“Feeling fucking obliterated,” I mumbled, gladly puffing on the plant, fragrant smoke twinging around us.
We stayed like that for an hour or two, maybe longer; it was hard to tell in this place. Naked and spent, we cuddled among the clovers for most of the night. It wasn’t until the sun started to come up that he opened the portal that took us back to McCrum’s Curios.
Balor carried me upstairs to the bathroom, set me in the shower and turned the faucet on. I was too weak to stand, so he got in with me and bathed me, scrubbing me clean until my skin was pink and stinging.
By the time he dried me, dressed me in my pajamas and carried me to bed, I was already half asleep.
Gilly was already in bed when Balor laid me down on the mattress. It was brand new, a California king—the only size that fit me, my giant mate and our cat.
The chubby calico made an excited chirp, getting up only to curl up into a ball at my hip.
“I love you, Maeve McCrum,” he whispered in my ear, probably thinking I was asleep. He chased his sweet words with a kiss and some sweet nothings in a blend of Irish and ancient giant’s tongue.
Balor didn’t call me his little misfortune anymore. I never did find the four leaf clover. It didn’t matter though, because I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
I fell asleep, happy as could be for what felt like the first time in an eternity.
The building, the shop—it didn’t matter that it wasn’t the same one I’d grown up in. I was with Balor, and so long as I was with him, I’d always be home.
The End.
