He glanced over his shoulder to smile at me, and I saw that his face had become a little more lupine, harsher, his eyes gleaming bright amber and fangs peeking from between his lips. His ears had grown pointed, his hair a touch longer and shaggier.

As he stood there naked in front of me, having made himself more vulnerable than me just to make me feel better, a lump formed in my throat. He was so… He was just… so nice.

“I like it.” A real but tenuous smile tilted my lips. “It looks soft.”

“Wolf fur is more coarse than soft.” His voice had become deeper and growlier too. My belly clenched in a rush at the sound of it.

“I bet it still feels nice.”