Chapter 21
Fallon
Ididn’t need to fake the kiss I placed on him. We were more than friends at this point and a couple of conversations would work out the rest of our relationship when we were back in Evie’s Keep.
Lounging in his lap was a simple transition to me in his arms, and a few wolves whistled and shouted their thanks as we left the table.
Declan’s lips exploring mine surged another round of energy as we stumbled through the empty house.
I clung to him as our bodies entwined. He felt so familiar and yet this was so new.
The alchemy of us fell over our affection like its own kind of spell.
“I’m so proud of you.”
My heart bubbled up with joy as I thought about it. Today was seamless. Maybe all my previous running around wasn’t effective, just busy. That I didn’t have to suffer for my food was a shiny new concept.
“Thank you…”
For helping me. I didn’t say it into his mind, but he seemed to hear me anyway.
“They didn’t seem too happy I was leaving,” I said out loud.
Declan shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. “Don’t worry about them. It’s probably better that you leave now.”
I had no right to be hurt when that was simply the plan. Tearing him away from his family, this place, seemed cruel. He was more himself here than anywhere else.
I squeezed my arms around his neck. “I mean it. You can come with me. Or join me later when you’re done here. It will take a few weeks to settle back into the Keep.”
Declan’s eyes grew very serious. “Would you let me bite you? Finish our bond?”
Was I tempted? Yes. Declan ticked every single one of my boxes and still fear rose up like a brick wall between us. Coming back with me was one thing. Forever was another thing entirely. I must have stayed silent for too long.
“I thought so. Better to never finish it than break it when you leave. The pack can’t go through that again.”
“Can’t it stretch until we’re together again? Dec. I want…” But what did I want? Mate was too much, but this thing between us stroked all the sharp parts of me just right. The tighter I tried to get a hold of our relationship, the more it slipped out of my grasp. “Can’t we just have this?”
His smile rippled with sadness as he said, “I’ll always take this, Honey.”
His back hit the bed, tumbling me with him until we were a writhing mass of heated limbs.
My clothes ended up shredded, littering the floor, and I couldn't have cared less.
Declan flipped us so I could use my free hands to reach his clothes.
Stripping him was just as heated and the frenzy was so new it scared me for a second. My brain screeched the handbrake.
I pulled back to lessen the temptation to pet across his alabaster chest. “Wait. Wait! I should have said something last time, but I can’t get pregnant, Declan.”
He cocked his head in that adorable way he had. “You mean you physically can’t? That’s okay. We’ll have nieces and nephews coming out of our ears. You can mother them all you like when you meet the rest of the siblings.”
Bless him. He was trying to make this easy, but I needed to tell him the truth. I needed to hear the truth. Godds this was fucking awkward. I swallowed hard.
“No, I mean. I don’t want children. I can’t take the chance I might give them Hollow Fever.”
“Oh, okay. Well. We won’t.”
That simple? Was this a virgin thing? If I had to explain where babies came from, I would die, right? I searched his face for some way out of this and then put on my big-girl panties.
“Dec. When a man’s penis ejacul-”
“Honey!” He covered his ears, shaking his head back and forth, his teeth bared.
He pulled me toward him, so he settled between my legs, hands forcing my knees wide.
“If I ever have to hear you say the word ‘penis’ again…” He slapped the girth of his dick right on top of my mound.
“...it will be a lifetime too soon. I know this cock can wreck your insides in the fun and unfun way. I have it covered.”
He lifted his arm and curled his mouth-watering bicep. It momentarily distracted me until Declan snapped his fingers in front of my face.
“See?”
The pale, iridescent tattoo he displayed was the witch’s sigil for infertility. I had watched Maggie draw it often enough. Tucked in his inner arm, I had never noticed it before, but now it shimmered in the firelight.
“When did you get that?”
Declan’s cheeks turned bright red and he lowered his hands to my hips. Kneading them with his strong fingers, I gathered all my wits to listen to his answer.
“Dec?”
He looked down at his hands and mumbled, “The day after I met you.”
“But you said you were a virgin!”
His gaze snapped to mine. “I was, Honey!”
My eyes widened. Oh. It was my turn for my face to go scarlet. Words attempted to form, but only a wheeze came out.
“I’ve loved you before time began. You’re the missing half of my soul and the ache of wanting you is a pain I gladly bore when it meant I brought you the smallest comfort. You’re the pea to my carrot…”
He trailed off thinking about that one while I was still stuck on being half his soul. I wanted that with a ferocity beyond description. He brought sunshine and light into my life.
“Okay, so I’m not as good with the food metaphors as you are, but I love you, Honey. I would bear anything for you.”
I surged up and kissed him, burying my hands in his dark hair. The living silk of it glided over my fingers. His cock trapped between us lay hot against my skin. My hips moved of their own accord, drawing a moan from Declan’s beautiful mouth.
His pants warmed my skin. “How many times do you want me to make you come?”
I pulled something ridiculous out of my head. “Eight?”
“That’s my favorite number.”
I quirked a smile at him. “Why?”
“Because your neck is eight kisses long.”
I laughed. He was so silly. “You can’t know that.”
“Watch.”
His smile smoldered as his long fingers gripped my jaw, his thumb on my chin. Tilting it all the way back, he touched his lips next to his thumb.
“One.”
His breath ghosted across my skin in an eruption of velvet.
“Two.”
This kiss pressed more firmly and my skin tingled. I did my best not to squirm but he pinned my hip.
“Three.” Had just a hint of teeth and I stilled, sensing the danger. The fantasy of being trapped in his wolf’s maw flashed through my mind, making me wet.
“Four.” Gentle again, and the contrast made me shiver.
Five, six and seven accompanied little licks.
Eight took my collarbone in his mouth, where he worried it, sucking on my skin until it left a bright red mark that pulsed my clit against the underside of his shaft.
“Dec,” I said helplessly.
The small sound got me thrown onto the mattress where he attacked my nipples with the same vigor. His hips slid his dick over my clit, working both ends of me until I came with a shaking curse on my lips.
I made him spurt into my mouth next, amazed he grew hard again as soon as I touched him. Godds bless shifter magic.
“You taste like Igacot Bread,” I said, as I tried to wipe it back between my lips.
Declan made good on his orgasm count, one by one. Every touch we traded cinched us closer until I read every twitch of pleasure across his face and drew every ounce of bliss from the bond.
I clenched his cock, loving the fill of it deep inside me, as we lay sweating, panting in his bed. The glow slowly faded into the comfort of having Declan on top of me.
“I’ll never forget this,” he breathed into my hair.
I tightened at his words, my arms hugging him. As he breathed against my cheek, the truth settled into my bones even without knowing why. A tear slipped from the corner of my eye. For some reason, this felt like goodbye.
Perhaps that was best, because if Declan was the sunshine, I was the dark cloud.
If he was a boundless fount of energy, I was the dour hole that could suck the life out of anyone.
I would never be good enough for this man.
What we just shared was a cursed miracle, but it only highlighted the fact that I wouldn’t have this forever.
In the past, men took my best days and told me they didn’t care about the rest. They were right for a time, but it always broke both of us. I didn’t want to break Declan.
That had to be why I sensed the wall rebuilding even as he slipped from the warmth of my body. I just didn’t know I would feel like a piece of my soul slipped away too.