9. ROSE
Nine
ROSE
I lose track of time. My heat keeps coming back in waves, surging, crashing, then waning just long enough for us to catch a breath before the next one rolls over me.
Each time is different. Against the wall, frantic and desperate.
Playful in the bath. Me on top is a fucking revelation.
The sense of power, the control, watching Kael’s composure crack as I ride him.
Then he puts me on my hands and knees, fucking presenting for him…
Thank God, what happens in the tower stays in the tower!
My Alpha is… I don’t even have the words.
Language fails me when I try to describe what it’s like being with him.
He’s massive, rough, scarred, but also holds me like I’m made of glass.
And through all of it, he’s all at once filthy and reverent, praising me, telling me I’m fucking perfect, beautiful, his.
My name in his mouth sounds different than it ever has.
Like he fucking invented it. Like it belonged to him before it belonged to me.
And I can feel what he feels. His awe, his hunger. The fear he won’t admit that this is too much, too fast, too good. That it’ll be taken away.
I know that fear. It lives in me too.
While we’re recovering, draped across his chest, I say, “Tell me about your dog.”
He grins, full, real, eyes crinkling, devastatingly handsome. Fuck. Me.
“Brutus is a wolfhound. He’s fucking enormous, and completely useless as a guard dog.
” Kael shakes his head. “He’ll fucking lick an intruder to death.
” I giggle. “He sleeps in my bed even though he has his own that’s the size of a small boat.
” He leans close and pecks at my nose before adding, “He’s going to take one look at you and decide you’re his person.
And I’m going to spend the rest of my life being jealous of my own fucking dog.
” He shakes his head, still smiling huge.
I laugh. “How do you know he’ll like me?”
“My boy has great taste.”
I laugh again, and Kael gives me a soft look that steals my heart.
“I love you.”
I feel his words through our bond, his certainty and absolute lack of hesitation.
“You can’t love me, Kael,” I whisper. “You’ve known me for…”
“However long it’s been. And I’ve loved you long before we even met.
” He tucks a strand of hair behind my ear.
His fingers trailing down my jaw. “I walked into this tower because my mother nagged me into it. I didn’t believe in any of this: fated mates, curses, fairy tales.
And then your eyes opened, you swore at me, and I fucking knew. ”
“Knew what?” I ask softly, heart beating fast, unable to take my eyes off him.
“That I’d walk through those thorns every day for the rest of my life if you are what waited on the other side.”
My eyes sting. I refuse to cry. But a single tear escapes.
He catches it with his thumb.
“Don’t tell anyone I cried.” I sniff. “You have a reputation as a scary warrior king to maintain. I have a reputation as a fierce princess to keep.”
“You’re terrifying, sweetheart.”
I press my face into his chest and let him feel what I can’t say yet through our bond. My wonder, and a bone-deep certainty that matches his.
His arms tighten around me, his lips pressing on top of my hair.