I gasp as his hands stroke up the inside of my thighs, my midnight lilac dress slipping open at the slit. His mouth scorches mine and one of his hands plays across my center in confident strokes that send me into a spiral, making me forget I’d only wanted a taste, but now I need so much more.
His other arm—the one with the tattoo—slides around my shoulders to support my back. Gasping at the intense pleasure rippling through me, I hook my right leg around his hips and arch back against his arm. I love this dress but it’s suddenly an impediment to what I want—his naked body on mine.
“You’re the most stunning woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he says, drawing back to meet my eyes. “Do you believe me?”
His words strike a chord inside me. A euphoria rolls through my core, making me shiver. “I believe that you believe it,” I say, my voice a husky whisper.
Removing his remaining clothing, he scoops me farther up the bed, slipping off my underpants a second later. My hands slide around his chest, preparing to shift forward, but he moves me into a sitting position while he works at the back of my dress. Peeling the material off my shoulders, he follows its downward path with his hands and lips, finally lifting my hips to remove the dress completely and drop it to the floor. He takes his time returning to my mouth, nudging the inside of my thighs, dropping warm kisses along the curve of my stomach, exploring the shape of my breasts.
When he kisses me again, my core burns with need. He seems to be waiting for something and I force myself to remember what he said to me before.
If I want more, I need to ask.
I arch up, hook my leg around his hip, and draw him down to me. “Give me more,” I whisper.
He growls and I sense the unexpectedly wild nature of his kitsune. The gleam in his eyes deepens, the emerald depths becoming more like his animal. My own kitsune responds, my claws extending but not so far that I’ll hurt him as his first thrust sends my senses spinning with pleasure.
The euphoria I felt before builds inside me, a deep rush streaming through me as I match his movements, my own becoming wild. Everything else in the room fades as my focus intensifies: Julian, his glistening body, and the glimmer of light building around us. I gasp as the shimmer grows stronger. A rainbow of power pulses through the room, building in strength. One glance tells me I have a new indigo mark swirling within the depths of my kitsune tattoo. It’s the mark for my beauty tail, the one I’d nearly given up on.
Shock mixes with pleasure as light bursts from Julian’s tattoo. The shades around his silhouette are like the colors of our tails—a wash of vibrant colors. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Sapphire and rose gold blaze within the swirls of his mark. Their hues shine onto my arm and it’s like a trigger.
My head tilts back as power explodes inside me. My heart pounds with a new heat, a wave I don’t want to fight. Colors burn down my arm, infinity loops circling over and over.
All the colors.
Every color.
Julian’s emerald eyes meet mine. His breathing is ragged, out of control. His chiseled chest rises and falls beneath my hands.
He grips my hips, drags me closer one last time, and we crash together.
6
Julian draws me into his side, his hands settling across my back as I curve against his muscled side. We’re both breathless. My right arm rests across his chest. His tattooed arm curls around my shoulders.
“What just happened?” I ask, struggling to believe that the colorful marks cascading around my arm won’t disappear.
Julian’s own tattoo has retained its color, all of his marks on display, including love and strength.
His lips hitch into a lazy smile as he strokes my back. “No fucking idea.”
A laugh bursts out of me. He responds by dragging me closer to his side, a protective gesture, even though there isn’t any threat to protect me from. I bite my lip as I tip my head back to contemplate the shape of his eyes, the hint of his animal still lurking inside them.
“I think we bonded,” I whisper.
He blinks at me, genuine surprise flooding his face and making his eyes widen. Kitsune form a community, but they are essentially solitary in nature, attaining their tails through connections of friendship and trust. I’ve heard of wolf shifters forming bonds that transcend even death, but it’s rare for kitsune to connect like that, to find a true mate.
The explosion of power I felt was undeniable, far more intense than any emotion I’ve felt before.
And now… I hate the idea of moving away from Julian.
“Is that possible?” he asks, his eyes glinting.
I give him a challenging smile. “Why don’t we test it?”
Fighting every instinct inside myself that tells me to stay right where I am, I separate from him a little as if I’m going to leave his arms. He closes them more tightly around me, his biceps tensing, narrowing his eyes at me. He growls low in his throat, the suddenly wild glint in his eyes telling me his response is purely instinctive.
His reaction only makes my smile grow.
For years, I’ve been an outcast, never good enough due to my failures. It made me cynical and hard. But for the first time in my life, the attitude and anger I held so tightly to is gone and in its place is joy. Within a single night, I have become someone completely different, and while that should scare me, I can’t find the will to give a single damn.
I wrap my arms around him, curl my legs over his hips, and draw him into a sitting position so that I’m straddling him.
“I want to see my tails,” I murmur.
Now that I’m sitting, I take in the new additions to my tattoo. The infinity loops shimmer brightly, and I’m loving the indigo mixed with the crimson, sapphire, bronze, emerald, obsidian…
Julian leans forward, planting kisses along each one, his lips chasing after my fingertips. As soon as I finish tracing the new lines, I prepare to partially shift so I can see my new tails. Drawing on the power within me, I connect to my animal and release my magic.
One at a time, beginning with friendship, then strength, followed by beauty, forgiveness, sacrifice, control, peace, courage, and love… all nine of my tails appear. They are tall and slender, intricate colored lines and swirls at the tips catching the light.
Julian growls again. “Now, do you believe you’re beautiful?” he challenges me.
I return his growl with a kiss. Knowing beauty is about believing in my self-worth. I might have been missing it for a while, but I know without a doubt that I am worthy of love and deserving of the things I desire.
“Do you believe you’re strong?” I ask him, allowing my tails to disappear as I shift back to my full human form.
“Not strong enough to resist you,” he says, his kiss deepening.
“Strong enough to tell me to walk out of here despite what you needed,” I whisper, my voice growing quiet.
“I didn’t think I’d find love in a night,” he says. “Nobody gets to be this lucky.”
“Not luck,” I say, knowing that these moments are precious, and I have to make the most of them.
As he speaks, the thrumming beat through the walls suddenly fades. Not sure why the music has stopped, I clasp Julian’s hand to make sure we don’t lose contact with each other and draw him to the window of the room. He wraps his arms around my waist as I open the curtains. Fog still surrounds the ship, but from here we can hear the final strains of music from the band on the Skydeck.