Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Liam
“I guess this is goodbye?” Evie twists a strand of blonde-and-pink hair around her finger.
We are not leaving our mate here alone. Fuck the agency. Mail them the other artifacts. Our witch needs us.
We stand on the porch of the B&B, my suitcase at my feet along with the three other retrieved artifacts.
I knew originally I was only staying until the case was closed, but that was before I met Evie. Before I realized what she was to me.
Now I’m standing on her front porch, neither of us wanting to say goodbye, but she hasn’t asked me to stay either.
The thought is a kick to the gut. I won’t force her into something she isn’t ready to be a part of.
I am leaving, and I might never see my mate again.
The reality doesn’t set in until this very moment.
Not even when we caught Ted.
I still can’t wrap my head around why he’d been plotting to steal the wand and the other artifacts from the families for years or why he waited so long.
Not when Chief Montgomery took him away in handcuffs to be transferred out of Pumpkin Hollow’s jail and into a more secure facility for magical thieves to await trial.
Not even when Evie and I fell asleep curled together, exhausted from the adrenaline of protecting the wand and catching the thief.
The bond tugs sharply in my chest. I still haven’t told her, too afraid that even after the week we’ve had, she’ll reject something more permanent.
“Yeah, I’ve got to get these artifacts back to their rightful owners and write up the report to present in court.” I clear my throat, but the thick lump remains.
“Do you need help?” Evie bends down, her small hand wrapping around the handle of my leather case, but I gently pry it from her grip.
“I’ve got it.”
“Well…” Her gaze drops to the porch as she toes the wooden boards at our feet before meeting mine again. “Drive safe. I heard there’s a snowstorm coming in early. Wouldn’t want you to get caught in it and land in a snowdrift.”
“Don’t worry. I’m a good driver, and I wouldn’t let anything happen to my baby.”
I’m looking right at her, but her gaze shifts to where my burgundy Bugatti gleams in the parking lot.
“She’s a beautiful car. It would be a shame to lose her.”
“Yeah, it would.”
“Well, I won’t hold you up any longer.” Evie steps back, wrapping her arms around herself. “Goodbye, Liam.”
“Goodbye, a lean—Evie.” I nod, then descend the wooden steps and head for the car. I pull out of the driveway and onto the main road toward the freeway, watching Evie and the B&B shrink in my rearview mirror.
What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?
My jaguar screeches in my head so loudly that I yank the wheel, swerving into the other lane before quickly correcting myself, grateful no one else is on the road.
“We have work to do, and clearly, if she wanted us to stay, she would have asked.”
My hands tighten around the steering wheel as I focus on staying present, feeling him push for primal control.
Evie is our mate. She needs us.
“She’s a strong, independent woman who has her life under control.” I turn right onto the freeway, heading south.
Maybe she was waiting for you to pull your head out of your ass and ask to stay. Ask her to be yours.
“She would have asked me.”
Would she? Evie, who puts others before herself? Evie, who probably worried you wouldn’t want to leave your job and your life to move to Pumpkin Hollow and take a desk job at the police station or help run the B&B?
His words hit home hard, and I slam on the breaks, taking the next off-ramp and heading straight back to Pumpkin Hollow.
Back to my mate.
I burst through the B&B’s front door without bothering to knock and run straight through Molly.
“Where. Is. Evie?”
“Wow, what happened to your manners, Mr. Ironwood? Did they fly out the window when you took off like a bat out of hell?” She turns her nose up at me and crosses her arms over her chest. Nutmeg lets out a screeching hoot, fluffing his feathers before swiveling his head.
I duck, narrowly avoiding a decanter of whiskey aimed at my head. It crashes against the wall beside me, glass shattering everywhere.
“What was that for?” I holler, whirling to face Henry, who floats nearby with his cuffs pushed up and fists clenched.
“How dare you show your ugly mug around here after snubbing my mistress!”
“I did not snub—”
“Then what do you call leaving here to go back to wherever it is you came from with no promise of returning and not even a kiss goodbye?” Molly screeches, her hair floating around her head like some possessed specter.
“Just give me a second to explain—” I drag my hands through my disheveled hair.
“Liam?” Evie descends the stairs, her hair tied back in a messy bun, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen behind her glasses. “What are you doing here?”
“A leannán.” My voice cracks, and I close the few steps between us before falling to my knees. “I realized I can’t go home because my home is here. With you.”
“Liam, what are you saying?” Evie’s hand flies to her mouth.
“I’m saying that without you, I am lost. You are my home.
I would go anywhere, do anything if it meant being by your side.
” I stand and cradle her face in my palms. “The moment I heard your voice over the phone, you changed something inside me. When I walked over this threshold and met you for the first time, I knew I’d never be the same.
