There wasn’t much else to see, not yet, not until we reached the other side, so I admired my mate instead. The sheer power in his frame, the concentration on his face, and the billow of his white hair against the backdrop of the cloudless sky. I was entranced by the pale, slightly blue tinge to his skin under the glow of the Otherworld’s sun. It almost looked iridescent, and paired with the stained-glass look of his wings, he was godlike.

I could feel his muscles bunch under my hands, feel each inhale and exhale as his lungs worked. He made it all look effortless, not even a hint of stress on his face or note of fatigue through our bond. It was unbelievably majestic, and I still couldn’t understand what I’d done in this life or the last to deserve the chance to witness it.

To belong to someone as divine as him.

Looking up, I saw we were just over halfway. We weren’t yet so high that my senses were starting to falter, but I definitely felt a stir. Cair was climbing steadily as he’d promised, zig-zagging to avoid all the protruding ledges. But my heart was already thudding at an elevated pace, and I was aware of every damp breath that left my lips. The wind was a soothing balm against my skin, which was suddenly overly hot and prickling with sweat. There was an incessant need in my arms and legs to stretch and then stiffen, an irritating clench in my belly that wouldn’t ease, and I couldn’t figure it out.

Until I did.

I was restless, but—delayed realization—it wasn’t from discomfort or fear. My dick was chubbing up, and it was almost comical how fast every part of my system homed in on that fact, my arousal suddenly impossible to ignore. I may have even gripped my mate’s shoulders a little too hard, nails biting through the fabric to try and divert my attention to anything other than the twinge in my balls.

It didn’t work.

Adrenaline was pumping through my veins, and we were glued together with barely a gap for our chests to inflate. It was a sensory overload. Cair smelled warm and sexy, and was showing far too much of his perfect body with that deep vee in his linen shirt and those tight trousers. And don’t get me started on the slutty pirate boots. I couldn’t be blamed, and against my will, my hips rolled forward, a stuttered moan catching on my tongue as my cock met with a slight bulge.

“Fuck.”

“Sweetheart…” Cair’s menacing growl echoed in my ear, jolting me from my inner turmoil—and from mindlessly rutting against him. “Do you have any idea how distracting you smell right now?”