Chapter One
Morning sunlight streamedthrough the thin gray curtains as I plucked idly at the strings of my ukulele. Saber pressed kisses up my bare leg peeking from the pile of blankets.
My back arched when he reached my hip and I groaned. “Are you paying attention? You’re supposed to be learning how to play. It was your idea.”
“It was. But you’re making it incredibly hard to focus.” He inched the blanket over the slightest bit, uncovering my core and nibbled at my pelvis.
An embarrassing whimpering sound squeaked from my lips and my fingers jerked from my instrument with a screech. Limp fingers lost their grip on my ukulele as Saber unwrapped me completely, slowly, seductively, heat in his gaze as he looked up and down my naked and trembling body.
It’d been weeks, and I still wanted them. With a near constant ache. I thought the bond would relax once I gave in, but instead it still rode me, raging through me, keeping me in a constant state of need.
At least, I thought it was the bond.
I reached out and cupped Saber’s cheek, enjoying the scratchy feeling of his new beard. He started growing it out over the past week though it was nowhere near as thick as Whist’s. Saber looked good scruffy.
He smiled at me, the light in his eyes so bright it almost hurt. I couldn’t stop the answering smile if I tried. For the first time in my life, I was safe, I was happy. The itch in my feet keeping me always on the move was gone. I hoped it lasted. I hoped the ghosts from my parents didn’t return with disappointment and condemnation.
Over a week ago, I had laid their memory to rest when I made the choice to stay with my kindred souls. A choice I didn’t regret, and one my parents would understand. But there was a small, tiny, minuscule part of me. A part of me I ignored. A part I drowned with the touch, taste, scent of my kindreds.
Only satiated and curled up between my sleeping assassins did the tiny voice gain any traction. It reminded me of my beliefs, it reminded me I wasn’t really safe and wouldn’t be with the king after us. It reminded me the law was still broken and wrong. And it reminded me of all the things my guys gave up for me. And what I gave up for them.
“Where are you, love?” Saber asked as he spread my legs.
I blinked away my thoughts. “Right here. I’m right here with you.”
“Good.”
“Aren’t we supposed to leave soon?” I asked.
Saber and I lingered in bed while Sky and Whist went to make sure there weren’t any royal guards in the area. Everything was packed and ready for our journey to Havisam. We had decided a couple days ago it was better for the four of us to start fresh, start a new life, instead of constantly living on the run here in Faligrey.
“We are. But we should have a little time.”
I grinned. “Good.”
Saber covered my body with his, teasing my mouth with a languid kiss. I opened my legs wider so he could settle more firmly against me, his steel cock nudging my entrance. My hands trailed up and down his smooth back as I deepened the kiss.
He groaned into my mouth, his hands wandering over my body. “You’re beautiful, love. So responsive, so sweet, so delicious. I can’t get enough of you. It’s never enough.”
I whimpered as he latched his mouth onto one of my nipples, writhing beneath him. At least I wasn’t the only one out of control with want and desire. I wrapped my legs around his waist, tilting my hips to line us up. His tongue flirted with mine as he teased me by sinking just the tip of his cock inside me and circling his hips.
I wriggled to get him deeper inside, but he resisted with a chuckle. “What’s the rush, love? I want to enjoy you.”
“Because we’re supposed to be getting ready to go and I don’t want to be interrupted.”
“They won’t interrupt, they’ll join.”
“But we need to get on the road once they return.”
He pressed in a little further. “Trust me, love. They won’t mind getting a late start for this.”
I groaned and tossed my head back into the pillows. They always did this, made me desperate for them before giving me what I craved, what I needed. If it didn’t feel so damn amazing, it would’ve made me hate them.
Saber licked the side of my neck, sucking the skin at the base into his mouth. My nails sank into his back as I tried to get closer to him, wanting every inch of him against me, over me, in me.
Finally, finally, finally, he slammed home. We both let out harsh breaths, and he pulled back to gaze into my eyes. I couldn’t look away from his eyes as he pumped in and out of me. We weren’t fucking this time, filled with desperation and need. The desperation and need were still there, but muted. This time, it was something else, something deeper. Staring into his eyes, it was almost like I could see inside of him and he could see inside of me. We connected on a new level. The bond flared to life between us and I could almost read his thoughts. There were flashes of his emotions — affection, desire, friendship, attraction, admiration, awe, love. The love was tentative and new, but it grew stronger with each stroke.
We came together, gasping and shuddering, our gazes still locked together, our bodies one. He remained inside me even after we both caught our breath and our bodies had calmed.
He kissed the center of my forehead and slid out of me with reluctance.
I felt the same reluctance, fighting not to hold him tight. I wanted to bask in the afterglow, but the morning was growing late and we needed to get plenty of miles between us and this house today.
Like my thoughts alone summoned them, Sky and Whist burst in before Saber and I were even off the bed. Sky grinned wide while Whist leaned against the doorway and looked his fill.
“I thought you were teaching Saber how to play the ukulele?”
I blinked in utter innocence. “I was.”
Sky’s eyes danced with amused lights. “Perhaps he can give us a demonstration of all he learned.”
I scoffed and pulled on my trousers. “We certainly don’t have time for that.”
Sky’s lips pursed in an adorable pout. “Fine. It’ll give us something to look forward to once we set up camp tonight.”