Dayton grips his base, squeezing. “You’re too much, Fare. I can’t take this much longer.”
I run a hand down his chest, voice pleading. “Come with me.”
“Where?”
“All over me,” I breathe.
A feral glint possesses his gaze. “Are you ready to fill my ass, Pup? I want your cum dripping out of me. Hold nothing back.”
“It’s all for you.”
He closes his eyes and smiles. And then he moves like a man driven to madness: his ass bounces up and down on my hardness as if getting my cum is his only mission in this world.
And maybe for this moment, it is.
His warm sheath tugging against my head is enough to send me spiraling. I cry out, “Come with me!” Before entirely losing myself. My release spurts out of me as my cock contracts. Dayton’s ass tightens around me, and he groans. Cum gushes from his cock, painting my chest.
My orgasm roils through me a moment more; faults in the earth, cracking before settling anew. Dayton collapses on the chaise beside me, arm thrown over my belly.
“We should have done that ages ago,” he murmurs.
I play with a strand of his hair. “You weren’t ready.”
Our gaze meets, and he offers me a smile. “I’m ready now.”
Again, it feels like so much more.
We take our time cleaning up. As I emerge from my ensuite bath, now dressed in a fluffy robe, a part of me wonders if Dayton will still be here.
But he’s waiting for me on the bed, hair wet, and that same smile on his face. Not the arrogant one, but the other one. The devoted one.
And I realize … I’m not surprised he’s still here.
I knew.
“It’s almost night,” he says.
I drop my robe, and feel for that reserve of magic, that one that now has a permanent spot within me. The one that guides and protects. My body shifts until I’m on all fours, now in the shape of the Autumn wolf. “I know.”
Dayton stands. His body shimmers. Those blue eyes stay, but the rest changes into the golden wolf of Summer.
I trot over to him and nuzzle against his snout. “Are you going to leave?”
“No.” He lies down, but his gaze stays trained on me. “I met a couple people who taught me to stop running away from everything.”
I nestle beside him. “They must be really great.”
“Yeah.” His voice grows low and sleepy. “They’re pretty much the best people I know.”
And as Dayton drifts off to sleep, I hope he knows: I think the same about him.
67
Rosalina
Strong arms clasp around me, and I’m enwrapped in Keldarion’s scent. I snuggle deeper into his embrace.
“I’d give you space, but then you’d be beside something much more furry,” Keldarion says lowly.
“You’re already pretty furry.” I run a hand down the hair on his chest. He’s not wearing a shirt, only loose sleep pants. And I realize his shirt is on me. I must have passed out at dinner. “What time is it?”
“It’s still the dead of night. Go back to sleep.”
I peek over his massive body to catch a glimpse of the moonlight dancing through the window. Kel gives a low grumble. “You see, this is what happens when you sleep all day. You’re wide awake in the middle of the night.”
I grin sheepishly. “It’s okay. I’m perfectly happy to lie here with you.”
He bends to kiss the top of my head before pulling me into a tighter embrace.
“Kel?” I whisper. “What did Ezryn mean when he said he marched your army into the Below?”
Kel gives a low groan and flips to his back. “So, you heard that?”
I lie half my body over him, resting my cheek on his chest. “I did, but you don’t have to tell me.”
“Seeing as you can’t sleep, perhaps I should.”
“I want to know,” I say.
He takes a deep breath, then begins. “I’d always known of the Prince of Thorns. Sira’s son who could control shadows and briars. His name was whispered amongst all of us. We’d glimpsed him from afar. I swear I even met him as a child. But it wasn’t until the Rainbow Eclipse Festival at Castletree that I truly knew him.”
I snuggle closer to my mate as he recounts the tale, burning with questions but letting him be as sparse or as detailed with the information as he needs to be.
“Caspian came to Castletree seeking refuge, claiming he’d barely escaped the Below. No one trusted him. My father took him prisoner and threw him in the dungeons of our Keep,” Kel says. “However, I, in all my perfect wisdom, thought of this as a great opportunity. My parents had spent decades in battle with the Below. They’d even commanded a dangerous mission diving into the depths to retrieve a great power said to have come from the Above itself.”