“I wish we both could have been more present for our first time together. I spent years thinking of how I’d make love to you. How I’d do everything perfectly.”
“Cass, it was perfect because it was you. Us,” I murmur, stealing a kiss. “But after we finish talking… it would be a shame to waste all that careful thought of yours. If you had to show me how you’d do everything perfectly, well…”
He laughs, and the sound is so buoyant, so light, that every crack in my heart mends. My mate covers my face in kisses and rolls me until I’m on top of him before wrapping me in the security of his arms. “You’re too fucking tempting. Talk quickly.”
My laugh joins his, and I nuzzle against him. Saints, being someone’s mate feels so different from being someone’s lover. It’s as if all the barriers between us have been stripped away. “What happens now?”
“Whatever you want, love. Anything. Everything. Say it and it’s yours.” He nuzzles my skin, marking me with his scent, with a scent that will now be as familiar to me as my own.
“I want to keep going to Fairhaven. I want to graduate.”
“That may not always be within our control, but for as long as it is, you have my word. I’ll never keep you from your studies. I wouldn’t keep you from doing anything you love. You’re a brilliant mage, and the world needs you. Your thoughts, your talents, your scholarship.”
To think, Professor Hayes once told my father that I could be a talented scholar, and my father said that would be up to my future alphas to decide. And my alpha has decided. He’s decided it’s my choice. It’s up to me.
“I want to keep giving the resistance what information I can. I-I may have found something over Yule.”
“As long as you let me keep you safe. Save what you’ve discovered until we can talk it over with the others. I don’t want you reliving a single moment of your time at Rose Manor more than once if you don’t have to. What else, love?”
“I… I want a pack.” It feels greedy to ask it of the alpha who just mated me, but there are three men on the other side of that door who I’ve already given my heart to.
“Saints, Juniper. You have no idea how badly I want that for you. A real loving pack. I may not always see eye to eye with them, but you love them, and they love you. They’re worthy of you. Maybe more so than I am. So, claim them. Mate them. As long as I have a place in your heart and your pack.”
“Always,” I promise.
“Anything else?”
As if anything and everything aren’t enough. “There are things I have to do. Dangerous things. I’m still committed to overthrowing Rad and my father.”
“They hurt you,” he growls. “They hurtmy mate. We’re overthrowing them together. You, me, and the rest of your pack.”
My heart swells.
You, me, and the rest of your pack.
It sounds like the perfect promise.
“That’s all I need,” I say quietly.
Cassian lets out a bark of a laugh. “That’s it? You don’t want a private jet of your own or a vacation home in Saint Tropez?”
“Oooh, wait. I forgot about the vacation home,” I tease.
He rolls me onto my back, wedging his leg between my thighs, making sparks shoot up to my core. “Nope, too late. You missed your chance.” He grinds against me and nips at his bite on my neck. “Nothing else you need, love?”
A shock of desire ripples through me, and I can’t tell if it’s his desire for me or mine for him.
“You,” I breathe, my perfume filling the space between us with honey, vanilla and jasmine. “I needyou.”
I reach for him, finding him hard and ready for me, but he gently draws my hand away from his cock.
“Oh no, love. I’m doing everything perfectly, remember? I’ve waited to taste you for years. I’m not waiting any longer.”
A low whine escapes me as he settles between my thighs, spreading them with his strong hands until my slick pussy is on display for him. He breathes in my scent, eyes fluttering shut.
“Fuck, your scent,” he growls, trailing his fingers through my folds.
He licks me from my cunt to my clit, and I buck against his mouth, earning me an appreciative growl. He slips a single finger inside me, rubbing at my sensitive front wall until my hips come off the bed as I rock into his touch.
