"You see, to call a unicorn, you must have the purest of hearts. All children are born thus, but each day as we grow, we gain small shadows. Not every shadow is bad. A strong man needs his shadows. On that day, only Micah was as he had been born. And so only Micah's voice could reach the unicorn realm," she said, her eyes fluttering shut.

Micah dreamed of unicorns noble and gracious, and of deep male laughter. He'd never had family, but in this dream, he ran after two tall men - they chuckled when he fell, and he didn't like that, but he was stubborn, fought to get up. Then there was one of those men, pulling him up and brushing him off. All anger was forgotten as he ran in his brothers' footsteps across the sand.

Nicolai scrambled down the dune first.

Micah wanted to race down after him, but his chest hurt and he stopped to gasp in a breath. But he wasn't left behind. He never was. Grabbing him in his arms, Dayn swung him onto his back. They laughed when they reached the beach to find Nicolai fighting off a territorial red land crab, the water a warm lick of foam against their feet. It was a good day.

The thought lingered as he woke, as he became aware that he lay on the cold stone floor of the great hall in the Black Castle. He was naked, and that told him what had happened before he ever saw the fractured table, the splintered chairs. However, that wasn't the most interesting thing about this waking.

He wasn't alone.

Always before, he'd been alone. The day servants scattered at the first sign of the curse, while Bard and Jissa had strict instructions to bar their doors and keep their distance until he was a man once more. But today, he woke curled around a female body that had the most intriguing curves. Especially down where her bottom snuggled so prettily against the hardness of him.

He rubbed against her because it felt good. When she murmured but didn't move away, he smiled and spread his fingers on her abdomen, holding her to him as he slid his thigh up between the silky skin of her own legs, pushing up the dress as he went. It would be better, he thought, if she was naked, too, but the stone floor was cold. Liliana wouldn't enjoy that.

Her name was dawnlight in his mind, a signal that he was no longer lost. "Lily," he said, rubbing against her again. "Wake up, Lily."

"Mmm." A husky sound that delighted him, pleased him. "Micah?" She tried to turn onto her back, was stopped by his embrace. "Micah." Shock colored her tone this time, her thighs squeezing down on the one he'd insinuated in between.

Kissing her neck, he moved his free hand up to cup her breast. "You're so soft, Lily. I wonder what it'd feel like if I lay on top of you."

Her skin grew hot under his lips, her hand rising to grip the wrist of the hand on her breast. "We have to get up. The others could come in."

Ignoring the husky order, he ran his thumb over her nipple through the material of the green dress he'd brought her. She tried to pull away. He growled low in his throat, held her to him. "Mine."

"You're no longer the beast, Micah." Her hand tightened on his wrist. "Don't try to trick me."

Laughing, he played his thumb over her nipple again. "You like this, Lily. I can feel your dampness against my thigh." He pressed that thigh harder against her. "My mouth waters - I think I want to taste you there."

Chapter 17

A squeak escaped Liliana's mouth. Biting down on it, she tugged away that teasing hand and scrambled up into a sitting position, surprised at her success. Then she turned...and felt every bit of air leave her body.

Micah was naked.

And he was the most sensual creature she had ever seen - all tumbled hair of golden light, eyes of slumberous winter-green and a jutting arousal he fisted without shame. Her own hand flexed and she almost whimpered when he released himself to stand.

Snap out of it, Liliana.

Rising after him on the strength of the command issued by some small sensible part of herself, she tried to find the rest of her rational mind as he closed the distance between them to circle her like the beast he'd been not long ago.

She shivered when he stopped behind her, put his hands on her hips and squeezed. "Mmm." A deep, rumbling sound as he -

"What are you doing?"

Ignoring her attempt at pushing away his hands, he continued to raise the skirts of her dress. The air was cool against her calves, the backs of her knees, moving ever higher. "Micah, we must stop," she said, but it came out holding not the least bit of certainty.

"Why?" Kisses on her neck, wet and open and involving licks that made her melt from the inside out.

"It's not d-decent." The air had reached her thighs now. "We're in the great hall."

Continuing with his sinful game, Micah made no response, not until he said, "You aren't wearing underthings."

Red filling her cheeks, she went to tug away but he braceleted her waist with one muscular arm. "They're drying," she admitted.

"I'll find them and throw them away," he told her, biting her ear. "I like this." Then he pressed his hotly aroused body against her bare curves.

