Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132138 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 661(@200wpm)___ 529(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Lach’s handsome face is half hidden by moonlight. “I’ll tie you up if I have to, wife.”
“Don’t call me that.” Again, being stubborn. Even I’m thinking of him as my husband.
“It’s true, and your moping isn’t going to change the fact.” Lach stares down like an impossibly gorgeous, intensely difficult hunk of granite. He’s so big. Shim is just as big as Lach, but there’s something about Lach’s presence that overwhelms me. “Would you like to know why we’re not sleeping close to the others?”
I can guess what they have in mind. Four hands on my body. Two mouths kissing me. Even thinking about it makes my heart race. After the events of the day, I want to do nothing more than close my eyes and find them in my dreams and sink into that magnificent safe place that was mine for all of my life. But they’re real now, and nothing is safe about any of this.
Lach’s mouth turns up in an arrogant grin, letting me know I’m doing that broadcasting thing again. “We’ll get to that, love. But first we’re going to talk and then we’re going to bond. The full bond. So I always know where you are.”
“Like Dante did with Kaja?” I can’t help but smirk. Dante was righteously angry with his wolf wife. It took him a good ten minutes after the hag disappeared to remember to greet me. He was far too busy yelling at his wife.
Lach stands staring down at me, those muscular legs of his in a wide, arrogant stance. “I think Dante knows exactly how to deal with his wife. Do you hear them? He doesn’t seem to care who does. Come here.”
The minute Roan declared this would be camp for the rest of the too-short night, Dante took Kaja toward a small cave above the lake that feeds the river. He grabbed their supplies and their food. He nodded to Roan and kissed me on the forehead and then stated plainly that no one was to interrupt him.
“Not even you, brat.” He winked down at her and then hauled his consort away.
Lach takes my hand, and I’m half dragged toward the cave that houses Dante and Kaja.
There’s the loud slap of flesh hitting flesh. “You want to shield against this, Kaja?”
Kaja’s voice is a breathy moan. “I would never shield against this, my love.”
Dante growls. “Only because you know every time I spank this pretty ass, I feel it on my own. You’re seriously underestimating how much I fucking love my hand on your ass. I’ll take a little pain so you remember this lesson. And, Kaja, I know you left that plug behind. What you don’t know is that gingerroot is plentiful here on the Seelie plane, and I’m going to get damn good at carving so I still have things to shove up your backside.”
I take a step back. Can that really be my sweet cos? He sounds so…dirty. I remember him as a teenager, chasing after pretty girls, but never did he talk to one like that.
“Don’t judge him. He’s with his consort. Whatever play they enjoy is what is right for him. Listen to Kaja. Does she sound upset?”
There’s a smack and then a long moan. “Dante, please. You can’t hold out on me forever.”
“You know I can’t, baby. But after the stunt you pulled today, I’m going to try.”
There’s another loud smack, and Kaja moans. I turn away, completely confused.
“He’s hitting her.” But Kaja doesn’t sound like it upsets her. Kaja sounds like a woman who is having a good time. I don’t understand. My father was so gentle with my mother. “Shouldn’t he be kinder? She’s his mate, but he says impolite things to her and he hits her.”
And I’m becoming a bit aroused listening to it. What does that make me?
“No, he’s spanking her, and she likes it. Vampires have a relationship with their consorts they call Dominance and submission. Your cousin is the Dominant in the relationship, especially when it comes to the sexual part of the marriage. Kaja submits, and she’s happy to do so. As for the impolite things he’s saying, there’s nothing polite about a marriage. Formality and politeness aren’t going to happen in our bedroom. What you’re hearing is intimacy. That’s the real man, the one who was terrified he might lose his woman. There’s nothing polite about that.” Lach stares down at me. “We’re going to have that relationship. You have to know that’s what we’ve been headed toward. Even in our dreams.”
In our dreams, Lach and Shim dominate me in the most delicious ways. I wonder about the tone of those dreams. Now I know I was playing out Lach and Shim’s fantasies.
But I was right there with them. What does that say about me?
I turn and walk back toward the campsite. It’s a warm evening. The vampires ate their meal pills, and the Fae dined on bread and cheese and meat the villagers packed. They also packed wine, which Gillian sits drinking straight from the bottle. She stares at the river, pointedly not looking Roan’s or the lieutenant’s way. The vampires don’t have the same problem. Their eyes never leave my mentor. They don’t look polite. They look hungry.