Magical Midlife Dating (Leveling Up 2)

“I’m right here, Jacinta,” Austin said, his words wrapping around me comfortingly. “We’re in this together. Let’s grab life by the balls.”

Grab life by the balls.

I could do this.

I’d accepted the magic, I’d accepted the responsibility, Austin was counting on me…

I could do this!

The cage jolted down. That chain wouldn’t hold us much longer.

Energy surged through my suddenly heavy limbs. My skin stretched and a shock of blistering heat boiled my blood. Before I could call out, euphoria took over, drowning me in bliss. A tingle sliced down two spots on my back near where Austin had touched me earlier.

Snap.

I felt the slide of the bars against my wings.

My wings! I had wings!

I opened my eyes to smile, and then stared down in shock at the purplish, luminescent skin covering my body. My fingers ended in sharp black claws, and unlike the guys, I had a pair of breasts with dark, budded nipples that currently had Austin’s undivided attention.

“Hey.”

That word didn’t come out as “hey,” though, it came out as “ha-aye” because a couple of fangs now needed room in my mouth. My pronunciation was better than that of my male counterparts, however, which meant my face and teeth probably (hopefully) didn’t look as gruesome.

Austin looked up almost lazily, his eyes lidded and filled with awe. We might’ve been standing on Ivy House’s front lawn for all the urgency he displayed.

I knew better, though.

My wings folded up with barely a thought, as natural as stepping forward and putting out my arms for Austin, which I also did. He shook himself out of his daze.

“The female of the species is much better looking than the male,” he said with a smile, and wrapped his arms around me, one sliding under my wings and across my back, the other over my shoulder and diagonally down, so he’d have a good grip.

“Go,” I mostly said, feeling drool slide down my chin. I couldn’t grimace with this new face. It probably looked like a permanent grimace anyway, going off the others.

The squeal increased in pitch, the metal giving way. This was it. This was our last chance. We jumped and flew, or we jumped and plummeted to our deaths. It was all up to me.

I nodded and pushed forward, Austin moving with me in perfect synchronicity. He was probably an excellent dancer.

“Time to go, Jess,” he said, his strength coiling around me, his lips near my ear. “I’ll wrap my legs around you once we’re in flight. I’ll hold on. All you have to worry about is flying, okay? Sorry about the erection. First seeing you naked, then the brea… This is all very new to me. Hopefully I’ll get used to it. I’ve never seen a female gargoyle. It’s… You’re…strangely erotic.”

He wasn’t the only one experiencing a first. I’d never heard Austin babble. And I’d never felt this deep, stirring heat burning in my core, so much more intense than anything I’d ever experienced as a Jane.

It would take some getting used to, indeed. Right now, I had to focus on getting us out of here.

Breathing fast, still scared out of my mind, I heard the loud crack before I felt the jolt. Out of time, I dove out through the door and hoped for a miracle.

Gravity reached up and grabbed hold of us. Austin wrapped his legs around my hips, his size and weight seeming too much. Too big. I wouldn’t be able to lift him off the ground, how could I possibly fly with him?

I was still thinking as a human woman. Ivy House had made me magical. It had made me stronger. I could lift him in my human form, I was sure of it. And I could lift him with these wings. I had to.

We dropped through the air like a stone.

“Grab life by the balls,” I tried to say. It came out a jumbled mess.

The spikes rushed toward us.

Now or never, I snapped out my wings. Lines of bright pink-purple wove through my deep purple, luminescent wings. As the wind billowed them, a shimmery glow and streaks of light swirled through the air.

“Good God, Jacinta, this form is magnificent.”

I tried to smile, stretching my lips across those big fangs. Spit dribbled down my chin.

I really needed to get a handle on that.

We jetted forward toward the cave wall. I angled up, the maneuver surprisingly natural, and pumped my wings, gaining altitude. Not climbing so much as cutting diagonally upward toward the wall. I pumped harder, feeling the strain, still going forward. Nearly at the—

We slammed into the rock. Austin grunted. I tried to shove us off with my hands and feet, wings still pumping, but Austin’s body was still bigger than mine, even in this form, and I just succeeded in scratching his back against the rock.

“Sor-reee.”

Breathing hard, fear clawing at me, I closed my eyes and envisioned watching the other gargoyles soar through the sky. I watched their wings in my mind’s eye, taking in the way they rolled and dipped, angled and flapped.