Silas is cranky about it, probably because I’ve kept Maven to myself for two days. But a few minutes later, I open the door and he hands me a vial of silvery liquid. He also hands me a pile of Maven’s clothes, and not for the first time, I’m glad someone in our quintet thinks ahead.
The blood fae tries to step past me into the room, but the surge of violently protective panic I feel comes from both myself and my inner dragon. I hold out an arm to stop him, shaking my head.
“You can’t be serious,” he scoffs.
“You try going through a rut sometime and tell me how serious I am,” I challenge. “I’m still coming out of it, and I might accidentally rip your head off if my territorial side comes back.”
“Tell your asshole dragon to deal with it,” he gripes, trying to get past me again.
I shove him away from the door, growling, “We’re in harmony now, dick, so back the hell away.”
If Silas’s own curse hadn’t been broken, he probably would’ve just gone all paranoid magic madman on me. So it’s odd when he just glares at me, obviously weighing the threat before rolling his eyes.
“Athank youis in order.”
“Thanks. Now fuck off.” I shut the door in his face and turn to Maven, beaming as I hold up the vial.
She’s fighting a smile. “Your charm and manners have taken a nosedive since we met.”
“That’s because I care a lot less about pleasing random fuckers and a lot more about pleasingyou.Speaking of which…” I crawl back onto the bed, surrounding myself in our scentsagain as I hand her the vial. “How do you want me? On my knees?”
Maven smirks and shakes her head. “Stay where you are.”
My heart is pounding again as she leans forward, her lips skimming over my neck before she licks the place she bit earlier. That alone has me fucking weak. The idea of wearing Maven’s bite mark on my neck for all to see for the rest of my life has me damn near feral as warm arousal starts to pulse through me once again.
Then she bites me again. Way harder than the first time.
“Fuck,”I hiss, gritting my teeth as Maven pulls away and spills some of the liquid silver over the fresh mark before it can start to heal.
Shit. Ouch. Arousal officially cooled.
“Holyhell, that burns,” I grimace as she recaps the vial. I frown. “Did it hurt that bad when I bit you? Because I wouldn’t blame you for kicking me right in the dragon eggs for that.”
Maven laughs, shaking her head. “It didn’t hurt much.”
Yeah, maybe for her. After seeing her brush off getting stabbed with fucking nevermelt, I’ve decided my mate has one hell of a pain tolerance.
I’d be jealous, but I’m mostly just pissed she had to develop that.
After a moment, Maven leads me to the bathroom to clean up the painful substance. I gawk at us in the mirror. We’re both marked, anddamn, she looks good naked and covered in love bites.
I grin down at her. “Do I have your permission to use theL-word?”
“Never.”
“Fine. Then I really,reallyliked all that…canoodling.”
She swats my shoulder playfully as we both step into the shower to clean up. I genuinely enjoy washing my mate when she peers up at me.
“Can I ask you for something?”
“Literally anything. Tell me to cut off my wings or tail or whatever, and it’s all yours.”
“What about scales?” Maven asks, tipping her cascade of dark hair back under the spray of the water.
“Sure.”
“That easily? You were fighting Silas on this tooth and claw.”
