TWELVE

Azeroth

Fake dating Elodie Alexandre is like having someone wave a freshly baked muffin right under my nose, but being told I'm not allowed to take a bite.

For one thing, she has the most perfect tits I've ever seen. To be quite fair, I haven't seen them in reality, only in her dream, and they're probably slightly less perfect. Most people's dreams aren't a true representation of themselves.

I spend a good long time on the balloon flight standing behind her looking down her top and assessing whether they are in fact perfect and whether I can make out the hint of nipple skimming the neckline of her low cut top.

God, I can't stop staring as they rise and fall whenever she gasps and leans forward to point out something on the ground.

"Mmm. Very nice." I have no idea what she's pointing to.

Her excitement is palpable, though. Adorable. She's practically bouncing out of the basket, so I feel compelled to grip the edge on either side to stop myself from holding onto her instead.

Her feet don't seem to touch the ground when we disembark. She turns to me when I help her out of the basket and onto the grass. "This has been the best day. I can't believe I'm saying that on a day I deliberately ran into Dustin and the witch."

I chuckle.

She tugs my hand. "Do you wanna go get ice cream? There's the best place just around the corner from here. Proper Italian gelato."

I grin. "I never turn down sweets."

She waits at the table on the street while I go inside to order, but when I return, her smile has disappeared and the lightness is gone from her body. She's staring at her phone, chewing her plump bottom lip. She hardly even looks up when I set the cup with her scoop of butterscotch chunk in front of her.

"What's happened?"

"Oh! Nothing." She turns over her phone and picks up her ice cream. "What did you get?"

"Triple fudge chocolate, strawberry, and whipped brulee." I'm already considering ordering more flavors.

We eat in silence. Or rather, I devour mine and she barely touches hers.

I'm sucking on the spoon to savor the last of the taste, yet she still hasn't said anything else. Her ice cream is melting over the edge of the cup.

"Are you going to eat that?"

Silently, she pushes it toward me. "Dustin messaged."

"Oh?" I keep my tone light. Instead of watching her, I dig into the ice cream. Delicious. There were so many flavors I didn't try, though.

"I don't know what to make of it."

"Show me." I gesture for the phone.

She picks it up and holds it so I can see his message.

Dustin: it was nice to see you today. Ur looking good

I hand it back with a growl. "What did you see in him?"

She blinks at me. "Isn't this a good sign?"

I stare at her across the little wobbly table. "You're not going to fall for that. Please tell me you're not going to fall for that." I push away the last of Elodie's ice cream and stand, pulling her to her feet with me. "No way. Not a chance."

"Where are we going?" She trots along behind me as I stride down the street.

I'm practically breathing fire at the thought anyone as beautiful as Elodie could be fooled by a pathetic faux compliment like that. She should know beyond any doubt she's stunning. Radiant. Perfect.

I haul her into the nearest store—a tiny boutique selling women's wear and candles. Interesting choice. I scan the small space for the shop assistant and spot her leaning over the counter on her phone. "I need a mirror."

The short plump woman looks up, colors, then tucks a lock of stringy hair behind her ear. "Oh! Yes, sir. It's just over here." She leads us to the back of the store where a single dressing room with a flimsy pink curtain is tucked into a corner.

"What are you—"

I pull Elodie into the dressing room before she can finish her question. In front of the mirror, my hands settle on her upper arms and hold her in place. She meets my gaze in the reflection.

"Look," I tell her.

"Look at what?"

"Would you um...would you like to try something on, sir? Or perhaps your lady friend?" The shop assistant stands outside the dressing room, looking as if she doesn't know whether to hover or leave us be.

"Yes," I tell her. "Please fetch us your most expensive items. Lots of them. We'll try one of everything." I figure that might keep her busy for a while.

Turning back to the mirror, I try to put my thoughts into words. "Look at you. You're so much better than that."

Elodie's brows knot into a frown. "I'm not—"

"Shhh. Don't argue. Do you look any different to the way you looked three months ago? Six months? Humans don't age that quickly. Do you look different to the way you looked when you were with him?"

She shakes her head slowly.

"No. Of course you don't. You're beautiful. Perfect. He had you under his nose every damn day, and he doesn't appreciate you until the day he sees you with someone new? What a piece of shit. He's not worth your time."

