Chapter 35 #2
I jam my knee under her spread thigh as I spell my pants away with quick movements of my hands.
With one hand, I line my cock up, and I grab the back of the chair with my other hand.
One slow, deep thrust, and I’m inside my mate.
We both moan, and I move my hips in a steady rhythm, realizing the music is still playing, and I’m taking her to the beat of the song.
This is the most perfect dance I have ever performed, and my entire body sings with euphoria.
The song slowly speeds up, and so do I. The chair makes little screeching noises as it jolts with each of my thrusts.
Amri’s breasts sway, and I palm one, flicking her nipple with my thumb.
A scream bursts from her lips, and I dive to catch it with a kiss.
I lave at her tongue, her lips, her cheek, her jaw, until I move down the side of her neck.
She clutches my back, her claws digging in with delicious pain. She meets me thrust for thrust, and as I lick at her salty skin, I say, “You honor me with your body, your trust, your heart. I will do whatever it takes to keep your everything safe too. This I swear.”
I sink my fangs into her skin, and she arches against me, no sound coming from her parted lips as her head falls back.
I drive my cock into her pulsing heat as I fill my bite with love and magic.
Her orgasm drags me with her, and I explode into fire and starlight as I spill into her, my hips jerking with intense pleasure.
When I slip my fangs from her neck, I’m overwhelmed by two things: the sight of my mark on Amri’s neck, and the gold thread shimmering from my chest, intertwining and knotting in a beautiful pattern with hers.
The flutters of my lingering orgasm fade as the music ends.
Silence wraps around us, and then I realize Amri is trembling.
Terrified I hurt her in some way, I draw back, sliding out of her.
It takes a herculean effort to ignore the sexy way my cum leaks out of her and pools on the chair between her thighs, but as I scan her for injury, I realize she’s not hurt at all. She’s giggling.
I blink, my ego slightly bruised as I ask, “What?”
She looks up at me and waves a hand. “That was incredibly timed.”
It takes a moment to figure out she’s referring to the way we both came with the final climax of the music, and I burst out in laughter. “It was, but I swear it wasn’t intentional.”
She laughs with me, brushing her fingers over my mate mark on her neck. “Still, all this … it was wonderful. Thank you. ”
I pull her to her feet, pressing a kiss to her lips before saying, “Anything for you, mate.”
A fter a shower and a few more orgasms, I tuck Amri under the soft covers of our bed in our temporary quarters here in the palace. I take her hand, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles. “Get some rest, little warrior. You’re exhausted, and I’ve kept you from sleep for longer than I should have.”
She wiggles deeper into the mattress and closes her eyes. “It was worth it. All of it, Malik.”
I brush a finger down her face and whisper, “It was.”
I press a kiss to her temple, but her breaths have already evened out in sleep, so I pull the blanket up to her chin and quietly leave our room.
As I walk the halls, I can’t keep the smile from my face.
Just like in the gardens, the palace seems brighter, lighter, happier.
It will take some time to banish the shadows of fear in this place.
I will have to learn I don’t need to keep my guard up constantly; I don’t need to fall into a panic if I don’t know where my brothers or Askari are.
I don’t need to be coiled tight, waiting for Leonora to do … anything.
But at least I now have the time to heal and move forward.
I check in with my brothers, mentally knocking first so as not to interrupt anything …
intimate. Once I know my family is well, I head towards the barracks, letting Askari know I’m on the way.
He says he still has a few more stops to make, so I slow my pace, taking the time to sp eak with shifters I pass along the way.
More than a few gazes snag on my new marks, and I receive a few words of congratulations on both my claimings.
After some time just wandering and enjoying the lack of tension in the palace, I walk past a room but pause at the doorway.
I have no idea what the original intent of this room was, but it doesn’t matter in the least because right now, it’s filled with …
peace. Sunlight spools through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting most of the space in warmth.
And within that puddle of sun sits a large sofa of a deep green velvet.
But it’s not the furniture that has me staring.
A shifter is spread out on the sun-drenched cushions in their beast form fast asleep.
I realize it’s Selena, and after she took that huge risk during the feast, distracting Leonora with her false outrage, I’m beyond relieved to see her not only healthy and unharmed, but relaxed and at peace.
As I watch, her front paw twitches in her dreams, and her tail swishes off the edge of the sofa.
This. This is what we were fighting for.
Subconsciously, I call out to my brothers, needing to share this with them. But instead of simply answering my mental call, Bodi and Rian appear at my side, silently wrapping their arms around me as they peer into the room. Rian rests his head against my arm as he sighs happily.
I quickly check back in with Askari, and the bond between us flares as he feels what I’m feeling. His voice smoothly enters my mind. “The hunters can wait a little longer.”
“Thank you.”
I take Rian’s hand and lead my brothers to the next room over.
This space is smaller, but the angle of the sun is the same.
The three of us shift, turning circles on the soft rug before each flopping down in the sunlight.
Rian rests his head against my haunch, and Bodi presses his back against mine, curling his tail over Rian’s body.
I rest my head between my paws, a contented purr coming from all three of us.
We don’t speak. We don’t have to. Our brotherly bond hums with everything we’re feeling.
It’s a perfect moment that stretches and fills us as the sunlight makes a lazy path across the rug but always keeping us within its warmth.
After what I estimate to be a blissful hour, Alexandros pads into the room on silent paws.
He flings himself against Bodi like a cub, and we chuckle as he settles into our pile.
Askari in his lion form joins us next, and to my brothers’ credit, they don’t mention how cuddling with our new god might be weird, they just move to make room so Askari can snuggle into me, and I rest my head on the back of his neck.
I must have fallen asleep, because I blink my eyes open as the door creaks open again, and Sadie and Kat quietly enter on bare feet. Without a word, Kat burrows into Rian’s fur, and Sadie nearly disappears under the fur of her two mates.
The purrs and soft snores of my family surround me, and I wait, feeling her approach.
My eyes lock on the cracked door as Amri slips inside, her eyes hooded with sleep, her face flushed from her long nap.
Halfway across the room, she shifts, dropping to her paws, and my adorable, fierce mate curls up in the space Askari made between us.
My beta’s voice whispers to her, “Welcome to the family.”
Her response is sleepy but pleased. “You too.”
He chuckles, nuzzling us both, and as Amri slips back into sleep, I close my eyes, sending a quick prayer of thanks to the Fates, apologizing for my insolence.
A trio of chuckles trill through my mind, accompanied by the skittering touch of spiders’ legs.
As the sensation fades, I smile, accepting that as forgiveness.
One deep breath. Another. I slip into the best sleep of my life, warmed by sunshine and surrounded by my family, safe and loved, unleashed and free to create a whole new future.