I want you, Evie. Now and forever, if you’ll have me. ”
Silences stretches between us before she nods, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips.
“Yes, Liam. I want you and only you. I’ve never been so sure of anything in my entire life.”
A chorus of whoops and cheers erupts behind us. I turn to see the triplet aunts along with Molly, Henry, and half the guests poking their heads out from the dining room.
“I think I might have forgotten something upstairs.” I sweep Evie into my arms, earning a second round of cheers and whistles, then take the stairs two at a time to our room.
It’s just as I remember it, our combined scents still lingering in the air.
“I’m such an ass. I’ve wanted to tell you all week, but there was never a good time.” I pepper kisses across her face and eyelids while slowly undoing her bun, letting her hair cascade down her back.
“Tell me that you’re an ass?” She smirks and nips at my bottom lip. I groan, my fingers tightening in her hair.
“No, a leannán.” She arches in my arms when I drag my canines down the column of her neck. “From the moment I saw you, I realized you were my fated mate.”
My mouth travels over her collarbone, stopping just above her heart.
“I felt you here, and with every touch, every kiss, it grew stronger.” I straighten to my full height and shake my head.
“Well, I have a confession to make in return.” Evie’s fingers deftly work down the row of buttons on my shirt, undoing them one at a time. “I felt something too, but I brushed it off as infatuation until last night.”
When she reaches my waistband, she pauses and slowly tugs my tucked-in shirt free.
“When I grabbed the wand, everything stopped, and my senses were heightened. I could see everyone’s aura and something else.” She taps the skin above my heart, then repeats the motion over her own. “I saw this golden ribbon connecting the two of us.”
“Goddess above, why didn’t you say something, Evie?”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Stubborn witch.”
“Grumpy jaguar.”
I kick out of my pants before reaching behind her and lowering the zipper at her back. The dress falls with a whoosh, puddling at her feet in a pile of burgundy and cream, not unlike my car.
“Lie down. I don’t want to skip second breakfast.” The words come out in a low growl as I step forward, forcing Evie back until her legs bump the mattress.
She slips off her glasses and sets them on the nightstand before scooting onto the bed and propping herself on her elbows, her soft skin glowing in the morning sunlight pouring through the window now that the clouds have cleared.
“I’ll be taking these.”
I lean down and catch the waistband of her cotton bottoms between my teeth, sending her into a fit of giggles as I drag them down her legs.
“Liam! Those aren’t even sexy underwear.”
“They’re yours, you’re sexy, and now they’re mine.”
I climb back onto the bed, and her next words dissolve into a moan when I take her nipple into my mouth, pinching the other between my thumb and fingers.
“Liam.” She tosses her head back and arches toward me. “Please, I want you.” Reaching down, she strokes my cock through the cotton barrier.
“Not yet. Hands above your head.”
She raises her arms, drinking me in with glossy, lust-filled eyes while I trail kisses down her ribs, over her soft stomach, and toward her hips. I spread her legs wide and marvel at the feast before me.
“I want to touch you,” Evie whines, her hips bucking.
“I was taught to always finish my meal, Evie, so let me.”
A guttural rumble builds deep in my throat before I lick up her center. Her thighs tremble on either side of my head as I swirl my tongue around her clit and knead my fingers into her hips. My cock strains painfully against my boxers, but I’m not going to rush this.
“I need you, Liam,” she whimpers. I lick and suck until her hips begin to buck harder, her fingers finding my hair and raking across my scalp.
I slip one finger inside, then a second, curling them until she arches with a cry before collapsing against the mattress.
“You’re so fucking tight, so wet. My good little witch.” I pull back just enough to kick my boxers to the floor and line myself up with her entrance.
I enter my mate with one slow thrust and hold still above her, giving her body time to adjust to my girth.
“You fit me so perfectly, my mate.” I brush kisses over her face and nip at her neck.
“You feel so good.” Evie’s eyelashes flutter, her palms roaming down my neck and through the dusting of hair on my chest.
“Not as good as you.”
I increase my pace, leaning down to take her nipple into my mouth.
“Liam, I’m going to come,” Evie pants, her fingers digging into my shoulders and leaving little crescent-moon indents in my skin.
“Don’t. You. Dare.” I bite the words against her breast, driving into her again as I feel my nodules protrude. Evie writhes beneath me, another moan spilling from her lips while the pressure builds inside me.
“Liam, please.” Her hips rise to meet mine, her core quivering around me.
“Now you’re going to come for me, a leannán.”
I thrust one last time, the nodules extending to their full length as I bite down on the sensitive skin of her neck.
“Liam.” Her cry fills the room, her body pulsing around my cock, milking me until we both collapse into a boneless heap on the mattress.
“I love you, my sweet a leannán.” I press a kiss to her forehead. “I’m glad my little witch’s magic wand brought us together.”