And I did, even though it was in our minds, throughthe bond. My helpless sound made Noth laugh, the joy of it rolling through me and finding my core.
He flipped me over onto all fours–the least intimate position possible. When he covered me with his body, his skin sliding along mine, his shadows adding licks and pulls to my breasts, my lips, even my toes. It turned into the most intimate position.
“I fucking love you,” I bit out. I ripped his control away with those words, wringing out his orgasm in the best fight of our lives.
He ground his hips into my whole lower half as our magic kept spawning wave after wave of pleasure passing between us. “I fucking love you too, Pumpkin.”
I covered his hand over my heart with my own. It was too much. It was never enough. It was perfect.
Noth
EPILOGUE
Iripped open the door to our bedroom, double-checking that my robe remained closed. No one needed to see the marks Maggie left all over my body. The mate ritual had unlocked some sort of kink for her and though we enjoyed every moment of it, turned out even Nightmares had a hard time getting rid of marks their mates made.
“Jax, can you see if-”
The Elves standing outside our door were not, in fact, Jax. I struggled to remember their names as the last of Maggie’s witchery lingered in my mind.
“Ettrian, Gormer, where is Jax?” Whew. I pulled those two out of somewhere dark and forgotten.
They came to attention like the good bodyguards they were. Jax would not have left them at my door if they were not.
“He’s taking his rest hours, Your Highness.”
It was delightful to hear that again, to garner the respect that came with it, even standing in my robe.
“In the training room,” Ettrian added.
I chuckled. I couldn’t fault Jax in his dedication. In fact, life had become significantly easier with three other people at my back. With Yaya on the Council, Maggie at my side and Jax looking for threats, this was the most relaxed I had ever been as King. It almost put me in a playful mood.
I closed the door and started down the hall with my robe billowing out behind me. I looked royal enough because everyone still bowed and scraped as I passed. The ego-soothing deference returned, but so did an undercurrent of stability that I had worked hard to build over these past few months. Continuing Maggie’s education in statecraft had been fun. She never let me take myself too seriously and that ensured an important balance. It didn’t hurt that I could screw her brains out if I felt frustrated after a long day.
And today was a potentially frustrating day. The yips and barks coming from the training room had me hurrying down the hall, leaving my two shadows to keep up. Bursting into the training room, Declan almost bowled me over. Luckily, he stood only slightly taller than a yard dog, so I kept my footing as he levered against me to twist his body back toward Jax and nip off another scrap of the man’s tattered clothes.
Jax dripped from several shallow cuts and his shirt and trousers flapped open in too many places to count.
Where did you find such a fun human?Declan asked, dancing back from Jax’s swipe with the wooden training sword.
“Stay still!” Jax snapped, clearly frustrated he hadn’t even ruffled Declan’s fur.
Jax, no slouch at fighting, struggled to match Declan’s speed and flexibility as the two clashed and came apart. Declan spat out another piece of Jax’s shirt.
“I’ll wear your tail around my collar, mutt.”
Big words from a man promptly sent ass over teakettle as Declan barreled between his legs and flipped my bodyguard over his lupine back. I staked my claim to the throne on understanding the power structure as soon as I walked into a room. Even though Jax was human, he was bigger, better trained and more lethal than Declan. Somehow my bodyguard was at loose ends.
Angry, Jax pulled a true blade from his hip and that was about enough of that. A hopping Declan flattened to the floor with my shadows and Jax was wrapped in a few restraining vines.
“Not fair!” Declan called from beneath my shadows, fully shifted and fully unclothed.
I let him stand up and preserved some of his modesty with the darkness, because the last thing I needed to see today was another man’s junk.
“Are you ready to calm down?” Iasked Jax.
“The dog said it was going to be friendly!”
“That was friendly,” Declan protested.
