The near entirety of his hand was inside me, and his other hand held tight to my hip—making it so I couldn’t move. Could only take what he was giving me.
Meanwhile, the Shadow King was beside me, drawing the breast Tadhg had smeared into his mouth like some kind of sweet treat.
This was wrong. So wrong.
What if the High King was watching me—spread open like this? So wide, getting more than I’d asked for?
The Secret Kingdom.
I might have said the words… if I didn’t immediately start coming in the next moment.
“There you go, Strawberry.” Tadhg’s hand continued its work as I reached my peak. “Just like I suspected. Ye like it a bit rough, don’t ye? Look at ye, coming so hard after taking my hand.”
I looked down.
I shouldn’t have.
It was the lewdest sight imaginable—my drenched folds, contracting around the hand stuffed inside me.
Then the Shadow King reached over to my other nipple and pinched—hard enough to cause pain.
Another wave of orgasm overtook me before the first one had even finished.
Suddenly, I understood why the Shadow King had been invited over to hold me down. I thrashed and writhed like someone possessed under their rough attention.
The climax kept going and going, refusing to ebb.
I was screaming.
I was sobbing.
I was losing my mind.
And time.
I blinked—and suddenly, I was under the covers, coming back to consciousness in the arms of the Shadow King, who was holding me tight and kissing me softly on the back of my neck.
“A bit of aftercare to keep your mother away,” Tadhg explained as he joined us, climbing into bed on the other side of me in a fresh pair of underwear. That, along with his damp red hair, let me know he’d taken care of himself in the shower.
Not for the first time, I felt guilty that I was the only one receiving pleasure from our sessions.
But I didn’t dare say I was sorry. Tadhg had threatened that if I gave into that temptation again, he’d introduce me to something calledimpact play.
Instead, I asked, “Do you think he’s upset that I lost my mind like that?”
As usual, we never had to clarify whohewas. I still hadn’t seen him. Yet I often sensed he was watching—through the innocent-looking lake wall. Watching, but not communicating anything.
“I think he’ssomething,” Tadhg answered with a tired chuckle. “Wouldn’t be surprised if we had his decision by December.”
December
We did not havethe High King’s decision by December.
The beginning of the month came and went without a word from the unseen ruler—even after the full moon.
That’s why I was happy to see Brigid when she knocked on the exterior glass door two days after my first shift post-learning I was a bear. She was a welcome distraction from my near constant thoughts of the incoming new year and the High King’s final answer.
“Come in, come in,” I invited, waving her into my suite as she waddled past me.
