Declan buried his head under his pillow. “I didn't know or I wouldn't have thought it was one!”
Joining him under the pillow, I kissed his nose. Then he lunged and claimed my mouth.
“I didn’t do as you asked. I didn’t come.”
My lips made a moue. “Oh no, Dec. We can’t have that. You can do whatever you want to me.” I trailed a hand over his nipple propped up by the harness, on display for me.
“Anything?”
I shivered, my gaze flicking to all those books. We had been friends for so long that I didn't have the urge to leash him in any way.
“What about page two hundred and three ofA Fated Captive?”Kneeling up, he gathered my legs into his embrace, kissing up my calves.
I really was going to have to read every single one of those books to catch up. “Especially that one.”
“As my lady commands.”
Using the wetness still dripping from my channel, he coated his dick and slid it between my clutched thighs. With a groan, he gripped my ankles and one pillowy thigh. Rocking my legs back and forth shouldn’t have produced such bliss, but the pure pleasure on Declan’s face made it so. He let loose a whimper as his rhythm spiked erratically.
“You can do it, good boy. You can come all over me.”
His strokes dropped to hit my clit and his hips struck mine, his sheer desperation to worship me sending us both tumbling into the six heavens. Morebird-song words tumbled out of his mouth, only adding to the lap of pleasure. His sticky come splashed over my stomach in a wave of slippery heat.
Floored, I heaved in what air I might grab. Declan threw the wedge to the floor and gathered me into his arms, peppering me with kisses.
“That was incredible. You're incredible. We need to do that every hour.”
I laughed because his kisses on my forehead were the blessing I didn't know I needed, even as my heart sank back down from the clouds. Knowing Declan, he was dead serious. He would sex me to death every hour, on the hour, in that mysterious managing way he had.
“I don’t think my heart can take it, Dec.” In more ways than one.
He snuggled into my body. “You can do anything you set your mind to, mate.”
I pushed his shoulder a little, discomfort seeping into the bliss. “You don’t have to call me mate when we’re alone, Dec.”
His blue eyes grew serious, his mouth twisting into unusually somber lines. I shoved him a little harder but he would not budge. My stomach dropped.
“But you are my mate, Fallon. Surely you can feel it now. You can stay in Nightfell. We don’t have to pretend anymore.”
I clenched my teeth against his expectations. None of those things got me back to my real life, even if this wasstarting to feel like my real life. “I’m not mate material, Declan. I’m a better friend, right?”
Friends who fucked really well. I was a little late protesting, but he hadn’t seen everything. There would be bad days where my body would be in control and I wouldn't dream of doing this. And the highest of highs we reached together only illuminated the lowest of lows I would drag us down to. I watched it happen in real time. The glint left his eyes and he buried his head, even if he didn’t pull away. It felt exactly like kicking Ned.
“I was being silly. Who would want more than a best friend at my side?”
He said the words, but they didn’t ring true. Just like me to ruin absolutely everything.
Chapter 18
Declan
Runs up to the temple to pray for the Old Magic to reveal the Followers hadn’t helped. Joining the physical search for the missing wolves definitely hadn’t helped. Why couldn’t we find the monks in question when they were so willing to brazenly show themselves? I spent days trying to cast a magical net over the Dell like a snare. When we caught one lone monk, she quickly stepped back into a portal when we freed her to interrogate her.
Sibling game night didn’t do much to relieve the tension either. Briggs won and conflict stormed too loud inside me to be a gracious winner. Two whole weeks after finally getting what I wanted, and nothing made my situation with Fallon any clearer.
I was glad I blurted out the truth of our connection and hadn’t tried to bite her. If Fallon outright rejected thefull mate bond, it might have sent the Old Magic into hiding again. I hadn’t returned to bring disaster to our wolves. It wasn’t fair to her that I didn’t tell her what hung in the balance, but after she called us friends following the most transformative experience of my life, I could admit she hurt me. I should have waited until I was more sure.At least I woke up each morning with her snuggled to my side. Her body knew it trusted me, even though her mind still kept its secrets.
I retreated into my wolf, slinking into the kitchen corner to watch Fallon closely without being in her way. From my point of view, her magic finally clicked. She was very in her head though, so I wasn't sure if she understood the ease with which she followed Momma's lessons.