Without consciously thinking about it, I'm stroking up and down her arms. She shivers. Through the fabric of her thin top, her nipples peak and stand to attention. Desire sparks between us, feeding me power.

I suck in a breath.

Magic hums through my fingertips and along my claws. I can't tell if it's her wish or mine shaping what happens next.

The long rusty colored cardigan she has on over her t-shirt slips from her shoulders. The top fades, growing paler and paler until it disappears altogether. She's left in her bra that pushes her tits up to spill over the narrow cups into delectable handfuls.

"M-my clothes." She's staring at her reflection, though, watching the clothes strip from her body. She doesn't move.

"Shhh. Look."

The bra unhooks itself. I lift the straps off her shoulders and slide them down her arms. Both of us breathe faster when her breasts drop to their natural shape, and the soft weight calls to my palms.

Somehow, I resist.

Her eyes widen when the black tights she has on vanish next. Now she's only wearing a high cut pink thong. Her hips and ass look positively sinful. Oh, hell.

"Azeroth, what happened to my clothes?"

My breath rasps in my throat as I try to draw in enough oxygen to keep my head from spinning. Impossible.

"It's an illusion. I can't see anything."

She swallows my lie easily. Of course, she does. Sweet thing.

My right hand drops from her arm to her hip and I tighten my grip. She takes the tiniest step back, but her round ass presses right up against me.

I groan.

She said fake dating, didn't she? This is not part of the remit. I'm not supposed to be touching her secretly, savoring the smooth texture of her skin and the catch of her breath.

It only makes it slightly better that I'm almost certain I'll relive at least part of this in her dreams tonight. Need radiates from her and my reasons for holding back become fuzzy.

Very fuzzy.

Me and willpower aren't friends.

"Everything OK in there?" The shop assistant sounds nervous.

"Yes." The husky way Elodie breathes that word does nothing to alleviate the quickly growing problem in my trousers.

"OK, I have some things for you."

Blindly, I reach my hand out of the curtain and fabric fills my hand. I pull the hangers inside and stuff the items onto the hook, though my eyes firmly remain on Elodie's reflection.

"Beautiful," I whisper.

Another surge of desire hits me like a sucker punch. It leaves me giddy with the raw power suddenly pumping through my system. This is all while I'm doing nothing, exerting no effort to harvest them. Imagine the power I'll get from her dreams tonight.

Her gaze locks on mine in the reflection and I catch a vision of Elodie reaching back to clutch my neck. My hands slide over her belly and down over the patch of dark hair at her mound to find her sweet, juicy center.

I clear my throat. "Try these on. I'll go see if there's anything else worth looking at here. Perhaps what we need is a distraction. A night out. I'm not finished spoiling you today."

I stagger out of the dressing room, letting the curtain drop behind me, and cut myself off from the single biggest temptation I think I've ever managed to avoid in my life.

My cock throbs inside my pants and I surreptitiously reach down to adjust myself. The shop assistant gives me a funny look.

"We'll take some candles, too," I tell her, leading her away from the dressing room. "Lots of candles."

When Elodie emerges, she is dressed again. Granted, she looks a little flushed, but she's put herself to rights. She says nothing to me about the fact she would have had to pick her clothes up off the floor to dress again.

"How did you do, dear?" The shop assistant leaves me at the counter with the bags of candles I've just bought.

"Oh, uh, great."

"We'll take them all," I tell the woman, before Elodie can discard them.

Elodie opens her mouth to protest.

"Nothing is too good for my girlfriend," I announce loudly. That's right. That's what we're doing. I'm putting on a show to help her get revenge. If I need to keep reminding myself it's fake, I guess at least I'm doing a good job.

Elodie slips her arm around mine while we stand at the register and wait for the shop assistant to ring up my purchases. She tugs me down so my long pointed ear is a little closer to her mouth. "I meant it's a good sign that the fake girlfriend thing is working, just so we're clear. Not that I want to get back with him, or that I wanted him to tell me I look good."

My jaw drops open and I stare at her. Did she just catch me out acting like a jealous loser?

I cough. "Right. I knew that. Just so we're clear, we can do a hell of a lot better than one sulky text message."

I gather up all the bags and we leave the shop. I'm already scheming just how I make that happen.