“Mencheres’s cottage in the Hamptons,” Ian said by way of explanation, tossing the bags onto one of the couches. “He won’t mind, and this area’s almost deserted in the winter, so we won’t have to fret about any nosy neighbors.”

Aside from the protection of being inside a private residence, the continuous salt spray also acted as a natural demon repellant, plus that same sea offered me an endless supply of water-fueled energy. Ian clearly wasn’t taking any chances.

“It’s great,” I said, setting Silver down. He immediately flew onto the couch and snuggled into the soft-looking cushions. Within moments, his eyes were shut. I must not be the only one who’d had enough of this day.

Ian came over and began to smooth my hair from my face, but he couldn’t get far since it immediately tangled around his fingers. Teleporting was hell on a hairstyle. My hair would look less disheveled if I’d been repeatedly electrocuted.

“None of this is great, Veritas.”

His hand stayed in my hair, while his gaze filled with an empathy I couldn’t stand to acknowledge. I tried to swallow away the new tightness in my throat. I didn’t deserve what was in his eyes. Not when I’d failed so badly by letting Ereshki fool me again. I’d put both of us in more danger than before, and that had already been in the you’re-probably-going-to-die category.

“I should start on a new protection spell,” I said, turning away to stride into the next room. It was a conservatory, and in another mood, I would have loved its windows-for-walls and bright white trim. Now, I hated it because the windows bounced my reflection back at me everywhere I looked. Still, it was better than Ian giving me none of the anger I deserved—and needed—to shield myself from the enormity of what I’d done.

Before I took my next step, Ian was in front of me.

“Veritas,” he began.

I grabbed him and yanked his head down to mine. Then I jumped up to wrap my legs around his waist. If I couldn’t avoid Ian, I could at least be sure he wasn’t in a talking mood.

He caught me, holding my hips while his mouth opened to give me a blisteringly sensual kiss. I sucked on his tongue, then dug my fangs in until I tasted the coppery-flavored wine of his blood. He rolled his hips, sending a sweet ache into my loins. Now I was thoroughly distracted, too.

“I’m going to bite you everywhere,” I breathed, dragging my fangs across his lower lip to suck the ruby drops that welled.

“Are you?” he growled as he untangled my legs from his waist, then dropped to his knees while holding my hips. He pressed his mouth between my legs and exhaled until his hot breath penetrated my clothes with its own touch.

An exquisite clenching had me gripping his head to hold him closer. He chuckled, and it went right through me as well, teasing flesh that throbbed to feel more of him. I tried to unzip my pants to give him better access, but he stopped me, chuckling again as he held me more firmly while releasing another deep, tantalizing exhale.

A cry left me when he ended that exhale with a lingering bite. My pants kept his fangs from piercing skin, but their skillful application of pressure sent ripples of ecstasy through me. His response to my cry was a deep lave that was somehow as erotic as if it had seared bare flesh. My hands trembled as they fisted in his hair. Now, I wanted him with a ferocity that made me feel as if I’d turned feral, and he hadn’t even gotten my pants off yet.

He wouldn’t anytime soon, either. I could see it in the sensually taunting glint in his eyes right before he lowered his mouth again. Another deep, molten exhale combined with more tantalizing friction had me shuddering against him. No, he’d tease me until I was mindless from desire, and as glorious as that usually was, I couldn’t wait for it. I had to have him now.

I closed my eyes, focusing on the part of him I needed deep inside me. Then I wrapped my power around that long, thick member and very gently pulled.

His surprised hiss felt like it went all through me.

“What are you doing?” he asked in a strangled voice.

I smiled without opening my eyes, pulling on that power gently again. Why had it never occurred to me to do this before? Erections were only possible when the member filled with blood. I could call that blood closer to the surface, until Ian was awash in sensitivity, making the barest brush of fabric from his pants feel the same as my mouth sliding up to engulf his cock.

Or my fangs sliding into its tip, if I focused that power more selectively while pulling on it a little harder . . .

He let out a hoarse shout, his grip on me tightening until I heard a rip and felt the give of fabric around my hips.

I stopped. “Too much?” He liked pain, but I was new to this, so I might have pulled too hard . . .

He rent my pants open and buried his mouth between my legs. Fireworks went off inside me, so consuming and continuous, everything else melted away. When the last orgasm faded enough for me to think again, I was on my back with my clothes in tatters and Ian was rising from my open thighs. He’d also removed his clothes and the horn, allowing the moonlight streaming in from the windows to cling to his body as if it was making love to him, too. His skin was almost as pale as those ethereal beams, making my thighs a far darker contrast as I lifted them to grip his hips when he slid forward to cover my body with his.

A strong arch of his hips tore a gasp from me as he filled me in one stroke. The pleasure was so intense, I dug my nails into his back, while my eyes closed from bliss.

“Don’t,” he said in a throaty voice. “Open your eyes.”

I did, seeing his tightly sculpted muscles bunch before another deep stroke cascaded more bliss into me. Then I looked at his face. Pleasure parted his lips, which were fuller from bringing me to multiple orgasms only moments before. His dark brows framed glowing emerald eyes and his auburn hair swung to brush his cheekbones with every nerve-sizzling stroke. If beauty could be poured into skin, it would look exactly like this.

“I’m going to come just from watching you,” I breathed.

His low laugh was filled with everything that made Ian addictive. “Not yet, but soon. You didn’t think I’d let you off without repaying you for making me cream my trousers with the naughty side of your powers?”

A smile teased my mouth. “So you did like that.”

Another twist of his hips briefly cleared my mind of thought. “. . . loved it,” I vaguely caught him saying. “Just like you’re going to love this.”

His hand left me as he raised it, fingers working a complex yet rapid spell. When he stopped, his outline blurred for a moment, then a second Ian pulled away from his body while the real Ian grinned at me.

“What?” I said with disbelief.

A grin lit Ian’s face before it was mirrored on the second, slightly shimmering Ian who now slid behind me.

“Temporary duplication spell,” Ian said, picking me up and settling me across his lap. That bared my back to the second Ian, who began to caress it. “He’s controlled by my desires, so everything I want to do, he does.”

He proved that by kissing me while his double’s hands wandered over the parts of my body Ian’s weren’t already caressing. Soon, his double’s mouth did, too, heightening pleasure already skyrocketing from those ceaseless thrusts.

If one Ian was insatiable, two were relentlessly, gloriously overwhelming. Nothing else existed because nothing else could get through the barrage of pleasure. When I finally sagged against him, too sated to move, he let out an amused grunt and gave a complicated snap of his fingers.