But I didn’t dare shoot him a “stop it” look. My cock was already straining dangerously at the first engagement. I feared what might happen if I allowed myself to watch him cradle and knead her fantasticcíochaiwhile I kissed her calf... the top of her knee... the back of her knee.
She moaned, and the strawberry scent intensified, filling the air like a fine perfume.
“Erogenous response detected,” Tadhg murmured, his voice thick with the data we were collecting.
SADIE
Technically, I had no idea what the worderogenousmeant. But I figured it out as the Shadow King continued fulfilling Tadhg’s promise to kiss me everywhere.
Cian’s back was also covered in those dark, god-tech symbols. They rippled above his flexing muscles as he made his way up my thigh, his tongue giving soft, exploratory flicks over my heated skin. Until he reached a place near the top that made me whimper, the air perfuming with the scent of my arousal.
"Another erogenous response detected," Tadhg murmured in my ear.
“Didn’t expect you to be so sensitive, Strawberry.” His large hands continued to massage my breasts as the Shadow King’s mouth lingered on my upper thigh. “Look at your pretty cunt, already begging for the Shadow King’s kiss.”
Another unknown word, but its meaning was clear. I helplessly followed his instructions. For the first time, I dared to let my eyes drift down to the most secret part of me.
Another whimper escaped my mouth when I found it wet and glistening—and yes, it felt like it was begging for something... something more than my own hand.
TADHG
Her cunt quivered just above the top of the Shadow King’s head. And though I’d called her sensitive, perhaps this was a case of kettle and pot. Just the sight of her being studied by the Shadow King, cradled between my legs…
My own cock began to leak against her back, betraying my own sensitive state.
This felt like as good a time as any to make my dark request.
“Can we show ye to the High King, Strawberry? Make the case for a ‘Yea’ to marriage and happily ever after?”
The Shadow King paused, raising his gaze to Sadie. His eyes had darkened to near black, his pupils so dilated they were nearly swallowed by the iris.
But he held himself still as we both waited to see if Sadie would agree to this most important part of our plan.
DECLAN
I’d refused to indulge my hibernation instincts, even though I’d been forced to hide in the Secret Kingdom.
I woke up at my usual six a.m. to begin the Secret Kingdom version of my morning routine: three circuits around the lake, followed by a triple portion of Irish breakfast—prepared with an extraneous amount of butter that I wouldn’t have sanctioned from my private Dublin chef.
Still, I considered it a small victory for sanity when I sat down at my desk in my suite at exactly eight a.m. Above Time, ready to begin my first three-hour block of work.
However, only a few minutes into the third hour, the lights dimmed, and the room emitted the same buzz it did in the late evening when I initiated the security protocol to lock down my room for the night.
I stilled.What in the hell...?
Was this some kind of trick from the other kings, designed to lure me into answering another round of texts, which I’d gone back to ignoring after yesterday’s unproductive back-and-forth?
I reached for the kludged GoNoTo phone, only to find the screen blank, as if it had switched itself off and refused to turn back on. I discovered this was actually the case when it didn’t respond to any of my attempts to power it on, despite being fully charged when I returned from breakfast.
My heart froze. Could this be something else, then? Had the Scottish Wolves figured out our part in the Second Reaping and come to exact their revenge? I rose to my feet. This was exactly what I’d feared—why I couldn’t just let myself go along with their dangerous plan to...
“Alright, Strawberry. We’re live.…”
My heart froze again. But I couldn’t stop myself from turning, like a character in one of those horror films, toward the digital wall, which I’d set to a Dublin City view as soon as I arrived.
It was no longer a Dublin City view.
SADIE
