She nodded, her eyes bright with a spark that told me she was already in. “Always.”
I leaned a little closer, my tone turning secretive just to amuse her. “Good.”
She shivered when my lips brushed against her ear, tilting her head as if baring her throat to me in invitation. The sight undid me. Heat rose, and my canines lengthened in answer. A sudden need to sink my teeth into her burned through every nerve. To make her mine.
I dragged myself back before instinct won, forcing enough distance that I could breathe. Her attention caught on my canines, and a soft sound escaped her.
The soft, needy sound echoed inside me, stirring my length with aching insistence.
So I smirked, wanting levity to slip in where hunger threatened to destroy me. “Lolli,” I rasped, my pulse thundering, every part of me letting on how desperate I was for my soul-bound mate. “You have no idea how close I am to sinking my teeth into you.”
Her gaze lingered on my teeth, on the sharp points that edged through my teasing smile. I watched her carefully, tracking every flicker in her eyes, every shift in her breathing. There was hunger there, but the hesitation gave me pause.
A flush crept across her cheeks, and she lifted a hand to her throat, her fingers running against the goosebumps that rose along her skin.
Bravery or madness had her reaching out a featherlight graze against my jaw before tracing the sharp curve of one of my canines. I sucked in a breath, every muscle in my body tightening with the need to bring her closer.
She seemed to startle herself, pulling her hand back and pressing it between her thighs.
“Your secret,” she whispered, her voice thready.
I blinked, and with a forced grin, I slid into my earlier tease before she’d almost shattered the rest of my resolve. “Ah,yes.” I lifted a finger, ignoring the rough edge in my tone. “The important matter of rock collecting and what it means to humans.” I winked, my heart fluttering at the way her lips twitched. I leaned in, not too close, but enough to toy with the space between us. “Do you promise to keep my secret?”
Although her expression grew serious, her eyes sparkled with mischief. She pressed a palm to her chest. “I vow to never utter a word.”
“Humans have no sacred attachment with rocks,” I whispered as if revealing a grave truth. “At the coronation, I told fae to gift Teddy a rock or pebble as a joke.”
Finley snickered. “A joke?”
I gave her a slow nod. “Why else would anyone adorn a rock with googly eyes?”
“Were the fae in on this joke?”
“Of course not.” I pressed a hand to my chest in mock despair. “And now it’s spiraled out of my control, Lolli. Our poor king and queen are drowning in rocks. Entire shelves, whole tables. They have an entire room dedicated to stones, but I fear they’ve run out of space.” I sighed dramatically, pointing at the rock she still held. “Teddy keeps abandoning Rocko at my house, and somehow, he’s found his way into my pack. And now he has apparently recruited this poor representation.” I held up the stone, the younglings named Luana 2.0.
She nudged her knee against me, her smile shy but real. “What if these rocks start forming factions?”
And gods, my chest tightened, because my Lolli was still here, still laughing with me, still playing along as if we hadn’t lost years.
“I can see it all too clearly, Squishy,” she said, her grin a bit wicked.
The word, the nickname, hit me like a punch to my gut.Squishy. My throat went dry with memories flashing of youngerhands, younger laughter. Of a girl who’d always known how to knock me off balance.
Her expression turned serious. “Luana 2.0 is clearly a radical in the uprising, all in the plot to put Rocko on the throne.”
A laugh burst out of me, raw and loud, before I dropped my voice to the same conspiratorial tone she’d used. “We must prepare, then. If the rocks rise, we’re all doomed.”
The tent flap rustled when Everly ducked inside. Finley straightened, but it wasn’t with the sharp, guarded tension she carried around others. Her shoulders eased almost immediately, her lips still angled with what remained of her smile.
She looked . . . lighter, keeping her expression open as Everly eyed us.
“Have you started collecting rocks as well?” Everly asked, her tone caught somewhere between disbelief and amusement. “Teddy keeps hiding hers in the most ridiculous places. Under my pillow, in my boots. I swear to the gods, if you two start that here . . .”
Finley laughed, the sound bright and unrestrained. It was something I’d never heard from her in front of others. She leaned into me, her eyes dancing. “I think I’ll keep this one for myself,” she said, hugging Rocko to her chest before her eyes widened. “If that’s okay, I mean?”
I brushed a finger across her cheek, enraptured with the way her joy shone from within. “You can hold on to it until I make you your own rock.”
She bit her lip. “What about the uprising?”
