19. The morning after #2
He has to know. I pointed it out last night, but as though he didn’t hear me, Riordan hefted me up easily, moving me from my back to my hands and knees so that he could take me from behind.
While our first round was face-to-face, I knew exactly who I mated: a predator shifter with instincts he can’t deny.
So I let him bow his body over mine while he pumped into me, understanding that he didn’t want to discuss the cursebreaking in case overthinking Penelope got it into her head that he only pursued her in order to get rid of his curse.
And, okay, part of me was worried about that.
But then I thought about how he was so sure he’d never be able to claim his mate, he struggled with his curse…
he even stayed away from me and Moonburrow…
because he didn’t want to make his curse my problem; not even because I’m a cursebreaker, either, but because I was the only one who could break his curse as his mate.
He kept the truth of my being his mate from me so that I didn’t feel pressured into agreeing to forever out of the kindness of my heart.
Silly Riordan. I’m kind-hearted and helpful, but even a witch like me has her limits. I mated Riordan because I… oh, Goddess, I love him, and I gasp it out as his next thrust hits just the right spot.
For a moment, Riordan stays buried inside of me.
I don’t know if it’s because I tightened around him as my latest climax clammed into me, but when his deep thrusts become something much more frantic, much shallower, much quicker, I know it’s because he wants to show me how much he needs me at the same time as he growls under his breath.
My mate. He growls.
“Say that again.”
I lick my lip, a hint of a tease coming to my breathless voice. “You’re not cursed anymore, Riordan. And even if you were, you made it so it doesn’t work on me. Remember?”
“Fuck the curse.” Next thing I know, Riordan lifts me up while his cock is slammed to the hilt inside of me.
With a quick shift of our bodies, I’m facedown on the mattress, his big body pressed against me as he buries his face into my hair.
“My mate just told me she loves me. I have to hear it again.”
Oh. Got it. “I love you.”
His big body bucks as he comes. Only when he’s done giving me every last drop does he gather me up in his arms, hugging me to his chest as he says in a ragged breath, “I fucking adore you, Pen. Love is too simple a word for what you make me feel. I’ve spent so long locking down my feelings because I thought I was too good for them.
I’ve made mistakes. I want to say I’ve learned.
I can definitely say I’m trying. But you…
I’ll thank the Luna every damn day that she brought you to me just like I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to prove to you that you made the right choice in accepting me. I swear it.”
“I know I did—”
He nuzzles my neck. “And I’m going to do everything I can so you never forget it.”
Another vow, I think, as my eyes begin to close again, and one that he’s going to find very easy to keep.
Trust me. If that’s what mornings with my new mate are like, I will never forget how much I want this.
This, and him.
Three hours later and we finally get that shower.
Of course, we spend most of it wrapped up in each other beneath the spray of water, but as soon as I remember that someone’s going to have to pay the water bill—and I’m not sure if it’s me or Honey, and I can’t do that to my kind friend—I drop to my knees and finish Riordan with my mouth so that we can actually scrub up and begin our day.
I get dressed before I can allow Riordan to talk me into going back to bed.
Because he obviously didn’t expect last night to happen, he pulls on the same clothes he wore yesterday.
I know he really does love me because he actually laughs along with me when I point out how wrinkled his expensive shirt is from spending the night crumpled up on my floor.
That, or he’s just thrilled to wear the ruined silk as a badge of honor that says: I got laid last night.
One thing for sure? When we head downstairs and Honey pokes her head into the kitchen before we can make our escape, it takes one good look at the two of us together to know what we’ve been up to.
Honey is a shifter. An opossum, sure, but she still has shifter senses.
Just like how she and Roxy—and Ash and Max—seemed to think that I was meant for Riordan…
and they were right… she can sense the change in the status of our relationship as if I took off my top and showed off the mark on my shoulder.
She grins in delight, tapping her nails against the edge of the door. “So… where are you two sneaking off to? Hm?”
With the door slightly open, she leaves enough of a gap that Gus pushes his furry face through. His little pink nose twitches, her whiskers dancing, as his beady black eyes seem to brighten. Oh, yeah. Even Gus knows that Riordan and I have been busy.
Should I be embarrassed? If it was anyone but Riordan Lobo, maybe, but he’s my mate. I’m not embarrassed. In fact, I kind of preen as I exchange a knowing look with Honey.
Riordan is happy to claim me as his in front of his brother’s mate, too. With a content grin making him even more handsome, he slings his arm over my shoulder, tucking me into his side. “I’m taking my mate home.”
Hang on—
My brow wrinkles. “Home?” I echo. I point over my head. “Until I go back to Salem, that’s my home.”
Riordan’s jaw goes tight. “Salem? Why would you go back to Salem?”
Oh.
Oh.
Shit.
All along, I’ve always understood that I would have to go back to Salem eventually.
That’s where my family home is, and where the base of the national coven is.
I only live there when I don’t have a job to do somewhere else, and it’s been so long since Serena’s called me with a curse needing breaking or a ghost needing talking to that I… I kind of forgot that’s what I do.
I don’t know what’s going on with Olivia.
Keeping the wormwood in my room, plus the layer of salt poured outside of the bakery’s front and back doors—thank you Roxy and Honey—made it so that my ghostly visitor wasn’t able to pop in and interrupt Riordan and me last night.
Still, I guess I’m technically still working her case.
She swore she wouldn’t cross over until I figured out who killed her, and since we still don’t know who the murderer in Moonburrow is, Delilah must’ve informed Serena that I’m still needed in town.
But I can’t use that excuse forever. Eventually, someone else will need me, and I’ll have to go. That’s what I do. At least, that’s what I did before I agreed to mate the Beta of the Moonshadow Pack.
The same mate who is standing at my side, quiet and stoic, waiting for me to break his heart and tell him that either he has to watch me leave or he has to give up his own job, his pack, and his family.