She shuddered at the shock of feeling that hard ridge of flesh nestled so intimately against her, but Micah snarled in frustration. "You're too short for this."

Not sure what to say to that, she'd barely opened her mouth when he swung her up in his arms and made his way to a chair lying on its side, beside the table. Putting her down, he set it upright. Liliana's befuddled brain took that long to figure out what he intended. "I think I better - oh!" He had her in his arms, his mouth on hers before she could finish the sentence.

His tongue pushed past her lips and, oh, it was a very naughty kind of a kiss but she couldn't resist him, especially when he was so strong and warm and hard against her. His skin was like hot satin, his muscles fluid beneath the smooth heat. His jaw was a little rough, making her wonder what that stubbled skin would feel like against her breasts.

The wickedness of her own thoughts scandalized her, but that didn't stop her from sucking on his tongue. He liked that. His hands, those arrogant, wandering hands, told her so. A minute later, he was raising her dress again and she had no will to stop him.

So when he sat down in the chair and swiveled her around so her back faced his front, she went, feeling shameless and brazen and bad. Very, very bad. But Micah didn't pull her down to the dark temptation of his lap. No, he stopped her between his legs. Then, tucking up her skirt into the thin belt that was part of the dress, he ran his hand over the lush curves she'd hated all her life.

Heat burned her cheeks and she wasn't sure whether it was arousal or embarrassment. Whatever it was, it left her immobile, waiting on tenterhooks for his next touch.

A hot breath. "So soft, Lily." His fingers sliding through her slick flesh, heading straight for the little nub that pulsed hot and tight.

"Micah!"

"This place gives you pleasure." It was a satisfied statement. "Like this?" A rough flick.

Her knees crumpled.

Making a low, rumbling sound that seemed to be a remnant of the creature he'd been before they slept, he held her upright using an arm around her waist. His fingers rubbed, slid back, circled the entrance to her body with an exploring touch. Expecting a sensual intrusion, she was taken utterly by surprise when he arrowed his fingers through her intimate lips again, closing the rough pads of his fingers around the nub that made her boneless. "I want to put my mouth here, Lily."

"Don't. You. Dare." She wouldn't survive. Even the thought of it - that beautiful, sensual mouth on her most secret place, a place that he was caressing with a distinctly proprietary touch - made her so hot that her dress was suddenly too tight, her breasts feeling far bigger than she knew them to be.

"I will dare." Continuing to hold her up with that strong arm around her waist, he moved his fingers back down to her slick and sensitive entrance, began to push in a little with one thick finger, halted at her cry. "Am I causing you hurt?"

"No," she whispered, knowing she should've used the opportunity to stop him, keep this from progressing any further - but she wanted this wicked pleasure, would steal it from him.

Taking her at her word, he pushed in slow, so slow.

She cried out again - her body was tight, untried, and it felt too much and not enough at the same time. When he withdrew his finger, she couldn't help her whimper of protest. But he didn't leave her for long. Stroking his hands down the insides of her thighs, he said, "Can you reach the table?"

"Yes." Her hands were already gripping the edge of the fallen wooden table before she realized what she was doing, her thighs parting in an instinctive attempt at balance. Nerves awakened - she'd never had a man within her, and he'd moved so fast, until she was now in position for him to mount her. However, she had no intention of stopping him, not this man who looked at her and saw a woman he desired. Never had she felt as she did in Micah's arms. Never had she wanted this badly.

The hot gust of his breath on her most intimate flesh was the only warning she had before he put his mouth on her. Her brain simply stopped functioning at the crash of scandalizing pleasure, her entire body taut with shock. She had to protest. This was surely not something... "Oh." It was a shuddering moan as he flicked his tongue over the entrance to her body.

Micah smiled at the sound of Liliana's pleasure. It was good that she enjoyed this, because he had every intention of repeating the act; she tasted unlike anything he'd ever before sipped. Hot and dark but with a delicate feminine musk that intoxicated senses still sensitive after the visitation of the curse.

The reminder made him frown, lift his head from his exploration of Liliana's sweetness. "Was I terrifying?" He didn't scent fear on her, needed to make certain it didn't linger in her blood.

"What?" It was a breathless word.

"When the curse came upon me?" He caressed her with his fingertips, deciding that next time, he'd have her on her back in bed, so he could spread her more fully, see everything he tasted. It would be good. She was so soft and flushed and pretty.