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His fingers twisted inside me again, his tongue flicking my clit in rapid, relentless strokes, and the words dissolved into a broken moan as pleasure wrecked me.

This time, I slapped a pillow over my face to muffle my scream. My body locked, my cunny clenching around his fingers so tightly it had to hurt, but he didn’t stop, didn’t slow, his mouth sealed over my clit as he drank down my release, his growl of satisfaction vibrating through me as I came apart beneath him.

I was still trembling, my breath coming in ragged gasps, when he pulled his fingers free and pressed a kiss to the inside of my thigh. His beard was wet with me, his tusks glistening, and when he looked up the length of my body, his eyes glowed—that eerie green light burning bright in the darkness.

“Sleep, dkaar,” he murmured, his voice rough with satisfaction. “I’ll keep ye warm.”

I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him the truth—that the babe was his, that I’d carried his child for months, that I’d missed him so fiercely it had ached. But my limbs were heavy, my body spent, and the way he gathered me against him, his massive frame curling around mine, his hand splayed possessively over my belly—‘twas too good…too right.

The last thing I remembered was the press of his lips to my shoulder, the whisper of his promise in my ear.

“Mine.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Maardok

I woke with my Kteer humming, but ‘twas off-kilter. I was pleased, aye, but it felt as if something was missing. What?

Last night she came apart on yer face no’ once but twice. What else do ye want?

The answer bubbled up from someplace in my stomach, someplace I couldn’t identify.

Everything.

I wanted everything when it came to Cataline.

She was snuggled up against me, and the faint light coming through the cracks in the crumbling wattle and daub told me ‘twas almost dawn. I hid my groan as I scrubbed my hand down my face, tasting her once more.

I should have added more fuel to the fire. I should have put her warm chemise back on her. I should have cared better for her, but I’d been too content to move after making her come a second time.

My older brother was Mated to a female who had been his enemy on the battlefield when they’d first met. Their courtship had been contentious at best, but they were blissfully happy now. My sister had met her outcast Mate on the mainland, and Matthias was now a cherished member of our clan because of his healing skills.

Cataline might not be my Mate, but she was in my heart, and I wanted to keep her and Ewan safe and happy for as long as I could⁠—

Wait.

Last night, just before she’d come apart a second time, she’d said…

I whipped my head around to face her and was surprised to see her staring at me, her head pillowed on her forearm, her smile pale in the morning light.

“Good morning,” I managed gruffly.

“We will travel with you, Maardok, and stay in your world until the spring.”

The words were clear and enunciated, as if she was afraid I wouldn’t understand.

“If you can swear to me that Ewan will be safe there⁠—”

Unable to hide the way my joy spiked at her words, I rolled over, silencing her with a kiss, trying to show her how happy she’d made me. After, with her pinned to the mattress below me, I grinned down.

“I will protect ye, dkaar. Ye and the lad both, and ye will want for naught.”

They were coming home with me, and my heart was thundering madly.

Interestingly, my Kteer still seemed dissatisfied.

Cataline was peering up at me, one side of her well-kissed lips twisted bemusedly.