“Little Kitten, you came back!” He smothers me in kisses, as excited in his human form as he was his wolf. It’s not just his face drowning in sweat, his entire body is too.
“Dray, what the hell is wrong with you? Are you sick?”
He shakes his head. “I followed you and the dragon. Or at least I tried to. He’s freaking quick.”
“You ran all the way back from the lake?!” I say in amazement. The distance is vast. A half day’s trek at least. “How is that even possible?”
“I told you,” he says, pausing to pepper me in yet more kisses, “us shifters are fast!” He growls and nips at my throat.
“Careful with her, Dray!” Beaufort snaps from somewhere beyond the door. “She was struck by lightning.”
Dray’s eyes flash with concern, and then he’s scrabbling at my clothes clearly looking for the site of my injury.
“It’s okay,” I tell him. “Beaufort healed me and I’m feeling pretty good.”
Relief floods his features next, followed swiftly by a smirk. “You look pretty good too, Kitten.” And he’s back to nibbling on my throat.
“Chicas, I’m all for a bit of pornography but I haven’t eaten my dinner yet,” Fly says. “Maybe you could save it for later and explain what the hell is going on?”
I swing my gaze back to my friends. Fly has his arms crossed over his chest, while Clare still has her hands covering her eyes.
Dray jumps up onto his feet and pulls me up after him.
“Come on,” I say, beckoning to the others, “we’ll go upstairs and talk in my room.”
“Is he still naked?” Clare asks from behind her hands.
“Yep,” Dray says proudly.
“It’s really distracting,” she mutters.
“Yeah, that’s what she said.” Fly chuckles.
“If you’re referring to my dick,” Dray says, “it does more than just distract her. She fucking loves my cock. She can’t–”
“Okay,” I snap, waving my hands around wildly. “Can you not?”
We reach the landing, finding Beaufort and Thorne waiting there.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt out to Thorne. “I panicked and I wasn’t thinking straight. You were right.”
Thorne’s eyebrows twitch. I haven’t been very good at apologizing when I’ve been in the wrong, or admitting my mistakes. I’ve given the Princes a hard time for acting like assholes, but just as often I have too.
“I know you care about him, Nini,” he says, using that old nickname my sister used to call me and warming my insides. “I know you want to get him back. And we will, I promise you.”
I bite my lip and nod my head. I hope he’s right. Fox Tudor may be big, scary, and immortal but underneath thattough facade, I’ve seen a far softer side and I think he’s just as vulnerable as the rest of us.
“Get him back?” Clare says, averting her eyes as Dray jogs past her and down the staircase, large cock swinging. “What’s going on?”
Standing on the landing, I explain everything that has happened since the beginning of the trial – ending up in the mountains and not by the lake, facing a handful of demons, discovering Linette Smyte has no powers, facing off against Madame Bardin, her subsequent escape, my conversation with the Empress, and discovering that Fox is missing.
“You think he was taken into the demon wastelands by the Madame?” Clare asks. She seems less shocked and less overwhelmed than the last time I dumped a load of crazy information on her. Maybe she’s getting used to having a crazy friend with an even crazier life.
“Yes,” I say.
Behind me, Dray snorts, and I turn to find him jogging up the stairs in a pair of sweatpants. I scowl at him.
“Kitten,” he says, spreading his palms wide in surrender, “I know how you feel about him, but the dude is powerful. There’s no way Bardin could force him to do anything he didn’t want to!”
