The cat poached an entire joint of beef off one of the platters before returning to Emily’s side.
“So Nicnevin lied about you only eating when in the Fae kingdom?”
Grimalkin flipped her tail and purred while proudly carrying her treat with her head held high.
“Come on.” Emily headed for the library. She’d be having a word with Nicnevin. While she already loved the great black cat, she couldn’t have those of the clan living in a constant state of terror. When she reached the door, she knocked.
“Come!”
She pushed open the door, then stepped back, allowing Grimalkin to enter first. “Why don’t you go over there by the hearth to eat?”
The cat complied, flopping down on the flagstones with a satisfied grunt as she started ripping the meat from the bone.
“Apparently, your mother was slightly mistaken about Grimalkin’s eating habits,” Emily said as she joined Gryffe at the window.
“And that surprises ye?” As soon as she drew near, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.
Hugging herself against him, she rested her head on his shoulder. “I love how you do that. It always makes me feel safe.”
“Do what, my love?”
“Always hug me close whenever I’m near.”
“The touch of ye comforts me. Yer warmth feeds my soul.” But even though his sweet words were like a caress, he sounded distracted.
“What’s wrong?”
He shifted with a heavy sigh, faintly fogging the window in front of them. “I dinna like the thought of ye risking the Dreaming. ’Tis not a pleasant place, nor is it safe.”
She could feel his concern as plainly as the beat of his heart. It both filled her with the contentment of being well and truly loved and also made her sad. “I need to try to speak with Jessa. She is the only one I know for sure who will believe it’s really me and tell everyone else that I am all right.”
He took hold of her by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. “And are ye, my love? Are ye truly all right?”
She stared back at him, unable to answer right away. He knew. He felt her doubt. “I love you,” she whispered.
“I love ye as well, but that is not what I asked.”
“I will be all right. Eventually.” She wouldn’t lie to him. He always deserved the truth. “Besides—I can’t go back. Remember?”
“But if ye could?”
She shook her head. “I can’t so there’s no reason to even wonder about it.”
Sadness shouted from him. “If ye could go back, ye would. Ye would leave me.”
“No. I would not.” And she wouldn’t—she would just visit home once in a while and then come back. Home. She had done it again. Referred to somewhere other than here as home. “I cannot imagine my life without you. You have to believe that.”
He cupped her cheek, tenderly grazing his callused thumb back and forth across it. “I believe ye’ve yet to give me the entirety of yer heart. There is a part of ye held back. A part of ye that longs for all ye once knew and would love to know again. A part of ye does not belong to me…and maybe never will.”
Sliding her hands up his chest and around his neck, she hugged him tighter than she had ever hugged him before. Rising on tiptoe, she pressed a kiss to his ear before whispering, “I love you. You have to believe that.”
His arms tightened around her, and he buried his face in the crook of her neck. “I never truly lived until ye came into my life, and without ye, I would cease to live once more. Ye are the lifeblood of my heart. The air in my lungs. The bread to my soul.” He drew back and stared into her eyes again, fiercer this time. “And never will I let anything or anyone take ye from me—not yer past life and not even death.”
She shivered. Not from a chill, but from the fury in his eyes and the fire in his tone. He wasn’t threatening. He was making an oath. An oath as precious and sacred as their binding vows. She felt it surge through her like an intoxicating drug. She framed his face with her hands and gave herself over to his powerful, dark gaze. “I am yours forever and beyond. Know that.”
He closed his mouth over hers, kissing her with such intensity that her knees went weak. He caught her up, booted a table off the rug in front of the settee, and lowered them both to the floor. “These feckin’ clothes are nay as easy as tossing yer skirts up out of the way.” He rumbled with a low, frustrated growl while kissing a trail along her collarbone and running his hands across her.
Just as electrified with the impossible to ignore urgency to achieve a full joining, she took hold of the waistband of her leggings and panties and shoved them down to her boot tops. “Let me on my knees,” she said with desperation. This need to have him inside her was more powerful than their fated mate binding. She shoved at him when he didn’t listen. “Back up and let me on my knees.”
